User reviews

There are a number of interesting spy novels involving British Agents, which were written by Len Deighton, but the most popular ones involves international spy Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) . That is because unlike 007, Harry is a 'thinking man's James Bond.' If you watch the movie, you'll see the reason for such a statement. Take for instance this offering " A Funeral in Berlin " is the tale of spy vs spy. During the era of the Cold War, each side (East and West) was endeavoring to gain an upper hand in the war of intrigue. The Berlin Wall or Iron Curtain separated Germany and each side sought to exploit the other side's weaknesses. Many East Germans were seeking to cross the 'wall' any way they could. To fail meant death. Harry Palmer is sent by his boss, Col. Ross (Guy Doleman) on what Harry believes is a fool's errand. A high ranking Russian Official, Colonel Stok KGB (Oskar Homolka) seeks to defect and needs Harry's help. His German friend, Johnny Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid) reassures harry of his mission as does Eva Renzi (Samantha Steel) an Isreali spy. All seems above board, but Harry is no fool and takes precautions to insure his own life. What transpires is nothing short of fine drama and the result is the foundation for Classic status. ****

Funeral in Berlin, in my view, remains the best of the 3 Harry palmer films. Dispensing with the mandatory 60's 'brainwashing'and over-played 'spy' sequences of the Ipcress file. Funeral in Berlin benefits greatly from being shot on location, adding to the authenticity and nervy cold war tension of the original novel. (Actually at least 2 other sub-plots are ditched to save on running time & viewer brain fatigue)The plot, although condensed, remains coherent and totally logical. For anyone wanting explosions, car chases and all the other dreary staples of the 'spy thriller' - forget it. Harry Palmer travels to see his boss on a bus and only receives a gun (at his request) over half way through the film! Watch it for atmosphere, razor-sharp dialogue and a great in-joke regarding Lownbrau beer... Michael Caine is at his world-weary best and supported by a fine cast, all adding to arguably the most 'authentic' spy film of the 60's. as for Billion dollar brain- Have you ever seen it? Listen to the theme tune & turn off!!

Reluctant spy and disgraced army sergeant Harry Palmer gets sent to Berlin to encounter a Russian general that says he wants to defect - but does he?

The success (and continued success) of the Ipcress Files lead to this very solid and very good (if complicated) follow-up which seems Palmer (Michael Caine in his too-cool-for-school best form) back in a cheap raincoat and dowdy clothes on a mission that he seems sure he is going to regret. Indeed he makes clear that only being on probation (still?) causes him to go on it in the first place.

The use of the real Berlin and the performance of Caine and Oskar Homolka (as Colonel Stok) keeps this film going as the plot is rather too thick for my liking.

I am not someone that wants to do this much thinking with my fluff - but I caught most of it or at least the main parts. Couldn't be sure totally who the lesser characters were in bed with though or even if it was not each other.

When the series returned with The Billion Dollar Brain it had got past its sell-by date and seemed to almost parody what had gone before. Like all things it has hard to judge when you have gone too far before you actually have.

As a footnote Howard Hughes used to watch this film over-and-over again (as many as three times a day) when locked in his own self-made lunatic asylum. Did the film drive him mad or help drive him mad. We will never know.

Though arguably not as cohesive as The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin still stands head and shoulders above the average 60s spy movie. The pacing could be tighter, the adaptation of Deighton's exemplary novel - one of his best - could be a little more fluid but generally the thing works well.

For fans of the novels this is perhaps the most interesting of the three movies. Ipcress is a fascinating spin on the its novel's central theme, Brain is an awful adaptation of a lack-lustre book but Funeral in Berlin sticks to the original story pretty firmly until it turns on you with a very groovy twist indeed.

