|
|
| THE DEFECTOR
(L'ESPION) (director/writer:
Raoul Levy; screenwriters: Peter Francke/Robert
Guenette/from the novel The Spy by Paul Thomas;
cinematographer: Raoul Coutard; editor:
Albert Jurgenson; music: Serge Gainsbourg;
cast: Montgomery Clift (Prof. James Bower),
Hardy Kruger (Peter Heinzman), Roddy McDowall (Agent
Adam), Macha Meril (Frieda Hoffmann), David Opatoshu
(Orlovsky), Christine Delaroche (Ingrid), Hannes
Messemer (Dr. Saltzer), Karl Lieffen (The Major), Uta
Levka (Mdchen unter der Dusche); Runtime: 106;
MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Raoul Levy;
Warner Bros.; 1966) "The last film from the pale looking Montgomery Clift." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz The last film from the pale looking Montgomery Clift, who soon after the film wrapped died of a heart attack. It doesn't generate much excitement due to the weak story, even weaker direction of Raoul Levy ("Marco the Magnificent"/"Hail, Mafia") and a very weak Clift giving a good effort despite no longer having his star appeal or much energy. The Belgium-born Levy killed himself with a gunshot in 1967, only a year after the film was released. The routine Cold War thriller is based on The Spy, a novel by Paul Thomas, and is co-written by Levy, Peter Francke and Robert Guenette. While
American physicist Prof. James Bower (Montgomery
Clift) is in Munich he's recruited by
cutthroat CIA agent Adam (Roddy
McDowall), an old friend, to take a
dangerous spy assignment to smuggle out of East
Germany microfilm of a Russian scientist defector
named Goshenko. Chosen because
Goshenko knows him and will
only deal with him. Bower is told
by the CIA operative that if he refuses, the
government would issue no more grants for him and he
would have a tough time getting work in his field. In
Leipzig, Bower is confronted as a spy by Peter
Heinzman (Hardy Kruger),
an East German scientist and top-level Communist
agent, who knows the American's assignment is to
get the microfilm. To see if Goshenko
passed the microfilm to Bower before his
death, the Russian top spy Orlovsky
(David
Opatoshu) has Bower go
through a drug-induced brainwashing
while locked in his hotel room.
After released, Bower obtains the
microfilm from a contact, a medical
doctor, Dr. Saltzer (Hannes
Messemer), and
begins a romance with his sweet
nurse Frieda Hoffmann (Macha
Meril).
Meanwhile Orlovsky
schemes to get
Heinzman
to convince
Bower to
defect. When Heinzman
is reluctant,
he's
threatened
with never
getting a top
position
again. Bower
refuses to
defect, and
Heinzman is
then ordered
to cross the
border as a
defector and
to convert
Bower into
believing
scientists
should work
for the world
and not
countries.
After Bower's
nighttime
escape across
the East
German
check-points
and canals, Heinzman
unites with
Bower but is
killed in
Munich by a
truck driven
by a CIA
contract
killer. The
film was shot
in Germany. REVIEWED ON 9/17/2012 GRADE: C+ Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |