Funeral in Berlin (1966)

The name Harry Saltzman may not ring a bell to the common person but for fans of James Bond Saltzman along with producing partner Albert "Cubby" Broccoli are film royalty. Saltzman and Broccoli bought the rights to novelist Ian Fleming's James Bond books and brought the sophisticated, sexy secret agent known as 007 to the big screen beginning in 1962 with DR. NO directed by Terence Young and starring a fairly new young Scottish actor named Sean Connery. The character of James Bond was a romantic, sensationalized image of a British secret agent, an inflated playboy version of author Fleming himself who worked for British intelligence during World War II. Saltzman would co-produce nine Bond films with Broccoli before selling his rights off. But many film fans may not be aware that Saltzman bought another spy property solo around the same time based on three novels by British spy author Len Deighton.  The novels which would be turned into films were THE IPCRESS FILE, FUNERAL IN BERLIN, and BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN (directed by Ken Russell). Only this time, the main character was the polar opposite of James Bond, a more working-class antagonist in the Cold War era of spies and espionage named Harry (eventually called Harry Palmer in the films), a former criminal working for British intelligence. 

In 1965, the film adaptation of Deighton's first book THE IPCRESS FILE directed by Sidney J. Furie starring a new young English actor Michael Caine would be released. That same year Martin Ritt's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom based on the novel by John Le Carre also came out.  Both Deighton and Le Carre were up and coming spy novelists who wrote more realistic, cynical stories about spies in a morally ambiguous world than Fleming.  In Deighton and Le Carre's spy world, the enemy was often someone on your side as much as the Russian or East German side. Martinis shaken not stirred and Aston Martin cars with ejector seats were nowhere to be found in their stories.  I have chosen the second film in the Harry Palmer series FUNERAL IN BERLIN to discuss because of its catchier title and it was filmed in West Berlin (yes, the Berlin Wall still separated East and West Berlin at that time). THE IPCRESS FILE is a good film, introducing us to the world of Harry Palmer as he tries to figure out who is kidnapping and brainwashing British scientists. THE MILLION DOLLAR BRAIN I know very little about. But FUNERAL IN BERLIN has a plot with some great twists and surprises. Saltzman may have wanted to show us a more down to earth spy than James Bond, but he brought in some of the best technicians from the Bond series for THE IPCRESS FILE hiring Ken Adam as Production Designer, Peter Hunt as Editor, and John Barry to compose the musical score.

For FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966), Saltzman turned to Guy Hamilton who had just directed the best of the early Bond films with GOLDFINGER (1964). With a screenplay by Evan Jones based on Len Deighton's novel, FUNERAL IN BERLIN begins in (where else?) Berlin. We're shown the bustling, cosmopolitan West Berlin and the stark, barb wired covered East Berlin.  An East German musician makes a daring escape over the Berlin Wall, engineered by West Berlin criminal Otto Kreutzman (Gunter Meisner). Back in London, British secret agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is called to his superior Colonel Ross's (Guy Doleman) home for a new assignment. A Russian Colonel named Stok (Oscar Homolka) stationed in East Berlin wants to defect to the West. Ross wants Palmer to run the mission.

After picking up fake passports from another British agent Hallam (Hugh Burden), Palmer flies to West Berlin where he's picked up by Johnny Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid), a former criminal like Palmer who runs the Berlin sector for British intelligence. Palmer's cover in Berlin is a ladies underwear salesman. Palmer is skeptical about the defection but arranges a meeting with Col. Stok who requests that Kreutzman arrange his escape. Stok demands it be foolproof. Upon returning to the western sector, Palmer meets a model named Samantha Steel (Eva Renzi) at a bar. Samantha's a bit too friendly but Palmer spends the night with her to learn more. Palmer's certain she's a spy and hires a local German thief to ransack her apartment.  It turns out Samantha has several passports of her own.

