Author Ken Follett was making a name for himself long before
the current crop of spy thriller authors came along. Along with a few other
writers he took on the job of creating a believable world of spies in the tradition
of Ian Fleming’s James Bond and the sales of their books led to those being
created today. In 1976 he wrote the novel EYE OF THE NEEDLE and in 1981 it was
made into a feature film. The movie didn’t do amazing box office but it did
offer a well thought out slow burn spy thriller that takes place in WWII.
It’s shortly before D-Day and preparations are in order to
launch an attack against Germany by the allied forces. Germany has been doing
their best to infiltrate England and the find out when the attack will come and
where it will come from. Inserted into the country their top spy, a ruthless
assassin and sociopath, has discovered that a fake mockup has been created to
divert the Germans. As he is about to be caught he escapes to a remote island and
now must wait to be picked up by a U-boat.
The spy is Heinrich Faber (Donald Sutherland), known as “The
Needle” because of his weapon of choice for assassination is a stiletto. When
he arrives at the island he meets its only inhabitants, the disabled man of the
house David (Christopher Cazenove), his wife Lucy (Kate Nelligan) and their
young son Joe. Counting on their hospitality he stays with them a few days. In
that short amount of time a romance between Faber and Lucy unfolds, two lonely
people for different reasons brought together.
For Faber his life is one of solitude and the opportunity
for a connection to another human being is rare at best. For Lucy we have a
woman whose husband has withdrawn from the world due to the injury that left
him disabled. We are presented with two people who should not have the affair
that they do but because of the situations life has left them in they find one
another.
David becomes suspicious of Faber and looks into just who he
is and what he has with him. The result of his investigation is murder at the
hands of Faber. When Lucy realizes what is going on it is left to her to stop
this spy from contacted his U-boat and taking information with him that will
cause England to lose the war. With her life and that of her young son in the
way will she be up to the task at hand? And will the romance that came between
the two prevent either from doing what they must?
The movie is a slow burn, a thriller that unspools the story
at a pace that offers more story than action. It takes its time to place the
characters in the right place, to maneuver them into emotional moments and to
allow the viewer to get to know each of them before events occur. We understand
why David is bitter, why Lucy is lonely and why Faber is determined to complete
his mission. Life is messy and the intersecting of these three people shows how
unpredictable it can be.
Director Richard Marquand has done a fantastic job of
creating both the remote location of the small island with the remote feelings
on hand in the characters. It is this combination that pulls us in to wonder
what will happen, to hope for the best and to fear the worst. The fact that
Faber at any moment could just kill all three people, including a young child,
makes him one of the more dangerous characters seen on film. And yet we
understand why Lucy is drawn to him due to her circumstances.
All of the actors involved give it their best. It isn’t a
splashy movie but a subtle one and their performances match that subtlety. For
me this was the second film I’d seen Nelligan in, the first being DRACULA. She
does a great job here but for some reason never made it to mega-star status.
She should have. Sutherland shows that his acting chops were not a fluke in and
that he is incredibly talented.
As I said the movie did respectable business but was not a
smash hit. Fortunately we have the chance to see it in pristine condition with
this release from Twilight Time. The odds of finding a better looking edition
of this movie are unlikely. Extras include an isolated score track, audio
commentary with music historian Jon Burlingame and film historians Julie Kirgo
and Nick Redman and the original theatrical trailer. As with all Twilight Time
editions this one is limited to just 3,000 copies so fans will want to make
sure they pick one up before they are gone.
Click here to order.
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