The Jigsaw Man

I had seen a documentary about espionage a couple of weeks before seeing this film on TV by chance and i found it simply amusing. The parallels between the film character Philip Kimberly and Kim Philby of real life are too many for this to be just a coincidence (not to mention the name of the film character which seems itself to be some anagram of Kim Philby).

All in all this is a nice film if you like espionage with a little comedy on the side. As for the comment of the other reviewer about the film being hard to follow: i didn't think it was THAT hard to follow. Besides, this being an espionage movie, if it wasn't a teensy bit hard to follow what would be the fun in it?

This movie is interesting. It is very hard to follow, but after seeing it two or three times, it comes. A very well defined star-studded cast but the movie is not what you'd expect it to be. Other than that, this movie would be good to watch if you like action, politics or just want to kill time.

A very dull film is the only way of describing this tale of spies and defectors, plastic surgery and double dealing, during the Cold War. Michael Caine plays the rejuvenated spy who returns to his homeland, and his former friend and sparring partner, head of M15 (a truly appalling Laurence Olivier), at the same time reviving his relationship with his pouting daughter Penny (Susan George) who is having a fling with a secret service man (Robert Powell), who is surviving attempts to kill him by ... well, who knows?

With fruity support from Charles Gray and Michael Medwin and an awful script delivered in poor accents (Caine's Russian has to be heard to be believed) 'The Jigsaw Man' becomes a bit of a joke.

It is watchable, but is really a load of old rubbish dressed up in London locations and with some semblance of a plot.

The story revolves around a top British spy named Philip Kimberley who defected to Russia. The Russians give him plastic surgery and he comes out looking like Michael Caine (poor guy). They want him to return to England and locate some microfilm he had hidden that details all the payments to British double agents. Once back in his home country, he makes a break for it and contacts his daughter (Susan George) and old boss (Laurence Olivier).

I was in the mood for a good spy thriller so I dug out this VHS. After watching it, I'm still in the mood for a good spy thriller. The film is based on a book by Dorothea Bennett, who used real life Brit double agent Kim Philby as inspiration. Despite such ripe real life material and the re-teaming of the stellar Sleuth (1972) co-stars Caine and Olivier, this film is a bit of a mess. It runs pretty short (end credits kick in at the 85 minute mark) and several scenes show Olivier sporting a fake beard to match other scenes. Looked it up in Variety and, sure enough, it suffered major production issues. It started shooting in April 1982 but production was suspended on June 7, 1982 due to financial woes. The filmmakers didn't get back together to finish everything until November 1982. Former Bond director Terence Young is at the helm, but even he can't make it too exciting. Even glorious cinematographer Freddie Francis can't muster up enough good stuff for this. It is filled with lots of double crosses and the like, but they can't make up for strange bits like Charles Gray giving Robert Powell a monologue about his toupees, Caine doing bizarre Russian and American accents, or the montage of dumpy Caine training to be a bad ass killer.

Made after some of the best spy drama movies, including the TV adaptation of Le Carre's Smiley's People, you have to wonder how they got it so wrong. And with Michael Caine, Olivier and Charles Gray! And with the director of the grittiest early Bond movies! It was totally ridiculous as a story and as a film, but also hugely endearing to a Brit who has lived in Asia for over 25 years. I got the same pleasure watching this as I did in seeing the sets wobble in "The Builders" episode of Fawlty Towers. The whole thing wobbled, especially the acting. Oliver's mention of the leather chair to Michael Medwin was the only finely delivered line.