Vulkan sets up a meeting between Harry and Kreutzman and his operatives. Harry and Kreutzman work out the details.  The plan is to stage a phony funeral and bring Stok across from East Berlin to West Berlin in a coffin. Harry and Kreutzman agree on the terms.  Harry reports back to Ross in London. Harry still has his doubts, but Ross greenlights the plan. Harry visits Hallam and picks up $20,000 in English pounds and a letter with some documents and the name Paul Louis Broum on the envelope. Harry returns to Berlin. He meets Samantha again who reveals she works for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Samantha's mission is to locate Paul Louis Broum, a Nazi war criminal working under an assumed name who stole millions of pounds of gold during the war and has stashed it away in a Swiss bank account. Before initiating the defection plan, Harry hires a German forger named Klaus to do a little job for him. 

The phony funeral begins with two hearses, paid mourners, and a hand off of the casket on a bridge in no man's land. When Harry, Vulkan, and Kreutzman's operatives open up the coffin in an abandoned warehouse, it's not the living Col. Stok they find but the dead body of another key player instead. Vulkan knocks out Harry and grabs the envelope only to have Samantha and her Israeli agents take it from Vulkan. It turns out Vulkan is Paul Louis Broum, a former Nazi who killed the real Vulkan and assumed his name. Ross orders Harry to kill Vulkan who has now become expendable. Instead, Harry tells Vulkan to disappear. Vulkan breaks into Samantha's apartment, kills one of Samantha's Mossad agents, and retrieves the papers that could incriminate him only to discover they are forgeries (remember that forger that Harry hired to do a job for him?). The race is on as Vulkan seeks the real papers so he can get across the wall back to East Berlin while Harry and Samantha try to stop him while avoiding getting killed themselves.

Harry Palmer and James Bond are on different spectrums of the spy game although there are some similarities (and differences) between the two British agents. Both work for men who don't always disclose everything to their agents. M from the James Bond films is older, probably worked for the OSS during War II. He's a cold father figure to Bond who occasionally warns Bond to be careful. Harry reports to the more ruthless Col. Ross. Ross holds Harry's criminal past against him, essentially blackmailing him to serve his queen and country. Ross has the same hold on the Berlin Station chief Vulkan as we find out later in FUNERAL IN BERLIN. Ross doesn't mind sacrificing an agent for the end game, a fact Harry is acutely aware of.

Bond has the beautiful women, the fancy cars, and the gadgets.  Harry wears glasses and has a girlfriend sleeping over who may be a co-worker, a working-class gal like Harry at the beginning of FUNERAL IN BERLIN.  When model Samantha singles him out at a bar in Berlin, it raises Harry's suspicions.  Harry's not accustomed to that style of woman. Harry doesn't drive an Aston Martin. In fact, Harry asks Ross for a loan to buy a car early on. After the mission is complete, Ross offers to buy the car for Harry but Harry declines. He knows Ross will use it as leverage in the future. There are no gadgets for Harry, no secret rooms where Bond's co-worker Q is testing new lethal gadgets.  Harry has to sign on the dotted line for the defection money and the secret envelope from the smarmy Hallam.  Harry's co-workers are just regular people: some old, some bald, no flirting Miss Moneypenny anywhere.

FUNERAL IN BERLIN captures adroitly the shifting alliances and loyalties in the world of spycraft. Governments working with criminals or ex-Nazis or even the enemy if necessary.  Harry Palmer is just a minnow in this sea of sharks.  Harry's trying to stay one step ahead of the Russians and Mossad as well as his own superior Col. Ross who sees his agents merely as pawns in an elaborate chess game. At various times, Harry is with and against Samantha; with and against Vulkan.  For Harry, it's either work for Ross or go back to jail.  Harry puts his criminal past to his advantage.  Harry uses what little clout he has to persuade an exasperated German police official Reinhardt (Thomas Holztmann) to release both a burglar and a forger to assist him with his mission. Both moves pay off for Harry. The burglary tips Harry off that Samantha is more than just a pretty face.  The forged documents buy Harry some time and his life as he begins to unravel the twists and turns of the plot for FUNERAL IN BERLIN. 

