Funeral in Berlin

Plot synopsis:
Berlin in the 1960s is a city divided between Cold War lines with inhabitants of the Communist East trying to escape to the West. Even with the infamous Berlin Wall these escapes are common and successful.Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka), the head of intelligence in Russia's Berlin section and the one responsible for preventing escapes over the Wall, contacts British Intelligence and informs them that he wants to defect to the West. British spy Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is sent to West Berlin to find out if Stok's offer is genuine and arrange his escape. Palmer was once involved in black market dealings in Berlin and was given the choice of joining British Intelligence or going to jail. Returning to the city, he is re-united with his old associate, German national Johnny Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid), who also works for Palmer's superior Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman).Vulkan arranges for Palmer to go to East Berlin to meet Colonel Stok. In exchange for his co-operation with the British, Stok requests a meagre stipend, a house in the country and his escape must be carried out by Kreutzmann (Günter Meisner), a Berlin gangster responsible for the most successful escapes. Stok claims that Kreutzmann's escapes have lead his department to be investigated and that he must get out before things turn nasty.Returning to West Berlin, Palmer is picked up by a beautiful young woman called Samantha Steel (Eva Renzi), who invites him to a party but instead takes him to her flat for drinks, dinner and presumably more as Palmer is next seen leaving her place in the morning. Not taken in by Samantha's charms, Palmer hires a burglar to search her apartment to figure out who she really is. The thief discovers a number of passports of various nationalities under different variations of her name and a little black book in her safe which lists names of men next to million-dollar figures. Returning to his hotel room, Palmer finds that it too has been ransacked.Palmer negotiates an arrangement with Kreutzmann without revealing the details of the one whom the British want to get across the Wall. As part of his payment, Kreutzmann demands a set of identity papers.Palmer tests Stok in order to determine how sincere he is about defecting. The test seems conclusive and Palmer returns to London. From Hallam (Hugh Burden), the documents manager back at MI5, Palmer receives documents in the name of Paul Louis Broum. As he places the envelope in his briefcase for return to Berlin, he notices the same name on the photocopy of Samantha's little black book, with the figure $2,000,000 next to it.Palmer returns to Samantha and makes a point of letting her see the envelope with Broum's name. Dropping all pretence, she admits that she is an Israeli agent. Broum is a Nazi war criminal who stole millions from the Jews during the war and hid it in a Swiss bank account. The Israelis need the papers in order to reclaim the money. Although she threatens to kill him, Palmer refuses to give her the documents since he needs them to pay Kreutzmann.Kreutzmann and his men murder an elderly East Berliner whose body is claimed by a relative in the West - actually someone employed by Kreutzmann. A body transfer is arranged but as the hearse makes its way from the morgue to the checkpoint, it is hijacked by Kreutzmann's men and replaced with another which contains a different coffin.The coffin is taken to West Berlin and delivered to an abandoned warehouse where Palmer and his associate Vulkan are waiting. But when the coffin in opened it is found to contain the dead body of Kreutzmann! Stok's whole defection was simply a bluff to lure Kreutzmann out and put an end to the escapes he so brilliantly organised. Although well informed, he and his men never knew in advance that Stok was the intended client.Before Palmer can get away from Kreutzmann's outraged accomplices, he is knocked unconscious by Vulkan who gets hold of the Broum documents only to be held up by Samantha and two other Israeli agents who take away the papers.Vulkan tells Palmer that he was knocked out by another of Kreutzmann's men. They then go to a safe house where British officials are waiting to debrief Stok. Stok of course is not there, meaning that a lot of valuable time and money has been wasted. Palmer's boss, Colonel Ross, is also present and Palmer tells him about the Broum documents. Ross was unaware that they were being used as part of the deal with Kreutzmann. He then reveals to Palmer that towards the end of the war, Paul Louis Broum, a guard at a concentration camp, murdered a resistance fighter called Johnny Vulkan and assumed his identity. Ross got hold of the documents and used them to blackmail Broum into working for him.Now that the documents are missing, Ross has nothing with which to keep a hold on Broum/Vulkan and cannot risk him defecting. He therefore orders Palmer to kill Broum. Palmer won't kill anyone in cold blood and allows Broum/Vulkan to get away.Back in West Berlin, Palmer meets Stok who is over for a routine meeting with his Western counterparts. The affable Russian confirms that his supposed defection was just a trap to get rid of Kreutzmann. He and Palmer even joke about the latter himself defecting to the East; Stok advises: "If you need to get out in a hurry, ask Vulkan. He knows the way."Meanwhile, Broum/Vulkan goes to Samantha's flat, murders an Israeli agent and gets the documents back. He then meets Hallam, the Intelligence official who gave Palmer the Broum documents in London. However, the documents that they now have are in fact forgeries made by one of Palmer's underworld Berlin contacts. Hallam goes to Palmer, saying that he has been sent by Ross to get the real documents back. Palmer never believed Hallam's claim that he selected the Broum documents at random and forces him to admit that he is in league with Broum: they took advantage of the situation to get the documents out of London and now intend to use them in order to claim the Nazi loot that Broum deposited in the Swiss banks.Palmer and Hallam go to a quiet part of the Berlin wall through which Broum and Hallam intend to slip into the East and thus to Switzerland, but Broum kills Hallam and makes away with the documents. However he is subsequently killed by the Israeli agents who were tailing Palmer. Palmer lets them take the genuine Broum documents.When Vulkan's body is discovered, Ross is satisfied that he will just be another martyr shot while escaping to the West. Palmer however turns down Ross's offer of a bonus for his work and leaves.By the time of the next film, Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Palmer has resigned from British Intelligence.

