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The Tamarind Seed
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = The Tamarind Seed
| image = The Tamarind Seed FilmPoster.jpeg
| border = yes
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Blake Edwards
| producer = Ken Wales
| screenplay = Blake Edwards
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = John Barry
| cinematography = Freddie Young
| editing = Ernest Walter
| studio =
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 125 minutes
| country = United States
United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = $2.4 million
| gross = $8 million (US/Canada)
$5 million (rest of world)
}}
'The Tamarind Seed' is a 1974 American-British drama romance thriller film written and directed by Blake Edwards and starring Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif. Based on the 1971 novel 'The Tamarind Seed' by Evelyn Anthony, the film is about a British Home Office functionary and a Soviet era attach who are lovers involved in Cold War intrigue. 'The Tamarind Seed' was the first film produced by Lorimar Productions. The film score was composed by John Barry.
Plot
After a failed love affair with a married man, British Home Office assistant, attractive Judith Farrow meets handsome Soviet attach Colonel Sverdlov while on vacation in Barbados, but their budding personal relationship does not go unnoticed by British Intelligence. Judith is enchanted by a story that the seeds of a tamarind tree on a certain plantation take the form of the head of a slave hanged from a tamarind, a tale mocked by Sverdlov. Returning to London, Judith finds a surprise gift from Sverdlov: an envelope containing a tamarind seed.
Convinced Sverdlov is recruiting Judith to be a spy, British Intelligence Officer Jack Loder has his hands full with a clandestine Russian spy, code-named Blue, when he learns his assistant, George MacLeod, is having an affair with the wife of a British diplomat, Fergus Stephenson, who is a conduit of state secrets. Loder cautions Judith who is to contact him if she hears from Sverdlov.
Meanwhile Sverdlov, assigned to the Soviet Embassy in Paris, suspects his boss, Soviet General Golitysn distrusts him and insists Judith can be recruited as a spy, a story he shares with Judith when he visits her in London. Amidst drumbeat of suspicions on the cusp of betrayal and blackmail a gaggle of real and possible double-agents abound in a tangled web amidst a budding Sverdlov-Judith love story that could also be a ruse.
Sverdlov pleads with General Golitsyn for more time to recruit demure Judith, a ploy thats wearing thin with the suspicious General. Sverdlov steals the Blue file, his bargaining chip with London to get asylum in Canada and he finagles a romantic stop in Barbados where hes to meet Judith. Sverdlov eludes an assassination attempt by General Golitsyns agents at London Airport and meets Judith in Barbados where they are sequestered in a beachside bungalow rife with unrequited love. But the General is hot on his tail and jets a group of Soviet agents disguised as wealthy businessmen on holiday to attack the bungalow with napalm, an explosive bullet-riddled event that reportedly kills Sverdlov, destroys the Blue file and traumatizes Judith who narrowly escapes with her life.
Loder now knows Blue is Fergus Stephenson, a double-agent he can now manipulate. Loder meets convalescing shell-shocked Judith in Barbados where he divulges that newspaper accounts of Sverdlovs death were a false cover; seconds before the explosion Sverdlov was whisked away to Canada. Her doubts dissolve when Loder gives her an envelope that contains a tamarind seed. In a bucolic Canadian mountain valley Judith and Sverdlov share a lovers' embrace.
Cast
* Julie Andrews as Judith Farrow
* Omar Sharif as Feodor Sverdlov
* Anthony Quayle as Jack Loder
* Dan O'Herlihy as Fergus Stephenson
* Sylvia Syms as Margaret Stephenson
* Oskar Homolka as General Golitsyn
* Bryan Marshall as George MacLeod
* David Baron as Richard Paterson
* Celia Bannerman as Rachel Paterson
* Roger Dann as Col. Moreau
* Sharon Duce as Sandy Mitchell
* George Mikell as Maj. Stukalov
* Kate O'Mara as Anna Skriabina
* Constantine Gregory as Dimitri Memenov
* John Sullivan as 1st KGB Agent
* Terence Plummer as 2nd KGB Agent
* Leslie Crawford as 3rd KGB Agent
* Alexei Jawdokimov as Igor Kalinin
* Janet Henfrey as Embassy Section Head
Production
'The Tamarind Seed' was partly financed by Sir Lew Grade as part of a two-movie deal to get Andrews to commit to a TV show;Lew Grade, 'Still Dancing: My Story', William Collins & Sons 1987 p 227 the other film was 'Trilby'.
It was Andrews' first film in four years since 'Darling Lili'. During that time, she had married Blake Edwards and concentrated on raising their children.
"This is a nice film," said Andrews, "It's just right for my comeback."
Filming locations
'The Tamarind Seed' was filmed on location in Barbados, Belgravia (including Eaton Square) in London, and Paris.Reception
The film received a Royal Command Performance.
Box office
Lew Grade said the film "did fairly well" at the box office but claims that he struggled to make much money from it because Edwards and Andrews took such a large percentage of the profits (Andrews 10% of the gross, Edwards 5%). This was common practice for a top-billed star and writer/director.Critical response
In a 1974 review in 'Movietone News', Kathleen Murphy wrote that the film was a good example of the concept of "the community of two" against the backdrop of complex international forces waging a cold war. Murphy writes:Murphy concluded that 'The Tamarind Seed' turns this genre of "the community of two" into the genuine article that "shifts and reshapes our thinking and feeling and seeing." In its place, a "new perception of reality" transcends the confines of the movie theater and makes its way into the "larger, less defined, and thus less understandable, territory of our lives."
Cultural references
The film was spoofed in 'Mad' magazine in 1975 as 'The Tommy-Red Seed'.
References
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