Death dance of a killer
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Death dance of a killer |
| Original title | A dandy in aspic |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 (1968), 12 (today) |
| Rod | |
| Director | Anthony Mann |
| script | Derek Marlowe |
| production | Anthony Mann |
| music | Quincy Jones |
| camera | Christopher Challis |
| cut | Thelma Connell |
| occupation | |
| |
The Dance of Death of a Killer is a 1967 British agent film by Anthony Mann , the last of which was this production. Laurence Harvey took on the leading role of a double agent who was given the task of liquidating his alter ego. At his side, Tom Courtenay took on another leading role. Mia Farrow plays Harvey's London friend. The film is based on the novel A Dandy in Aspic (1966) by Derek Marlowe , who also wrote the screenplay.
action
Europe at the time of the Cold War. The secret services of NATO and the Soviet Union are constantly trying to spy on and infiltrate one another. Each of the two sides has their informants and double agents on the other side. One of these two-pronged men is the British secret agent Alexander Eberlin, who was once dispatched as Soviet agent Krasnevin to interrogate the British and undermine their foreign intelligence. Meanwhile, London has not gone unnoticed that there is a “mole” in its own ranks. MI-6 boss Frasers gives the order to locate him and eventually kill him. This job goes to the mole himself, to Agent Eberlin. The double agent is sent to Berlin (West) because they hope to receive special information at this interface between West and East. Fraser believes that Krasnewin was responsible for the deaths of several British secret agents. The British only have one photo of the alleged double agent, but Eberlin knows that this does not show him, but rather his intermediary to the Moscow headquarters. Eberlin alias Krasnewin just wants to get out, the double life has worn him down. But he knows all too well that neither the British nor the Soviets would ever accept it.
Eberlin's attempts to get out are also made more difficult by the fact that he is given the cynical and sociopathic British colleague Gatiss, a completely unscrupulous man for the rough, who also harbors great mistrust of Eberlin and cannot stand his colleagues. Soon the British-Soviet double agent must fear his exposure, and after his Soviet boss, KGB Colonel Sobakewitsch, had his Russian contact man killed, Eberlin tried to move east. But this goes completely wrong, especially since Sobakevich has absolutely no interest in Krasnevin's return to Moscow. You really want to keep your best man at the center of British intelligence. Gatiss goes his own way in the meantime and offers Sobakevich $ 100,000 if he reveals Krasnevin's identity. When the KGB Colonel plays a double game with Gatiss, the latter kills him coldly. Then Eberlin learns from another British agent that his boss Fraser had known about his identity as Krasnewin all along and had used him to expose other members of the Soviet spy ring. Sitting between all stools, Eberlin / Krasnewin's life is no longer worth a penny ...
Production notes
Death Dance of a Killer was shot in the spring of 1967 in the western part of Berlin (external shoots: Tempelhof Airport, Europa-Center, radio tower, Tiergarten S-Bahn station, Gleisdreieck underground station [as a replacement for Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn station, as a border crossing point to East Berlin], Springer -Hochhaus, AVUS racetrack, Stuttgarter Platz) and London and was premiered on April 2, 1968. The German premiere was on April 26th of the same year.
Director Mann died during filming in Berlin at the end of April 1967. The film was shot to an end by the lead actor Harvey.
The later director Rosa von Praunheim made a tiny appearance here.
Carmen Dillon designed the film structures, while couturier Pierre Cardin was responsible for the costume designs. Leslie Gilliat took over the production management, Austin Dempster worked as a simple cameraman to head cameraman Christopher Challis .
Reviews
"Wooden spy melodrama in which the main characters change sides so quickly that you can hardly follow the whole thing."
“A dark agent film with approaches to human immersion and critical examination of the dirty agent war of those years. Exquisitely played and tightly staged, even if in the end external elements of lurid entertainment predominate. "
“Confused, pretentious spy thriller; flat, confused and boring. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Even if the majority of the sources give the film the article “The”, the film title is spelled exactly as mentioned here.
- ↑ Death Dance of a Killer in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on November 15, 2018
Web links
- Dance of death of a killer in the Internet Movie Database (English)