The Quiller Memorandum, based on a novel by Adam Hall (pen name for Elleston Trevor) and with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, deals with the insidious upsurge of neo-Nazism in Germany. It relies on a straight narrative storyline, simple but holding, literate dialog and well-drawn characters.
Set largely on location in West Berlin, it has George Segal brought back from vacation to replace a British agent who has come to a sticky end at the hands of a new infiltrating group of Nazis. His job is to locate their headquarters. He does this in a lone-wolf way, refusing to be hampered by bodyguards. En route he has some edgy adventures.
Segal plays Quiller with a laconic but likeable detachment, underlining the loneliness and lack of relaxation of the agent, who can- not even count on support from his own side. Alec Guinness never misses a trick in his few scenes as the cold, witty fish in charge of Berlin sector investigations. Max von Sydow plays the Nazi chief quietly but with high camp menace.
