''The Limbo Line'' is a 1968 British

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Samuel Gallu and starring Craig Stevens,

Kate O'Mara Kate O'Mara (born Francesca Meredith Carroll;Michael CoveneObituary: Kate O'Mara ''The Guardian'', 30 March 2014 10 August 1939 – 30 March 2014) was an English film, stage and television actress, and writer. O'Mara made her stage debut in a ...

and

Eugene Deckers Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic ...

. It is based on the 1963 novel of the same title by

Victor Canning Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. ...

. It was made as part of a 1960s boom in spy films in the wake of the success of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, 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 19 ...

series. It was shot at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to ...

with sets designed by the art director Scott MacGregor.

Synopsis

Through a network known as the "Limbo Line", the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

is kidnapping figures who have recently defected to the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and returning them to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

for punishment. A British intelligence agent identifies the

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ...

Irina Tovskia as the next victim, and sets out to rescue her in a mission that takes him from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and finally to

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

on the East German border. He is able to destroy the Limbo Line, but not prevent Irina being taken to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Reception

The film received generally bad reviews, with ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' critic feeling it was old-fashioned. The

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

'' Morning Star'' attacked it as "disastrously incompetent".Burton p.22

Cast

* Craig Stevens as Richard Manston *

as Irina Tovskia *

as Cadillet * Moira Redmond as Ludmilla *

Vladek Sheybal Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Zbigniew Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Polish character actor, singer and director of both television and stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaste ...

as Oleg *

Yolande Turner Yolande Turner, also known as Yolande Finch (12 December 1935 – 6 November 2003), was a British actress and screenwriter. Born in South Africa as Yolande Eileen Turnbull, she was the second wife of actor Peter Finch Frederick George Pet ...

as Pauline *

Jean Marsh Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * ...

as Dilys * Rosemary Rogers as Joan Halst *

Hugo De Vernier Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

as Halst * Alan Barry as Williams * James Thornhill as Pieter *

Norman Bird John George Norman Bird (30 October 1924 – 22 April 2005) was an English character actor. Early life Bird was born in Coalville, Leicestershire, England. A RADA graduate, he made his West End debut in Peter Brook's production of ''The Wi ...

as John Chivers *

Frederick Jaeger Manfred Frederick Jaeger (9 May 1928 – 18 June 2004) was a German-born British film, television, theatre and radio character actor. Biography Jaeger was born in Berlin, Germany, but moved to England following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. He ...

as Alex *

Eric Mason Eric Mason (died 7 June 2010) was a British actor. Originally a stevedore working at Surrey Docks, he sustained a back injury in a road accident and end up taking an acting career. He made his theatrical debut in ''Gentle Jack'' by Robert Bolt, st ...

as Castle * Denys Peek as Jan * Robert Urquhart as Edward Hardwick *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi reg ...

as Sutcliffe *

Joan Benham Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events * Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multipl ...

as Lady Faraday * John Horsley as Richards

References

Bibliography

* Burton, Alan. ''Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960''. Vernon Press, 2018.

External links

* 1968 films 1960s spy thriller films British spy thriller films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films directed by Samuel Gallu Films set in London Films set in Amsterdam Films set in West Germany Films set in East Germany Films based on British novels 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub