George Segal

Alec Guinness

Max von Sydow

Senta Berger

George Sanders

Robert Helpmann

Robert Flemyng

Peter Carsten

Ernst Walder

Edith Schneider

Philip Madoc

Herbert Fux

Herbert Stass

Günter Meisner

John Rees

Bernard Barnsley

Victor Beaumont

Otto Friese

Paul Hansard

Philo Hauser

John Moulder-Brown

Hans Schwarz Jr.

Claus Tinney

Michael Anderson

John Barry

Mack David

Harold Pinter

Erwin Hillier

Frederick Wilson

Sydney Streeter

Maurice Carter

Clive Reed

John Winbolt

C. C. Stevens

John Aldred

Archie Ludski

Arthur Taksen

Bernard Williams

Joan Kirk

W.T. Partleton

Stella Rivers

Les Bowie

Arthur Beavis

Ivan Foxwell

John Shinerock

Charles Van der Goor

Trevor Dudley-Smith

Thriller

Drama

Crime

The Quiller Memorandum

The Rank Organisation

Ivan Foxwell Productions

United Kingdom

Oktober, and the trees are stripped bare.

The Quiller Memorandum is directed by Michael Anderson and adapted to screenplay by Harold Pinter from the novel "The Berlin Memorandum" written by Elleston Trevor. It stars George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger. Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.

There's no frills and graces about The Quiller Memorandum, it follows a straight spy drama narrative that pitches Segal (excellently cool) into Berlin to unearth the location of some Neo-Nazis. He gets involved with the sensual Berger whilst battling his wits with an insidious Sydow. Location photography is pleasing, as is the swirly score, but even though there's a nice ambiguity to the finale, there's a feeling of disappointment that actually not a great deal has happened in over an hour and half of film. Not dull exactly, and in fact there's enough interest to, well, hold the interest, but for every leanly written passage of play there also comes a yearning to have some espionage pizazz to thrill the senses. 6/10

CinemaSerf

Unfortunately, time hasn't been very kind to this rather stilted cold war thriller. When two British agents are found dead in Berlin, it falls to "Quiller" (George Segal) to track down the elusive "Oktober" (Max von Sydow) before he gets his own comeuppance. The cat and mouse game is actually quite well executed - both sides desparate to find the location of the other's secret headquarters, and to establish whom is working for their enemies, but sadly Michael Anderson just can't quite elevate the film above a rather statically paced affair. Segal is efficient, but hardly charismatic and even Alec Guinness and the usually dependable George Sanders don't really inject much of a sense of menace. Too much of the jeopardy is just a little too contrived, and though it is does move along well enough, its just a little too hollow with nowhere near enough action to have it stand out. John Barry provided the score and the theme song "Wednesday's Child" (with Mack David), but there is little else here for us to remember.

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The Quiller Memorandum (1966) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]