Phone (film)

Movie
German title	phone
Original title	phone
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1977
length	103 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Don Siegel
script	Peter Hyams , Stirling Silliphant
production	James B. Harris
music	Lalo Schifrin
camera	Michael Butler
cut	Douglas Stewart
occupation
Charles Bronson : Grigori Borzow Lee Remick : Barbara Donald Pleasence : Nicolai Dalchimsky Patrick Magee : General Strelsky Alan Badel : Colonel Malchenko Tyne Daly : Dr. Dorothy Putterman Sheree North : Marie Wills John Mitchum : Harry Bascom Frank Marth : Sand castle Ed Bakey : Carl Hassler Hank Brandt : William Enders Åke Lindman : Lieutenant Alexandrow Ansa Ikonen : Dalchimsky's mother Iggie Wolfington : Father Stuart Diller

Telephone is a 1977 American agent film directed by Don Siegel , set against the backdrop of the Cold War . The film adaptation is based on the novel War by Telephone by Walter Wager .

action

The Soviet intelligence officer Nicolai Dalchimski is dissatisfied with the détente policy of the Soviet Union towards the United States of America. Before he can fall victim to a murderous " wave of purges " against old Stalinists , he flees to the USA - in his possession a small booklet with the names, false identities, home addresses and telephone numbers of so-called " sleepers ". These are actually agents who were recruited and trained as students, who were made familiar with American conditions and who have been living in the States for years since then. As part of the secret project “Telephone”, 51 of them are conditioned in such a way that when they hear a line of poetry in connection with their former Russian name, as a “ fifth column ”, they carry out a predetermined act of sabotage against military or infrastructure facilities. They were also using a hypnotic , "programmed" command found in the act itself death or - if that does not happen - then suicide to commit to avoid being caught.

The KGB major Grigori Borzow is sent over Canada to take down Dalchimsky, who had already activated several assassins. It is also intended to prevent “telephone” from ever becoming known, since the military themselves have kept this program secret from the current Central Committee of the CPSU and if it is discovered it could lead to consequences up to a military conflict. Borzow is supported in his assignment by colleague Barbara, who lives in the United States and is a double agent who is also in the service of the United States.

Meanwhile, the CIA in Langley (Virginia) is wondering why attacks are carried out several days apart on targets that are meanwhile rather insignificant or at least secondary. The analyst Dorothy Putterman points out to her superiors the elimination of various Soviet functionaries and Dalchimsky's role in the KGB that preceded the attacks , so that the specialists can get an idea of ​​what happened over time.

The relationship between Borzow and Barbara is not very good at first: He gives her harsh orders and leaves her in the dark about the background. Barbara murders a sleeper who is seriously injured in hospital after a failed act of sabotage, disguised as a nurse so that he does not fall into the hands of the American counterintelligence . After the fact, she believes the mission is over and, according to her instructions, prepares a poisoned drink for Borzow. When he tells her that the job is far from over, she quickly drops the glass.

Borzow studies the previous attack targets in order to recognize a pattern from Dalchimsky. It becomes clear to him that Dalchimsky, who has probably become megalomaniac, chooses the order of the targets in such a way that their first letters result in his name. With this, the two finally manage to foresee the steps of their opponent. After the attacks in Denver , Apalachicola (failed), Akron , Los Angeles , Cambridge, New Mexico, the next town has to begin with an H. In Houston , Borzow kills a sleeper before it can cause more damage and Barbara can almost catch Dalchimsky. Barbara and Borzow fly with a chartered plane to the other place that begins with an H : Holderville. Both come closer in the machine. In Holderville Borzow strangles first the Sleeper and then Dalchimsky. Barbara had instructions from the KGB to get rid of Borzov after his mission had been completed - the Americans also wish to see him dead and to receive information about all remaining agents. However, she does not carry out the instructions, as both have fallen in love and decide to go into hiding. As a safeguard against attempts by their previous employers to seize them, they have the list of other saboteurs who could "wake up" again at any time if necessary ("If you don't want the phones to ring again, then leave us alone!" ). Borzow destroyed Dalchimsky's address book, but he had to memorize all the details from a second copy before he was used.

background

Filming

Telephone was partly recorded in Finland , with some guest appearances from local actors such as Ansa Ikonen and Åke Lindman . The alleged skyline of Houston , Texas, shown is actually that of Great Falls (Montana) , where it was mainly filmed. A building that exploded during the plot was in reality the recorded controlled demolition of the old Paris Gibson Junior High School there. The street scenes depicting Houston were shot on a studio lot in Hollywood , while scenes were filmed inside the Houston Hyatt Regency on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California .

Activation of the sleeper

In the film, these are awakened by means of a poem by the American poet Robert Frost :

The darkness of the forest attracts me

but I have to keep my word

And go miles before I can sleep

And go miles before I can sleep

In the English original:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Frost wrote these lines in the 1922 poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening .

The motif of the sleeper activated by a certain phrase or sentence or image treats, as in some other films since the 1960s (e.g. " Ambassadors of Fear ", based on the novel of the same name by Richard Condon ), the idea that to assassins or saboteurs trained people, by memory manipulation and mind control ( brainwashing "made dormant"), lead itself inconspicuous lives and can be animated for a given occasion that execute them, "implanted" tasks. The film "Ambassadors of Fear" was remade under the title The Manchurian Candidate .

It was later taken up parodistically in Die nackte Kanone and Zoolander (here the perpetrator is activated by a piece of music) and also quoted by Quentin Tarantino in his film Death Proof . Here is the translation of the above. Poem:

How deep and dark is the fir

but I am driven by a promise

And miles before I can finally sleep

The postscript “ Did you hear, Butterfly? Miles more before you can finally sleep. “Alludes to this conditioning in the telephone .

Reviews

"Unrealistic, average exciting agent film without deeper ambitions, perfectly staged with a slight irony."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award 1978 for best feature film.

Web links

• Phone in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Telephone at Rotten Tomatoes (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Telephone. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .