The movie starts with a daring escape over the Berlin Wall. British agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is tasked with helping KGB Colonel Stok escape. Stok is responsible for the wall and Harry doesn't believe him. He infiltrates the border and makes contact with Stok who wants it to be arranged by criminal Otto Kreutzman. Harry returns to the West and has an one-night stand with Samantha Steel. Her forward manner leaves him suspicious. Kreutzman arranges for a funeral and Stok to be smuggled in a coffin. Johnny Vulkan runs the British Berlin office. Steel turns out to be an Isreali agent out to hunt for Nazi criminal Paul Louis Broum.
This is the second of the Harry Palmer movies. The franchise tries to be Bond with a murkier and more serious espionage bent. There is a fundamental problem in this movie. It seems too easy for Harry to move back and forth across the border. It makes it harder to intensify Stok's escape. The opening escape is good but none of what follows has the same thrills. Then there are the various double-crosses. It's a lot of twisty turns all revealed and explained in the second half. I am uncertain about everybody's motivations and actions. It's a bit convoluted without the sense of realism. It's all functional but not exceptional.
This is the second of the Harry Palmer movies. The franchise tries to be Bond with a murkier and more serious espionage bent. There is a fundamental problem in this movie. It seems too easy for Harry to move back and forth across the border. It makes it harder to intensify Stok's escape. The opening escape is good but none of what follows has the same thrills. Then there are the various double-crosses. It's a lot of twisty turns all revealed and explained in the second half. I am uncertain about everybody's motivations and actions. It's a bit convoluted without the sense of realism. It's all functional but not exceptional.