''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1966 British spy film directed by

Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, w ...

and based on the 1964 novel of the same name by

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton (; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Fo ...

. It is the second of three 1960s films starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

as the character Harry Palmer that followed the characters from the initial film, ''

The Ipcress File ''The IPCRESS File'' is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. The story involves Cold War brainwashing, includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, the ...

'' (1965). The third film was ''

Billion Dollar Brain ''Billion Dollar Brain'' is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Len Deighton. The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer, the anti-hero protagonist. The "b ...

'' (1967).

Plot

British secret agent

Harry Palmer Harry Palmer is the anti-hero protagonist of a number of films based on the unnamed main character, a secret agent, in the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in three of the four films based on the four pub ...

is sent to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

by his superior Colonel Ross to arrange the defection of Colonel Stok, a prominent Soviet intelligence officer. Palmer is sceptical but links up with Johnny Vulkan, an old German friend and former criminal associate, who now runs the Berlin station for British intelligence. Palmer makes a rendezvous with Stok in the Soviet zone of the

divided city A divided city is one which, as a consequence of political changes or border shifts, currently constitutes (or once constituted) two separate entities, or an urban area with a border running through it. Listed below are the localities and the stat ...

, finding him eccentric and likeable. Stok asks for the defection to be managed by Otto Kreutzmann, a West German criminal who has organised a number of recent escapes. When Palmer returns to the western sector he meets Samantha Steel, a model. He spends the night with her, but is suspicious of her forward manner. The next day he has his police contacts establish her identity and arranges for a criminal to burgle her apartment, where several different false passports are discovered. Meanwhile, Palmer arranges a deal with Kreutzmann to bring Stok across the wall in return for £20,000 and a set of genuine documents meeting certain specifications. Palmer then returns to London to report. Ross is convinced that Stok's defection is genuine and dismisses Palmer's suspicions that Samantha Steel was a spy. Ross gives full authorisation for Palmer to return to Berlin to complete the deal; a man at Intelligence headquarters named Hallam provides the money and the documents, which are in the name of Paul Louis Broum. The plan devised by Kreutzmann is to arrange a burial and bring the Colonel across the border in a coffin. When Palmer again meets Samantha, she admits that she is a Mossad spy and that she is in Berlin to hunt down Paul Louis Broum – a war criminal, now operating under an alias, who stole millions of pounds of gold during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Kreutzmann goes over to the East to supervise the important defection personally. Palmer waits with Kreutzmann's henchman on the western side of the border, where the coffin is delivered to an abandoned warehouse. When it is opened, however, Palmer finds Kreutzmann's dead body. Vulkan suddenly knocks Palmer unconscious and takes the Broum documents, but they are stolen in turn by Samantha and two other Israeli agents. When Palmer informs Colonel Ross about the Broum documents, he is told that towards the end of the war, Broum murdered a resistance fighter called Johnny Vulkan at a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

and assumed his identity. Ross got hold of the documents and used them to blackmail Broum into working for him. He now orders Palmer to kill Broum, but Palmer allows him to get away instead. Palmer later meets Stok, who is in West Berlin for a routine meeting with his Western counterparts. The Russian confirms that his supposed defection was just a trap to get rid of Kreutzmann. He even jokes that if Palmer ever wishes to defect to the East, he should ask Vulkan, who "knows the way". Meanwhile, the supposed Vulkan goes to Samantha's flat, murders an Israeli agent, and gets the documents back; Palmer is blamed for this. Broum meets with Hallam, who realises Palmer had substituted forgeries for the documents. Hallam goes to Palmer, claiming he was sent by Ross to get the real documents back. Palmer forces him to admit that he is in league with Broum to get them out of London and that they now intend to use them in order to claim the Nazi loot that Broum deposited in a Swiss bank. Palmer makes Hallam go with him to a quiet part of the Berlin wall through which Broum and Hallam intend to slip into the East, but Broum kills Hallam and is subsequently mistaken for Palmer and killed by Israeli agents. Palmer then gives the Israelis the documents. Back in London, Ross is satisfied that the dead "Vulkan" will be taken for another martyr shot while escaping to the West. Offered a bonus for his work, Palmer refuses and leaves.

Cast

* Paul Hubschmid as Johnny Vulkan/Paul Louis Broum *

Oskar Homolka Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for w ...

as Colonel Stok *

Eva Renzi Eva Renzi (born Evelyn Renziehausen; 3 November 1944 - 16 August 2005) was a German actress. Biography Born in Berlin to a Danish father and a French mother, she enrolled in the Berlin Actors' Studio at age 16 and began appearing in plays in Ger ...

as Samantha Steel. The role was originally assigned to

Anjanette Comer Anjanette Comer (born August 7, 1939) is an American actress. Early years Born in Dawson, Texas to Rufus Franklin Comer, Jr., and Nola Dell “Sue” (Perkins) Comer, she attended Dawson High School. She gained acting experience at the Pasadena ...

, but she had to be replaced due to illness. Renzi's voice is not heard in the film, as her part is dubbed. * Guy Doleman as Colonel Ross *

Hugh Burden Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 July 1962 (3 April 1913 – 16 May 1985) was a British actor and playwright. Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was the eldest son of Harry Archibald Burden, a colonial official, and Caro Cecil ...

as Hallam * Heinz Schubert as Aaron Levine *

Wolfgang Völz Wolfgang Otto Völz (16 August 1930 – 2 May 2018) was a German actor. He is known for his roles in theatre plays, TV shows, feature films (especially German films based on Edgar Wallace works) and taped radio shows. He was also a very prolifi ...

as Werner * Thomas Holtzmann as Reinhardt *

Sarah Brackett Sarah Evershed Brackett (13 May 1938 – 3 July 1996) was an American-born television and film actress who worked mostly in Britain. Brackett's parents were William Oliver Brackett, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife Nancy Alexis Thompson, ...

as Babcock * Günter Meisner as Otto Kreutzman * Herbert Fux as Artur * Rainer Brandt as Benjamin *

Rachel Gurney Rachel Gurney (5 March 1920 – 24 November 2001) was an English actress. She began her career in the theatre towards the end of World War II and then expanded into television and film in the 1950s. She remained active, mostly in television a ...

as Mrs. Ross *

John Abineri John Abineri (18 May 1928 – 29 June 2000) was an English actor. Born in London, he attended the Old Vic drama school and described himself as "Well educated from the age of five to eighteen". He spoke a number of languages (including Ger ...

as Otto Rukel *

Marthe Keller Marthe Keller (born 28 January 1945) is a Swiss actress and opera director. She is perhaps best known for her role in the film ''Marathon Man (film), Marathon Man'' (1976), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting ...

as Brigit * David Glover as Chico

Production

In a short documentary film entitled "Man at the Wall: The Making of Funeral in Berlin" produced by Paramount Pictures about the production of the movie, Michael Caine says that director

– who directed '' Goldfinger'' and three later

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

features – would make on-set improvisations to the script based on his own personal experiences working for British military intelligence during World War II.video
/sup>

Home media

''Funeral in Berlin'' was released as a Region 1 DVD on 14 August 2001. It was also released on Blu-ray on 26 May 2020.

External links

* * * {{Harry Saltzman, state=autocollapse 1966 films 1960s spy thriller films British sequel films British spy thriller films Films set in Berlin Films about the Berlin Wall Cold War spy films Films based on British novels Films directed by Guy Hamilton Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films produced by Harry Saltzman Films set in East Germany Films set in West Germany Films about the Mossad Paramount Pictures films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films