Just as the role of James Bond would kick start the career of Sean Connery, the Harry Palmer films would be the launching pad of the versatile Michael Caine's career. Caine plays Harry as an unassuming, self-deprecating spy, trying to survive both his Cold War enemies and his own enigmatic boss. Caine would appear in several other good 1960s British films including Lewis Gilbert's ALFIE (1966), Ronald Neame's GAMBIT (also 1966), and the Peter Collinson's cult caper film THE ITALIAN JOB (1969). Caine would heed the call to Hollywood in the 1970s appearing in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's SLEUTH (1972) with Laurence Olivier; Richard Attenborough's star-studded war film A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977), and Herbert Ross's comedy CALIFORNIA SUITE (1978) written by Neil Simon.  Caine has worked with celebrated directors including Brian DePalma (DRESSED TO KILL), Woody Allen (HANNAH AND HER SISTERS), and more recently has become director Christopher Nolan's good luck charm in most of Nolan's films including THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) and INTERSTELLAR (2014). Ironically, Caine and Connery would appear together in the excellent adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) directed by the legendary John Huston. 

The supporting cast for FUNERAL IN BERLIN is very international, adding to the authenticity of the story.  Oskar Homolka (Austrian) plays the Russian colonel Stok as a gregarious grandfather type with a hint of malice to him.  Homolka appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTAGE (1936) and Howard Hawks BALL OF FIRE (1941) among many other films. The role of Samantha Steel was originally to be played by American Anjanette Comer but she fell ill before filming began and German actress Eva Renzi was cast instead. Swiss actor Paul Hubschmid plays Johnny Vulkan, the double agent that Harry and Samantha must stop. Hubschmid and Renzi who play adversaries in the film would be married in 1967 after FUNERAL IN BERLIN and get divorced in 1983. Film fans may recognize German actor Gunter Meisner who plays West Berlin criminal Otto Kreutzman from another film made in Germany five years later.  Meisner played Willy Wonka's candy rival Mr. Slugworth in WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971) starring Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka and filmed in Munich, Germany.

Director Guy Hamilton was no stranger to stories about blurred alliances and shadowy criminals whether it was the Cold War or Post World War II. Hamilton was Assistant Director on one of the greatest post-war noirs of all time Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN (1948) from an original script by Graham Greene that introduced us to the opportunistic black marketeer Harry Lime (Orson Welles), selling diluted penicillin on the black market, killing innocent victims including children in Vienna after World War II. In THE THIRD MAN, Vienna has been split into four sectors: American, British, Russian, and French. In FUNERAL BERLIN, it's East and West Berlin, divided by an ugly communist wall. Harry Lime is a bit like Otto Kreutzman in FUNERAL IN BERLIN.  Kreutzman will assist people to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin for a price even if it means killing innocent citizens like smothering an elderly man to use for the fake funeral. Director Hamilton himself worked for the Royal Navy during World War II, ferrying secret agents into France and bringing back downed RAF pilots to England.

FUNERAL IN BERLIN is one of those classic film time capsules, snapshots of West and East Berlin in the moment in 1966. Hamilton and his crew show the capitalistic and decadent side of West Berlin. Several scenes are shot with the giant Mercedes Benz building and symbol in the background, watching over the city.  Another scene has Harry and Vulkan having dinner at a burlesque club with female impersonators providing the entertainment. The filmmakers did shoot a scene at the actual Checkpoint Charlie with Michael Caine, but they had to film with a long lens as Russian soldiers across the Wall were using mirrors to reflect the sun to disrupt the filming. Berlin during the Cold War still fascinates filmmakers today with recent films like ATOMIC BLONDE (2017) with Charlize Theron in Berlin in 1989 right before the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Epix TV series BERLIN STATION (2016 - 2019) with a modern take on spying in Berlin in today's present political climate.

A big thanks to the Canadian born Producer Harry Saltzman who brought to us (along with producing partner Albert "Cubby" Broccoli) the greatest secret agent in entertainment history in James Bond but paved the way for more realistic portrayals of intelligence agents with the London based Harry Palmer. Like Sean Connery, Michael Caine would grow weary of the role, not wishing to be typecast, and move on to other projects. FUNERAL IN BERLIN is the apex of the series for me, mixing Cold War politics, a divided city, and Agatha Christie twists for an entertaining, spine-tingling spy film.