Tags: murder

Review:
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.
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.
"The Ipcress File" introduced us to Harry Palmer, the anti-James Bond.
I personally think that Funeral In Berlin is a great film and far better than the previous Ipcress File which generally gets the credit as the best of Len Deighton's Harry Palmer novels to make it to the big screen.
The hard edged 'real life'(compared to Bond) atmosphere give the film it's sense of believability through all of it's complex plot turns.
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 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) .
Though arguably not as cohesive as The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin still stands head and shoulders above the average 60s spy movie.
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..
Funeral in Berlin is to my mind the best spy-agent film of its kind!
Border guards would train their binoculars on you and the reception received from the Vopos who were in charge of passport admin was cold.Watching Funeral in Berlin takes me back to 1967, I notice Kranzlers café on the Ku'damm where I often took coffee, the Bristol Kempinski Hotel off the Ku'damm where I lived for 3 months, the Europa Centre next to the Kaiser Willhelm Memorial Church, and of course the Mercedes insignia.If you want to know more about the Berlin Wall read the excellent Christopher Hilton book The Wall: THe Peoples Story..
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.
Funeral in Berlin- The best of the 3 'Harry Palmer' films.
Funeral in Berlin, in my view, remains the best of the 3 Harry palmer films.
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.
I think it's best to appreciate this Harry Palmer adventure on it's own merits.I actually liked this film better than Billion Dollar Brain and I think the story holds up better than both BDB and Ipcress File because there's no wacky "hi-tech" props to get in the way.Not that I mind the often outlandish gizmos and such of spy-films like these and the Bond-genre.
Questionably the best Spy Film From the '60s, undoubtedly the best of the Harry Palmer Series.
The Second of Len Deightons's Harry Palmer trilogy 'Funeral In Berlin' Stands head and shoulders above nearly all spy thrillers ever made.
The supporting cast are brilliant, with an outstanding Oskar Holmolka working his genius as the Russian Colonel Stok.What the film does best is capture the tension and complicated nature of the cold war.
The only film to come close in modern times is "The Good Shepard"The look of the movie is completely stunning and the soundtrack is perfectionOften the best work will come out when there is little or no expectation- Take Marvin Gayes "Whats going on" Album.
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..
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.
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.
Perfectly cast Cold War spy thriller includes the usual characters: The good guy fighting for the allies, the villains whose loyalties are varied and mysterious, the beautiful woman who is dangled as the inevitable love interest for the sole purpose of gaining information, and those directing the action from the safety of their respective offices at headquarters.
It's James Bond style all the way, yet much more historically plausible than merely wildly entertaining fiction.Michael Caine is brilliant as the accidental spy who wants nothing more than to pay his debt to the Crown for old crimes committed.
Harry Palmer was in complete fit at cold war era,spoken in a short few words,his assignment is surrounded by fake informations,leading the viewers most of time in a dead end,masterfully directed by Guy Hamilton this fine sample of british movie in this field,given another dimension in spies's pictures,very opposite of 007's movies directed by own director,no fireworks usually in this genre Funeral in Berlin driven to another level,forcing the brains to work in advance of happenings and a clever plot allowed gave such interpretation!!!Resume:First watch: 1989 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.
This is the second in a series of Harry Palmer films taken from the novels of Len Deighton.
I am not sure how closely these stories follow the novels, but I was very impressed at just how seemingly ordinary Palmer (Michael Caine) is in this film.
While I preferred the first film ("The Ipcress File"), "Funeral in Berlin" is awfully good as well.
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 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.
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.
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.
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..
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).
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.
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.
British agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is tasked with helping KGB Colonel Stok escape.
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.
They're not sequels, so if you like spy movies with the character Harry Palmer, you can watch the five films The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, The Billion Dollar Brain, Bullet to Beijing, and Midnight in Saint Petersburg in any order.
There's some action scenes, some love scenes, and some very '60s scenes.In Funeral in Berlin, Michael Caine is given the responsibility of dealing with a Russian defector, Oskar Homolka, who wishes security and safekeeping in England.
I didn't particularly like this one, because there wasn't any element to make it stand out from all the other "Michael Caine in a spy thriller" movies, but if you like those types of films, you can give it a try..
The weakest of the three Harry Palmer movies the best being Billion Dollar Brain.This one lacks the style of the Ipcress File and the ingenuity of BDB.
On the heels of the successful "The Ipcress Files", "Funeral in Berlin" again features Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, though now more adept at spycraft.