Taking Harry Palmer to cold-war Berlin, 'Funeral In Berlin (1966)' sees its hero tasked with handling the defection of a Russian general. Of course things don't go exactly to plan. The plot includes all manner of codenames, back-stabbings and stiff upper lips. It gets very complicated very quickly and it's honesty hard to keep track of. More often than not, you're at the mercy of the narrative. That isn't always a bad thing and it does lead to a few surprises, but it also prevents you from being as attached to proceedings as you perhaps could have been. It's a rather cold affair, overall; it isn't emotionally affecting. It is typically an enjoyable experience, though. It's not quite as good as its predecessor, but it's a solid spy movie nevertheless. 6/10

In my second Harry Palmer film of the weekend, "Funeral in Berlin" (1966), Michael Caine, as Cockney thief turned secret agent Palmer, is given the mission of smuggling a Russian defector (Oscar Homolka, playing Colonel Stok) out of East Berlin. Guy Doleman appears again as Harry's obnoxious boss, and once in Berlin, Harry is aided by an old wartime friend, Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid, who you might better know as Paul Christian, star of "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms"). Palmer also gets involved with an Israeli secret agent in this film, played by the beautiful Eva Renzi, who, in real life, was Paul Hubschmid's wife. As might be expected, the smuggling of Col. Stok does not go quite as planned, and once again, plot complications ensue to the point that the viewer can just barely keep up with all the double crosses and secret agendas of all the players. And yet again, the ties to the Bond franchise are there, what with Harry Saltzman's production, Guy "Goldfinger" Hamilton's direction, and Ken Adam's sets. In all, a highly pleasing affair, with fascinating background scenery of the dreary Berlin environs, but only if you are willing to really pay attention and keep up!

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.

"The Ipcress File" introduced us to Harry Palmer, the anti-James Bond. This movie is even better than the first. Both are based on novels by Len Deighton, who rivals John LeCarre as the most sophisticated thoughtful spy novelists. Michael Caine's Palmer has a cockney accent, avoids fights, can't afford the finer things in life, has no fancy cars or technological gimmicks. What he has is the brain to figure who's triple crossing all the double crossers in Cold War Berlin's espionage underground. It helps that all the other characters underestimate him. This movie is sharp, intelligent, and unsentimental. It ranks with the very best spy movies ever made. Outstanding.

As some other reviewers have opined, this is the best of the three Harry Palmer movies set in the '60s. Michael Caine's cavalier attitude coupled with his witty, sarcastic banter is most refreshing. All the stodgy bureaucratic types get bum-rushed by Harry Palmer's rapier tongue. His self deprecating humor, especially in some of the scenes with Samantha Steele (Eva Renzi), is refreshing, since she has the pertness and sense of humor to complement those scenes deftly. Similarly, the scenes with Col. Stock show great flashes of sarcastic wit, juxtaposed with attending to the serious Cold War business at hand.

But the more serious fun is the wonderfully executed plot development, interweaving the various characters such as Johnny Vulcan, Col. Stock, Hallam, Ross (the boss), Kreutsmann, Steele, etc. into a menagerie of complicated intrigue. I'll let others offer a plot synopsis: I'll just say the film keeps you guessing and wondering throughout its hour and forty-five minutes. The overall style of mixing mordant anti-establishment humor and complicated intrigue reminds me of a later film, "The Russia House", with Sean Connery, an equally satisfying Cold War drama.

The only knock I have on this film is the sometimes obtrusive sound track, where the trumpets blare much too loudly to proclaim a given dramatic occurrence. Could have been done a little more tastefully.

All in all, a "must see" for Cold War movie fans!

Funeral In Berlin is the second spy film in the 'Harry Palmer' series, following the superior The Ipcress File (1965) and preceding the fairly bad Billion Dollar Brain (1967). It once again follows the unglamourised British secret agent Palmer in a more nuts and bolts approach to the Secret Service than had been popularised by the 'James Bond' series. Unlike those, this one focuses on the real geopolitical scenario of the Cold War. In this instance, Palmer is sent to Berlin to check out a dubious planned defection of a high ranking Soviet commander; needless to say, things prove to be considerably more complex.

