The Human Factor (1979)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Graham Greene (novel)
Tom Stoppard (screenplay)

Release Date:

1979 (UK)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

When Arthur Davis, a junior bachelor in the British secret service's African section, is seen taking...

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Independent Film | Based On Novel

Cast

Richard Attenborough	...	Col. John Daintry
Joop Doderer	...	Cornelius Muller
John Gielgud	...	Brig. Tomlinson
Derek Jacobi	...	Arthur Davis
Robert Morley	...	Dr. Percival
Ann Todd	...	Castle's Mother
Richard Vernon	...	Sir John Hargreaves
Nicol Williamson	...	Maurice Castle
Iman	...	Sarah
Keith Marsh	...	Porter
Anthony Woodruff	...	Dr. Barker
Gary Forbes	...	Sam
Angela Thorne	...	Lady Mary Hargreaves
Tony Haygarth	...	Buffy
Paul Curran	...	Halliday

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 | France:-12 | France:U (re-release: 2000) | USA:R | UK:AA (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company:

Sigma Production

Trivia:

Last cinema film of Ann Todd.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: In the South African scenes (filmed in Kenya), the cars have Kenyan registration plates.

Quotes:

Maurice Castle: Davis calls all children "little bastards".

The Human Factor

Greene's novel is reduced to a commonplace, wooden, largely flatly acted anecdote. Morley's sinister performance is an exception, but even Morley is unable to impart a little life and leaven to a film that is, yes, intended to take away some of the meretricious glamour of most films in this genre, but the fact that life in the spying business must be a bit of a bore, and the people in it largely pathological, does not excuse making a boring film about it. Iman's performance is wooden and uncomprehending almost to the point of comedy. The pathos intrinsic to the material as conceived by Greene is utterly absent from this film; as you reflect on it after the film grinds to a thoroughly awkward halt, you see how much might have been done with it, and how little actually was. Critics are reluctant to trash a movie whose director, writer, actors, etc. have done brilliant work in the past, but this is a film saved from being thoroughly bad by a few striking moments. Read the book instead.