The Quiller Memorandum (1966)

Directed by Michael Anderson; produced by Ivan Foxwell

In 1966, Berlin is at the centre of the Cold War and international intrigue. British intelligence operator Quiller (George Segal) is sent to the city to investigate a murderous organisation dedicated to the resurgence of Nazism. Two of his colleagues have already been killed in attempting to expose the group, and Quiller may have a difficult time completing their mission while not suffering their fate.

The 1960s saw a great number of ‘spy’ stories brought to the big and small screens. Some were comedic (eg. Get Smart and the original Casino Royale), others fun but not meant to be taken seriously (eg. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Our Man Flint), while still more were relatively realistic (eg. Danger Man and Callan). The Quiller Memorandum falls into the last category, featuring a credible threat and a believable protagonist. Unfortunately, neither the villains nor the hero strike the viewer as smart. In fact, no one in the movie comes across as particularly brainy.

I should mention that Segal makes an engaging lead. Just on this side of average-looking, his Quiller is no James Bond. He can take care of himself in a fight but isn’t a super-man; he charms ladies but won’t supplant Don Juan. His training is probably very good but he gives the impression that he has learned more from experience.

Recent films I’ve reviewed have included leading actors who, while portraying Englishmen, abandoned any attempt at English accents. Segal does, too, though in his case, it is just as well: someone who looks like he was born exactly where he was (New York City) could never convincingly impersonate an Englishman. But at no point did I think Quiller was British. It is not inconceivable that an American works for British intelligence, any more than it is for the reverse (as in the television series The Equalizer.) In other words, Segal was a good choice for the role.

The other players are satisfactory in their parts, as well. Alec Guinness portrays Quiller’s controller, Max von Sydow is the chief villain (with unconvincingly blond hair – despite his own blond hair in real life), and Senta Berger plays a possible love-interest.

The trouble with The Quiller Memorandum is the script. Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay, adapted from Adam Hall’s novel The Berlin Memorandum. The dialogue itself is good (but no more). What wrecks the film is the rather alarming stupidity of the characters. This may, to be fair, be present in the book, too; if so, it was not improved by the script.

Quiller presents himself in Berlin first as an entrepreneur, then as a swimming coach, and finally as a journalist for a yet to be published Philadelphia newspaper. How easy would it be for him to be tripped up as a fraud if two or more of his new acquaintances compare notes? He attaches himself, not unreasonably, to the beautiful Inge Lindt (Berger), who knew a man who had hanged himself after being exposed as a Nazi. At one point, after justifying his questions to her by claiming to be writing a story on the re-birth of Nazism in Germany, he dismisses this fiction by stating that he won’t be writing about Nazis because politics ‘aren’t his thing’.

Deliberately eschewing support from a fellow operator (Peter Carsten), Quiller is promptly kidnapped by his opponents. Despite an order for his death, he is spared. It wouldn’t take much thought on a viewer’s part to guess why. Later, pointless actions result in his re-capture. He doesn’t carry a firearm because without one he is ‘less likely to get killed’, yet he goes unarmed into a situation in which he should know that he will be murdered if he is caught.

In a long and boring sequence, Quiller is followed, quite openly, by criminals who had earlier released him, when it would have been easier for their purpose just to keep him incarcerated. A car is booby-trapped and meant to kill Quiller, though there is no evidence that the intention of the villains to keep him alive has changed.

But that’s not all. Quiller’s superiors use a phrase about cigarettes to identify one another. They use it three times over several days. Passwords are usually changed frequently, even after a single use, to prevent enemies from taking advantage of overhearing them. This is, apparently, no danger here. The opening scene of the film shows Quiller’s predecessor (Herbert Stass) being shot. Despite being obviously nervous of his surroundings (a dark, deserted lane at night) and wary of danger, he walks down the centre of the street and enters a well-lit telephone booth to make a call; there is, however, no discernible reason why he could not have waited until he reached his home or even a crowded café.

One gets the feeling that the talent in front of the camera in The Quiller Memorandum was let down by that behind. Not having read anything Adam Hall wrote, I cannot comment on him. I have seen little of Pinter’s plays but have the impression that much comes from what people think they see rather than what is actually in them. This movie’s writing has a lot in the way of situations – clandestine meetings, painful interrogations, chases – but little thought put into them, either by the writer or by the characters. And in a story that relies heavily on plot, rather than action, that is disastrous. (I was also struck by similarities between The Quiller Memorandum and The Ipcress File, made the year before. Both films contain a cynical but capable operator, a brain-washing scene, and superiors who don’t appear to care much for their subordinates’ welfare.)

In short, The Quiller Memorandum ended up being the espionage-thriller equivalent of a slasher movie in which the viewer is always saying, “Why did he do that?” and “That was dumb.” And, really, the espionage-thriller is a genre in which those comments should be the last a viewer feels he must utter.