Once again, the 'Palmer' films have differentiated themselves from the approach of the 'James Bond' series. High glamour and exotic locations are replaced with a bespectacled and unstylishly clothed spy and a gloomy and oppressed city in which the action plays out. The 'Palmer' films sort of fall between the full-on over-the-top approach of Bond and the ultra-austere realism of The Spy who came in from the Cold (1965); so they sort of feed of both strands with enough realism to please those seeking truer to life fare, yet still throwing in enough action to ensure they aren't too depressingly realistic. Funeral In Berlin is a more plot-driven film than The Ipcress File but it lacks the relentless visual invention of that movie and its fantastic John Barry score. It also I guess suffers from inevitably not being as fresh an idea the second time around. Yet, it still remains a quite impressive film in terms of its overall story and production values. The story is quite complex so you do need to pay attention but it does ensure it remains quite compelling. Michael Caine is great value again as the sarcastic central character. It was also nice to see Eva Renzi appear as an Israeli spy - she was very well known to me for playing a highly memorable character in Dario Argento's seminal debut film, the ultra-chic giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) - it was very nice to see her in something else.

Sure it's long and dreary and doesn't always make much sense and it's very set in its era, but it's still an entertaining piece, thanks in no small part to Michael Caine as Harry Palmer.

This one has him undertaking a Russian's desire to cross over the Berlin wall legally, and discovers a dark secret about an alleged friend. Film is something of an intellectual morality tale as Palmer deals with being ordered to kill a man in cold blood and the other various cloak and dagger techniques that come up in the world of spies, along with the whole right to identity argument.

Eva Renzi (Caine's lover) and Paul Hubschmid (Caine's "friend") were later married in real life for a while.

All sorts of dry British humor abound.

Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is back and Colonel Ross has sent him to Berlin.

Palmer needs to arrange the defection of Soviet intelligence officer Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka) from East Berlin but Palmer is sceptical if the defection is genuine.

Palmer meets an old contact in Berlin Johnny Vulkan to set the wheel in motions. Criminal Otto Kreutzmann is the goto man for defections from East Berlin and he will bring over Stok by arranging a funeral.

In Berlin, Palmer also gets involved with a Mossad spy Samantha Steel who is after a former Nazi called Paul Louis Broum. Indeed Kreutzmann's people also want documents pertaining to Broum and Ross has them. Palmer brings them over to Berlin when Stok's defection is set into motion.

Funeral in Berlin benefits from authentic location shooting in Berlin. There is some sure footed direction by Guy Hamilton who made the Bond movie Goldfinger.

However this is a typical spy story of the era which gets quickly convoluted as everyone has different motives. There are just too many double crosses but Palmer tries to stay one step ahead even trying to keep a grip with his humanity when Ross orders him to do a hit.

This is not quiet as good as The Ipcress File but is better than Billion Dollar Brain. There is a fun performance from Oskar Homolka who looked a little like the then Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev.

British agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is dispatched to Berlin to get the real story when a Russian intelligence colonel is reported to be anxious to defect.

The global success of the James Bond franchise spawned a million imitators, ranging from the sublime to the silly. The Harry Palmer trilogy, featuring The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Billion Dollar Brain, were arguably the best of the lot and a close runner-up to Bond himself. "Funeral in Berlin" provides an interesting view of postwar Berlin. The movie is filled with oddball characters. Caine is as irrepressible and incorrigible as ever in the role of Palmer, matched by Oscar Homolka as the would-be defector in one of the veteran actor's best performances. The result is a film that demonstrates a narrative depth most of the James Bond films lack. It also helps that the picture was directed by Guy Hamilton, a four- film veteran of the Bond series who knows the genre inside-out and realizes what areas could use a little freshening up.

Verdict: The real charm of this movie lies in Michael Caine's performance as Harry Palmer and in a weird little character quirk written into the script. You may not believe everything agent Harry Palmer does, but you won't feel your intelligence was insulted.