In my opinion, the female lead is more interesting and more involved in the plot.The dialogue is also an improvement, with more of Palmer's dry ripostes to lighten the tone and to help the viewer like his character.Some viewers will see the direction in which the plot is going before it gets there, but that is forgiven in a film that make getting there so enjoyable..
In Funeral in Berlin (1966) Harry Palmer's being sent to Berlin to aid a defecting Russian corporal.
He's an insult to his profession.The film is a delight to watch, in the first place thanks to Michael Caine, who already played Harry Palmer a year before in The Ipcress File, a perhaps even more enjoyable film.
For nearly five decades, many a spy movie was set in its shadow including this laboured follow-up to "The Ipcress File".The films based on Len Deighton's Harry Palmer books introduced a different kind of secret agent.
Caine eliminated almost any kind of animation from his performance and seems to have modelled his character on an accountant or perhaps a health inspector.All cold war spy films involve double-dealing and double-crossing, and are often hard to follow.
However, there is so much switching around and changing sides in "Funeral in Berlin" that I doubt if even the people who made the film knew what was going on.The story involves Palmer's attempts to help Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka), a prominent Russian counter intelligence chief to defect to the West.
Palmer poses as a lingerie salesman to infiltrate into East Berlin assisted by Johnny Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid) who runs a lingerie business as a cover for his espionage activities.The East German Police, Nazi war criminals, the KGB, the British Secret Service, and Israel's Mossad all find a place in the plot.Eventually, it becomes evident that Johnny Vulkan is the object of much of their attention.
Finally, the impenetrable plot plays out after much crunching around in bombed-out buildings.At the film's end, Harry Palmer stands before his controlling officer, Ross (Guy Dolman), totally disillusioned at the turn of events.
With that said, Caine's Harry Palmer seems so relentlessly unenergetic that it comes as a surprise when he is involved in a love scene or lashes out with his fists – one just can't picture him working out enough to stay in shape for this kind of activity.The film has authenticity; much of it filmed on location in Berlin and near The Wall.
The film's failings are not with its production values but rather with its plot of too many twists and credibility gaps."Funeral" is not as effective as "The Ipcress File" and is not as flashy as "Billion Dollar Brain", which reintroduced many of the same characters.
A smart spy thriller with Michael Caine as the resourceful (albiet occasionally inept) Harry Palmer.
Assigned to smuggle high ranking Russian Oskar Homolka out of East Berlin, Palmer finds himself waist deep in a game of double & triple cross.
While it's not the equal of its predecessor, "The Ipcress File", "Funeral In Berlin" is still a must-see for Michael Caine fans as well as old-school spy movie fans.
Berlin (and London) on-location shooting, Otto Heller's expert cinematography and Konrad Elfers' classic score give the film just the right look and feel of authenticity, while Michael Caine's dry wit is at its highest ("Escaped?
The sixties spy thriller Funeral in Berlin is an excellent example of how the star charisma of Michael Caine can save a film from obscurity.
Because the plot of Funeral in Berlin gets so complex and convoluted with double-crossing and triple-crossing that Caine becomes a beacon and guide in the maze.Funeral in Berlin is the second of three 1960s Harry Palmer movies (let's pretend those 2 TV movies from the 1990's don't exist).
British agent Harry Palmer was the bespectacled working class answer to the glamorous globetrotting James Bond.
Michael Caine excels in pretending that he knows what it is all about in his second round as Harry Palmer.
But in contrast to James Bond is that when a beautiful woman is interested In Harry Palmer, he suspects right away it's a trap.And that's because it always is..
Paramount did rather well by Michael Caine in Funeral in Berlin (1966), the best of the three 1960s Harry Palmer movies.
***SPOILERS*** British underpaid and overworked secret agent Harry Palmer, Michael Caine, who uses public transportation in not being provided with a car, any car, by the British I5 agency that he works or slaves for is given the task by his boss Col. Ross,Guy Doleman, to sneak Russian Col. Stok, Oskar Homolka, out of Communist East Berlin to the freedom of the west in a casket provided by a local funeral home.
Not a bit fooled by this story Palmer smells a rat in all this but just goes along with it just to find out what the real reason is about what this is all about and who's behind it.The film starts to go into all directions that have to do with Nazi gold, taken from Jews in WWII, as well as Nazis hiding in both East and West Germany after the war who are planning to use the stolen loot to revive the third and soon to be forth Reich when the time is right.
It's now up to Palmer to find out why he's been set up in all this that leads to his contact in East Berlin Johnny Vulkan who's really escaped Nazi war criminal and wanted by the Isralie Mossad Louis Borum.
"Harry Palmer" (Michael Caine) is a British agent who was essentially drafted into his line of work due to some misconduct on his part while serving in the army.
So when a top Russian officer named "Colonel Stok" (Oscar Homolka) secretly announces his decision to defect Harry is sent to East Berlin to facilitate his escape.
First of all, I really don't buy the "realistic spy" reputation that Len Deighton's Harry Palmer stories have won.
Several people here seem to be labouring under the impression that this is not only a good movie but also the best of all the Harry Palmer movies, if that is the case I'd hate to see the other two.