Funeral in Berlin

1966

Action / Thriller

11
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 73% · 10 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 8534 8.5K

berlin, germany england berlin wall spy cold war secret intelligence service

Plot summary

Colonel Stok, a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to smuggle him out of East Germany.

Director

Guy Hamilton Photo
Guy Hamilton

Top cast

Michael Caine Photo
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer
Oskar Homolka Photo
Oskar Homolka as Col. Stok
Wolfgang Völz Photo
Wolfgang Völz as Werner
John Abineri Photo
John Abineri as Rukel
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
938.97 MB
1280*548
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 5
1.7 GB
1904*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by thinker1691 8 / 10

" Admit it Russian, . . . I scared you ?"

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. ****
Reviewed by Pedro_H 8 / 10

Perfect Sunday afternoon pot-boiler material.

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.
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