Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1981
Eye of the Needle (film)
Buy Eye of the Needle (film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Eye of the Needle' is a 1981 British spy film directed by Richard Marquand and starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Written by Stanley Mann, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Ken Follett.
The film is about a German Nazi spy in the United Kingdom during World War II who discovers vital information about the upcoming D-Day invasion and his attempt to return to Germany while he is stranded with a family on the isolated (fictional) Storm Island, off the coast of Scotland.
Plot
Henry Faber is a cold and emotionless German sleeper agent nicknamed "the Needle" because he prefers to kill with a stiletto. While spying in England, he obtains critical information about the Allies' plans for the Invasion of Normandy but is unable to transmit the information. After narrowly escaping British intelligence in London, Faber heads to Scotland for a rendezvous with a German U Boat. But fierce weather strands him on Storm Island. On the island he meets Lucy, her disabled husband, David, their son; and a shepherd named Tom.
A romance develops between Faber and Lucy because of the estrangement she has with her husband after an accident on their honeymoon which left him embittered and physically confined to a wheelchair. David becomes suspicious of Faber when he discovers he is carrying military information. When challenged about the documents, Faber ruthlessly kills David by throwing him off a cliff. Faber lies to Lucy to explain David's absence, claiming David had been drinking with Tom. However, Lucy finds her husband's body and decides to flee. When Faber finds her missing, he realises she knows and pursues her. Lucy finds Tom's dead body. She radios the mainland but is told that help will be sent immediately, but in the meantime, it is vital for her to destroy the island's radio transmitter.
Faber appears and threatens to kill her son if she does not do as he says. He tries to use the radio to report where the exact location of the D-Day invasion will happen but just as he is about to impart the information, Lucy blows the house's fuses rendering the transmitter useless. Faber expresses admiration for what Lucy has done, telling her that the war has come down to both of them. Considering her no longer a threat, he heads towards the beach to be picked up by the previously-arranged U-boat.
Lucy, now fully aware of the stakes that are involved, follows Faber to the shore shooting wildly at him with her husband's pistol. As he tries to launch a small rowing boat to reach the waiting U-boat, one of her shots strikes Faber in the leg. He struggles to launch the boat but she shoots him again in the abdomen and he dies in the rowing boat.
Cast
* Donald Sutherland as Henry Faber
* Kate Nelligan as Lucy Rose
* Ian Bannen as Inspector Godliman
* Christopher Cazenove as David Rose
* Stephen MacKenna as Lieutenant
* Philip Martin Brown as Billy Parkin
* George Belbin as Lucy's Father
* Faith Brook as Lucy's Mother
* Barbara Graley as David's Mother
* Arthur Lovegrove as Peterson
* Barbara Ewing as Mrs. Garden
* Patrick Connor as Inspector Harris
* David Hayman as Canter
* Alex McCrindle as Tom
* John Bennett as Kleinmann
* Sam Kydd as Lock Keeper
* John Paul as Home Guard Captain
* Bill Nighy as Squadron Leader Blenkinsop
* Jonathan and Nicholas Haley (twins) as Joe (David and Lucy's son)
* Allan Surtees as Colonel Terry
* Rik Mayall as Sailor On Train
* Rupert Frazer as Muller
Production
The Storm Island scenes were shot over eight weeks on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides. The distinctive Connel Bridge appears in the film, and some of the location filming was shot at Blackbushe Airport, Yateley, and also in London.
Reception
Roger Ebert "admired the movie" and stated that it "resembles nothing so much as one of those downbeat, plodding, quietly horrifying, and sometimes grimly funny war movies that used to be made by the British film industry, back when there was a British film industry." George Lucas was impressed by the film and hired director Richard Marquand to helm 1983s Return of the Jedi. On Rotten Tomatoes, 83% out of 18 critics gave the film positive reviews.
References
Buy Eye of the Needle (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1981