| Funeral in Berlin | | Cast : | Michael Caine, Oskar Homolka | | Director : | Guy Hamilton | | Studio : | Paramount Studio | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1966 | | DVD Released Date : | August 14, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | September 19, 2004 | | Summary | It's the Best of the Series | Content
 | Unlike the "Ipcress Files," which is almost a mockery of Len Deighton's original novel, "Funeral in Berlin" more accurately captures the atmosphere and characters of its written sources. The generous use of real locations rather than studio sets also gives this film an air of authenticity. It's a shame that ethically compromised anti-heroes like Harry Palmer have given way to pretty-boy moralizing idealogues like Governor Arnold. The world is a complicated place. We need more complicated role models like the characters of Len Deighton. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 26, 2003 | | Summary | The Real Cold War | Content
| I served as an army intelligence officer in Berlin and in West Germany during the Cold War. Whenever I'm feeling nostalgic and I want to time-travel back to the Cold War 1960's, I turn on Funeral In Berlin. The film has wonderful shots of the Berlin Wall and West Berlin during this time. Michael Caine's Harry Palmer is a mirror image of thousands of intelligence personnel who have had to battle incompetent bureacracy while still trying to accomplish the mission at hand. Watch this one! |
| Rating | | | Date | December 18, 2002 | | Summary | Good Spy Story | Content
| If you have ever worked for a government bureaucracy and you keep up with history and current evets, this movie will bear out greater believeability than the more popular blockbuster spy movies. Got to be watching it for the story itself, though ( there are NO massive explosions, intense car chases, hot sex scenes, etc.) |
| Rating | | | Date | August 11, 2002 | | Summary | Way to go, Harry. | Content
| While not as good as The Ipcress File, Harry is still in fine form. FIB is clever, well acted and well written. Every character is interesting. Its much, much better than the spy movies they make now. If I had to find fault, its with the annoying and inappropriate soundtrack. Even Marvin Hamlisch would have trouble coming up with something this sappy and intrusive. Still, the movie is very entertaining. Very cool. |
| Rating | | | Date | October 02, 2001 | | Summary | Gruelling to watch, but features at least one amazing quip. | Content
| A film as visually and narratively downbeat as the ethically murky moral world of espionage it portrays. The good guys are cynical compromisers, the idealistic are chilling murderers, the charming are totalitarian stooges, the hero's struggling moral awareness is totally impotent. Berlin has never looked grimmer; action and morality are as enervatingly obscure as the most disenchanted film noir. The Harry Palmer series is usually seen as the antithesis of James Bond, with his macho flash, gadget-driven action and cartoonish ideology. This is true to an extent. Harry does get beautiful women, but usually because they want to use him - in his crumpled mac, he is more of a seedy voyeur than a superspy. His line in quips is very mundane, his thick glasses and flat Cockney accent are hardly glamorous, and he has to walk or take lifts rather than drive a snazzy car. However, there is a lack of plodding, le Carre-like detail, a lack of true moral neutrality (when one amiable character is revealed as a villain, he becomes more recognisably a Hollywood baddie) that suggests a cop out. Unlike the books of le Carre or the films of Melville, whose accumulation of seemingly pedantic or irrelevant details can lead to exciting narrative momentum, 'Funeral' is content to stay flat and gray. Which is admirable, but difficult to watch. Two good things, though - the Brecht/Weill pastiche score; and Harry's immortal line to his totty as she makes breakfast - 'You're useless in the kitchen; why don't you come back to bed?' (!) |
|
|
|
|
