The File of the Golden Goose

"The file of the golden goose" is entertaining stuff,if you are not asking too much.There are counterfeiters in those trouble times and their ambitions know no bounds ,they are spreading all over Europe ,including the United Kingdom,which is a shame.Fortunately ,Yul Brynner is at hand ,and with his colleague, he infiltrates the gang,pretending he is a specialist too.He meets Peter Van Eyck who is very fond of Turkish baths but ,against all expectations,is not the big boss.

Best scene: Brynner's colleague,meeting his wife in a shopping arcade and pretending he's never met her.

Nice cruise on the Thames.

While File of the Golden Goose is not a particularly well made film, it does have it's charms.

This is one of those films one reaches for when you don't really want to watch a movie.

Yul Brynner plays Secret Service Agent Peter Novak, who, after his girlfriend is caught and killed in the crossfire of bullets meant him, vows revenge on the counterfeiting ring responsible for the hit. In London, Novak and married policeman Arthur Thompson go undercover as surviving members of the infamous Golden Goose gang in order to infiltrate the counterfeiting ring.

I've always enjoyed this movie because Yul Brynner appears to be having such fun as he digs deeper and deeper within the gang, intent on getting to the unknown Head Man.

Charles Gray is suitably over the top in his performance as 'The Owl.' The homosexual distribution manager for the gang's counterfeit money.

All in all, it's pretty entertaining. Brynner's terse dialog and intimidation factor work very well.

Production quality is very good, from the opening of a boy and his dog at play on the beach to the finale at the mansion home of the gang's mastermind

My only complaints is the over the top sleaze in some places and the need for perhaps more fluid camera work during action scenes. It's almost like no one knew how to choreograph a film fight. Finally, the resolution of the identity of the 'Head Man' still falls flat, even after 40 years.

Still, this is a fondly remembered film still enjoyed.

But...if the gang had tried to kill Novak at the beginning of the movie, how could he expect to infiltrate them?

I think it is safe to say that if Yul Brynner is able to pull off a role in your film, it doesn't matter how weak the story, script, or anything else is... Brynner seems to make anything more entertaining.

THE FILE OF THE GOLDEN GOOSE is a British/American spy production that seems to have been made as an answer to the popularity of the James Bond franchise. Thus there are the requisite fisticuffs and characters being kidnapped and held hostage by bad guys and the like. At the same time, the milieu and plotting feel slightly more realistic, with a John Le Carre influence working behind the scenes. The skullduggery works quite well and Yul Brynner is a likeable presence who bounces off supporting actors like Edward Woodward. I'm not sure anyone could take Graham Crowden's villain seriously, but generally this is watchable, if flawed, stuff.

Yul Brynner (yes, Yul Brynner, believe it or not) plays a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned by Washington to investigate an international gang counterfeiting $100 bills in Europe. He teams up with a Scotland Yard detective played by Edward Woodward ("The Equalizer" in a future life).

The movie opens with the gang attempting to assassinate Brynner near the United Nations building in New York, because he has developed too much evidence. The gang misses, of course, but his girl friend is killed. Brynner travels to London, works undercover, and gets in good with the gang.

I gave this movie a 7 out of 10, if only because they got the right American law enforcement agency (Secret Service) investigating counterfeit.