Billion-Dollar Brain
 cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Len Deighton |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction novel, Spy Novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape |
Publication date | 1966 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 412 pp |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | Funeral in Berlin |
| Billion-Dollar Brain | |
|---|---|
| File:269391.1010.A.jpg original film poster | |
| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Written by | Len Deighton (novel) John McGrath |
| Produced by | Harry Saltzman |
| Starring | Michael Caine Françoise Dorléac Karl Malden Ed Begley Oscar Homolka |
Release dates | December 20, 1967 U.S. release |
Running time | 111 min |
| Language | English |
Billion-Dollar Brain 1966, ISBN 0-09-985710-3, is a spy novel by Len Deighton. In 1967 it was cinematically adapted with the un-hyphenated title Billion Dollar Brain, directed by Ken Russell and starring Michael Caine.
It is the fourth Len Deighton spy novel featuring an anonymous British secret agent working in the WOOC(P) intelligence agency. It follows The IPCRESS File (1962), Horse Under Water (1963), and Funeral in Berlin (1964). The cinematic protagonist of The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin is named 'Harry Palmer' and portrayed by Michael Caine.
Like many of Len Deighton's other novels, the plot of Billion-Dollar Brain is intricate, with many film noir-style dead ends. The film version is not faithful to the novels' plot and characters.
Plot
The eponymous billion-dollar brain is a 1960s supercomputer, operated by a private American intelligence agency known as "Facts for Freedom" (FFF), run by a General Midwinter. The Brain is used to optimize the operations of the FFF's agents. The FFF plans the overthrow of Soviet power in Latvia, as a test case for the ultimate destabilisation, and downfall, of Communism. British secret agent Harry Palmer is instructed to penetrate an FFF cell operating from Finland.
The main Finland FFF operative, Harvey Newbegin ('Leo' in the movie, but the suggestive surname remains) is a traitor. He is running a phantom network of agents, and pocketing the money supplied to fund it, while passing information to Harry Palmer's Russian adversary, Colonel Stok of the KGB. Meanwhile, FFF agents have infiltrated the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down, England, and are stealing a virus (transported in eggs). The agents believe the virus is destined for the FFF in America, but Newbegin is attempting to pass it off to the Soviets.
Movie details
In the 1967 film, the retired Harry Palmer is blackmailed into returning to work for the British secret service as a double agent. He is to infiltrate an American-financed, ultra-right-wing group (FFF, led by the maniacal General Midwinter) dedicated to liberating Latvia from the Soviet Union, and, most importantly, to recover the virus-incubating eggs for the West.
The screenplay's plot relies heavily upon the sophisticated computer system[1] with which the right wing group controls its Latvian anti-Soviet spy network. Ken Russell's film consciously refers to the battle on the ice in Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 Alexander Nevsky.[2]
The movie was the last screen appearance of French actress Françoise Dorléac, who was killed in a road accident weeks after the end of principal photography.
Billion Dollar Brain is the third of the Harry Palmer movies, following The Ipcress File (1965) and Funeral in Berlin (1966).
References
- ^ The actual computer consoles used in the movie to depict the Brain complex are Honeywell 200 mainframe consoles.
- ^ Billion Dollar Brain, Time Out, London, Film Guide. Accessed: 03-08-2008.
Bibliography
- Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 135. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
External links
- Billion Dollar Brain at IMDb
- Billion Dollar Brain photos – From Michael Caine fansite in Russia