Rating: 7- ('cos I like spy movies)

Favorite quote: Samantha Steel: My name is Samantha Steel. Some people call me Sam.

Harry Palmer: Edmund Dorf. Some people call me Edna.

At first glance you'd never guess this movie was produced by Harry Saltzmann, the co-producer of that other spy series. (James something-or-other......oh well, it'll come back to me.) This movie has no car chases, nifty gadgets, few ladies and a unrelentingly glum look. Still, i'd trade in all post-Connery-Bonds (that's the one!) for this low-key but effective Cold War thriller. Basically, Bond is for kids, Palmer for adults, who can deal with a plot that makes sense without resorting to cheap gags and exploding helicopters. Caine is pitch perfect as the cynical but loyal Palmer, who always looks after number One but still gets the job done. Do his superiors appreciate him? Do they heck! Ain't that almost like in real life?

Second outing for Len Deighton's agent Harry Palmer, with Michael Caine reprising his role from "The Ipcress File" in another convoluted spy yarn set, obviously in Berlin marrying the then topical subjects of East-West defections and Nazi-hunting in another tense, Cold War thriller.

As you'd expect, everyone, apart from Harry and his taciturn boss Ross, isn't who they seem but as before, our bespectacled, rain-coated hero manages to get ahead of the game by the end, with the usual trail of dead bodies in his wake.

Atmospherically shot in location in West Berlin, "Funeral In Berlin" might lack the in-vogue 60's brain-washing gimmickry of its predecessor and that film's nail-biting (or should that be hand-gouging) conclusion, but its emphasis on realism works to its advantage. Cleverly directed by erstwhile Bond director Guy Hamilton, even the Palmer-girl gets to keep her clothes on and there are of course no Q-type gadgets to rely on.

Caine is, as before, very good in what may be his best role. Some of the other acting isn't quite up to his standard, however with veteran Oscar Hamulka in particular, serving up an overdone slice of Russian ham as the Eastern general. Guy Hamilton directs in a cool, assured, anti-Bond and therefore highly effective style.

Less well-known than "The Ipcress File", but I think it's superior, "Funeral In Berlin" was probably the best of the three Harry Palmer films and stands out itself as one of the best spy-thrillers of its era.

Over time, spy films about the Cold War have become historical films, but they have not always been so. In 1966, when Guy Hamilton made 'Funeral in Berlin', the film could have been categorised as a 'actuality film'. Of course, actuality fiction, because it is actually the screening of a novel by Len Deighton, the second in a series of three films starring the English secret agent Harry Palmer. The first was 'The Ipcress File' which had been successful. It was the decade in which the James Bond film series, which would have a much longer cinematic life, was also released. Ian Fleming and Len Deighton wrote spy novels in different manners, and the films inspired by their novels also took diverging directions. Fleming was heading for adventure and commercial entertainment where the identity of the enemies didn't matter much, which is perhaps one of the reasons why the James Bond series continued after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Deighton was more attentive to the technical and political details of the Cold War, and the three films in this series inspired by his novels more accurately reflect the period, in a cinematic style approaching the film noir genre.

Michael Caine's Harry Palmer is a hero different in many ways of James Bond, who at that time was played bySean Connery. It is, if you wish, an anti-Bond. Unlike Bond, who has an impeccable record, Palmer has a dubious past, in which he was involved with the world of crime. Bond casually collects sentimental conquests, while Palmer, when he falls for a gorgeous girl, immediately smells the trap. Finally, and perhaps the most significant difference, Bond lightly uses his 'license to kill' while Palmer's gun remains loaded throughout the film, even when he receives an explicit order to eliminate an opponent.

