The mysterious Mr. Sebastian

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Movie
German title The mysterious Mr. Sebastian
Original title Sebastian
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1968
length 100 minutes
Rod
Director David Greene
script Gerald Vaughn-Hughes based
on a story by
Leo Marks
production Herbert Brodkin
Michael Powell
music Jerry Goldsmith
camera Gerry Fisher
cut Brian Smedley-Aston
occupation

The Mysterious Mr. Sebastian is a 1968 English spy film directed by David Greene . In addition to Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York, the leading roles are cast with Lilli Palmer and John Gielgud .

action

When Becky Howard is out and about in Oxford, a man almost runs in front of her car, wearing a red cape and apparently in a hurry. Even so, he still finds time to ask her weird questions and give her his card in case she needs a job in the near future. As she learns later, it is Mr. Sebastian, a brilliant mathematician who decrypts hostile codes for the British secret service . Sebastian frequently clashes with his superior, General Phillips, when it comes to Elsa Shahn, who has been working for him since 1942 and is described by the mathematician as his best colleague. Phillips, on the other hand, considers the woman to be a security risk because she is a communist and a member of a movement for peace in Vietnam. However, Sebastian values ​​Elsa in every respect.

In fact, after some time Becky works under Sebastian's direction in his department and has to decipher secret codes together with other young women. The young woman has taken a liking to Sebastian and wants him to take her to his apartment. There she confesses to him that she can just fall in love with him like that. Sebastian replies that she could easily take over. However, after kissing, they both agree that they should belong together. Some time later, when Becky is busy removing the wallpaper in Sebastian's apartment, which she finds hideous, they both find a bug in the wall. Hence the information that you have gathered about your private life. When Sebastian wanted to talk to Phillips about it, the latter presented him with a newspaper report stating that Elsa had passed on confidential information. In a questioning, she had already frankly admitted that. Your discharge is already being arranged. Elsa tells Sebastian that she is sorry that she has ruined everything for him and asks him to take her in his arms for a moment, which he does.

Shortly afterwards there is a misunderstanding between Sebastian and Becky that separates them from each other. Sebastian resigned from the secret service and accepted an offer from his old university to return to his place there. After about a year, however, he was brought back by General Phillips because he was urgently needed by the secret service to decode the signals from a Russian satellite. Sebastian was mainly baited with the fact that he was able to get Elsa Shahn to receive the pension she was entitled to in full. As he looks around his department, Miss Elliott tells him that Becky quit six months ago.

Quite surprisingly, Sebastian meets his former girlfriend, the alcohol addicted singer Carol Fancy, again. At a party that has been moved to her apartment, on the instructions of a certain Toby, who also bullies Carol, they mix LSD into his drink, which almost makes Sebastian jump from the roof of the skyscraper. Help from Phillips and his people approaches almost at the last second. Toby is exposed as an enemy spy and arrested.

Sebastian's search for Becky, which has so far been unsuccessful, leads him to her. He confesses to her that he has lost his ability to live alone and makes her a declaration of love. When Becky then presents his young son to him, Sebastian is initially perplexed. A small calculating machine and a baby rattle then lead him to the solution of the Russian code, which the secret service eagerly awaits him to decipher. In his now perfect happiness, he wants to know from Becky whether she would like to marry him, because after all, his son needs a father.

Production notes

It is a Paramount Pictures production. The production company was Maccius / Paramount. The film was shot in 1967 in Oxford , London , at the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory and Twickenham Film Studios (St. Margarets), as well as in Twickenham and Middlesex . Wilfred Shingleton designed the film structures .

The film premiered in New York on January 24 , 1968, and then opened in London cinemas in March 1968 . In Germany he was only seen on television, first broadcast on the cable channel on January 17, 1994.

criticism

The lexicon of international films spoke of an "agent comedy that only gets beyond mediocrity because of its playful actors".

For the program guide Hörzu it was an "agent comedy with typically British humor". It was pointed out that a young Donald Sutherland could be seen in a tiny supporting role.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The mysterious Mr. Sebastian. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ The mysterious Mr. Sebastian hoerzu.de - Retrieved on July 17, 2015.