Funeral in Berlin (1966)

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

Len Deighton (novel)
Evan Jones (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 February 1967 (Finland)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Action

Tagline:

It was going to be a lovely funeral. Harry Palmer just hoped it wouldn't be his...

Plot:

A British agent is sent to Berlin to receive a Communist defector, but the true situation turns out to be rather more complicated.

Plot Keywords:

British | Berlin Wall | British Spy | Cold War | Second Part

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Harry Palmer
Paul Hubschmid	...	Johnny Vulkan
Oskar Homolka	...	Colonel Stok
Eva Renzi	...	Samantha Steel
Guy Doleman	...	Ross
Hugh Burden	...	Hallam
Heinz Schubert	...	Aaron Levine
Wolfgang Völz	...	Werner
Thomas Holtzmann	...	Reinhardt
Günter Meisner	...	Kreutzman
Herbert Fux	...	Artur
Rainer Brandt	...	Benjamin
Rachel Gurney	...	Mrs. Ross
John Abineri	...	Rukel
David Glover	...	Chico

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 | Australia:M | Ireland:PG | Spain:18 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Airport, Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Jovera S.A.

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~5.8 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~5.4 seconds.

Quotes:

Harry Palmer: I think that Vulkan is connected with this man Broum.
Ross: Brilliant, Palmer. Vulkan *is* this man Paul Louis Broum.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000) (V)

Great plot, great camera work, great characters

I personally think that Funeral In Berlin is a great film and far better than the previous Ipcress File which generally gets the credit as the best of Len Deighton's Harry Palmer novels to make it to the big screen. Caine is excellent as the stiff but smart east end spy. The underlying suggestion that Palmer possesses the superior intellect to his privately educated 'superiors' gives the scenes for example between Palmer and Ross the added edge of annoyance on the part of Ross and frustration and arrogance born of frustration from Palmer. The hard edged 'real life'(compared to Bond) atmosphere give the film it's sense of believability through all of it's complex plot turns. The camera work is excellent with some beautifully framed scenes that have thus far not received the credit they deserve. Homolka as Stock is a particularly excellent characterisation and the whole affect of cameras and the first appearance of Stock remind me greatly of Welles introduction as Harry Lime. The whole film is very much of it's time but as such has not lost any of it's fascination. Definitely one of my favourites.