Eye of the Needle (1981)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.1/10   

Director:

Richard Marquand

Escritores:

Ken Follett (novel)
Stanley Mann (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

24 julio 1981 (USA)

Género:

Suspenso | Guerra

Frase comercial:

Codename: "The Needle". Only one person can stop him: The woman who loves him !

Plot:

A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.

Plot Keywords:

German | D Day | Spy | Murder | WWII

Premios:

1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Somewhat unpromising but effective mixing of WW2 spy fare with an intense romantic thriller works superbly

Reparto

Donald Sutherland	...	Heinrich 'Henry' Faber
Stephen MacKenna	...	Lieutenant
Philip Martin Brown	...	Billy Parkin
Kate Nelligan	...	Lucy Rose
Christopher Cazenove	...	David Rose
George Belbin	...	Lucy's Father
Faith Brook	...	Lucy's Mother
Barbara Graley	...	David's Mother
George Lee	...	Constable
Arthur Lovegrove	...	Peterson
Colin Rix	...	Oliphant
Barbara Ewing	...	Mrs. Garden
Chris Jenkinson	...	German SS Officer
William Merrow	...	German Radio Operator
Patrick Connor	...	Inspector Harris

También conocida como:

El ojo de la aguja (Spain) [es]

Duración:

112 min

País:

UK

Idioma:

Alemán | Inglés

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | USA:R (certificate #26243) | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:16LV | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Locaciones de Filmación:

Blackbush Airport, Hampshire, England, UK

Compañía:

Juniper Films

Trivialidades:

The last film of Sam Kydd.

Errores:

Anacronismos: Several of the trains shown in the film are in British Railways livery but British Railways was not formed until 1948.

Citas:

Faber: The war has come down to the two of us.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Empire of Dreams: The Story of the 'Star Wars' Trilogy (2004) (TV)

Somewhat unpromising but effective mixing of WW2 spy fare with an intense romantic thriller works superbly

Eye of the Needle is an oddly structured but nonetheless extremely effective film which in many ways is quite old fashioned in tone and feel,with the addition of a little 'modern'sex and violence. For almost the first half,the film is a fairly conventional but quite gripping spy thriller,as a German agent causes havoc in World War 2 England. There are few surprises,but Donald Sutherland is mesmerising to watch {even if his accent wavers} and the plot at least sounds almost plausible. The keen eyed,however,may spot mistakes in the period detail.

Then Sutherland is washed up on a Scottish island inhabited by a crippled man and his frustrated wife,and the film changes into an incredibly tense mixture of romance and thrills. Sutherland and Nelligan's affair may be basically sexual,but there is real chemistry between them and a real sense of desperation,of two lonely people throwing themselves together. The last half hour is real edge-of-the-seat stuff,perhaps almost bordering on psycho-thriller,but it really works.

Throughout the film Sutherland remains the villain and does do some nasty things,but it's a measure of his performance that occasionally we do come close to sympathising with him. Acting-wise though the film really belongs to Nelligan,a tragically underused and beautiful actress who has to go through the motions of loneliness and frustration,than lust,then fear,and eventually heroism,and does so superbly.

Aided tremendously by the last ever score from the legendary film composer Miklos Rozsa,who provides a moving love theme and some especially thrilling music for the last section of the film,Eye of the Needle perhaps shouldn't really work as well at it does,but that's a measure of it's quality.