Guy Hamilton, who had previously directed 'Goldfinger' in the James Bond series, changes the register with versatility and manages to create an espionage thriller in which the plot and the relationships between the characters are credible and have a greater weight than the action part (which is not completely missing either). The excellent cinematography of Otto Heller uses filming on location in the Berlin divided by the infamous wall, and those scenes have a documentary authenticity. Michael Caine, whose popularity and the success that came after owes a lot to the three films in this series, acts smarttly, with discretion and humor, the role of Palmer. I also noticed in the cast Eva Renzi as a superb Mossad agent, and Oskar Homolka, who was one of the Austrian Jewish actors who took refuge in the United States before World War II, in the role of Soviet Colonel Stok, who triggers the story, announcing his intention to defect to the West. What follows is worth watching. 'Funeral in Berlin' is an interesting film for the context in which it was made, but also as entertainment for spy movie lovers and not only for them.

This is my favourite of the three Harry Palmer films (I don't count the 90s remake.) This film is accurately done and goes at a sensible pace – however, those people looking for computerised special effects and exploding cars are watching the wrong film.

The plot is really good and makes absolute sense – if you follow it closely. There is also the wonderful dry wit between Palmer and his commanding officer.

Palmer: I didn't pick her up; she picked me up.

Ross: Well you'd have to say that to get it on expenses.

Also, you should watch this in widescreen – there are some subtle details, which are left out at the edge of the screen. Including the subtle way in which Sam first picks up Harry at the hotel. However, unlike most "Spy" films we are not subjected to the obligatory soft porn sequence.

Listen carefully for the references to Suvorov – a Russian general, part of the priceless banter between Palmer and the Russian who wants to defect.

They don't make films like this anymore – simply because they don't write books like this anymore. This was Len Deighton and it is first class.

Harry Palmer was a competitor to James Bond. Unlike the famous 007, he didn't even have a license to kill, or access to gadgets invented by the fantastic Q, or a millionaire budget for his missions. He didn't drive luxury cars, branded clothes or play in Monte Carlo. He was just a civil servant with a meager salary, who used public transport and sometimes got some cute girls. He was the cockney version of James Bond, so it made perfect sense to be played by Michael Caine.

Caine had charm, but he was a popular version of James Bond, more suited to the local pub than the luxury hotels.

This is one of the films in the Harry Palmer series, with which wanted to present a more blue collar version of 007. A lot of intrigue, we were at the peak of the cold war, enough twists in the plot to attract the spectator, less glamorous scenarios but equally traveled. Pure entertainment, but in many ways more interesting than 007.

based on Len Deighton's outstanding novel, this sequel to "The Ipcress File" features Michael Caine once again as the the anti-James Bond British spy, Harry Palmer. Palmer wears thick glasses, dresses in a cheap rain-coat, has a cockney-accent, and cultivates an aura of being not too bright. Of course, he is the only one who can keep track of the double-, triple-, and quadruple crosses in a Berlin where Brits, Americans, Israelis, Russians, and East Germans are all pursuing different goals. Even Palmer's superiors in the Secret Service are pursuing different goals. The plot is complex, but rewards close attention. Caine is pitch-perfect as Palmer, and spy stories just don't get any more bleak and cynical. A very superior movie.

A solid but comparatively stolid second film in the 1960s Harry Palmer trilogy starring Michael Caine as the bespectacled British secret agent. In the Len Deighton novels the author leavens convoluted and murky plots through an insolent and witty narrative, crammed with detail. But this translates more stodgily to cinema. The other two films (The Ipcress File and Billion Dollar Brain) sought to overcome this with flashy camerawork and cutting. Here, Guy Hamilton, fresh from a huge success with Goldfinger, directs with a more assured but less overtly flamboyant touch. His supporting cast is excellent, especially Oskar Homolka as the supposedly defecting KGB colonel and Guy Doleman as Caine's urbane but unsmilingly ruthless MI5 boss. Still, the downbeat air (intended to expose how cynical and bureaucratic world of espionage really is) does rather sap the energy, not helped by Konrad Elfers' plodding music score.