Funeral In Berlin

Michael Caine at his cheeky and beguiling best. Spy thriller set deep in the cold war in the centre of all spy networks- Berlin. Engrossing and intriguing, it is well worth a watch for all ages.

This was a genuine journey back into time, when the Soviets were the enemy, the Wall was still standing and the people of East Berlin living in bleak tenaments, plotted to escape. A good story, and well executed, but it felt more like a history lesson than anything else.

Michael Caine was good. It was interesting, if shocking, to see the old East Berlin shots which are now long forgotten. Somewhat confusing at times. A bit slow and dated at times, but I got to the end of it, just.

The Ipcress File was first-class and it was always going to be difficult to make a follow-up which was as good. Funeral in Berlin doesn't come close to the success of the earlier film, for different reasons.

The first thing that struck me was that the soundtrack was way too insistent, almost as if it were trying to set the scene, rather than let the storyline set the scene and complement it by adding to the atmosphere. It didn't work - it was scored for orchestra, and who wants a screeching brass section when they've heard the delicious, moody, low key, jazzy number from Ipcress?

Then there's Palmer: he likes to be a bit of a joker and had some splendidly dry comic lines in Ipcress, but he goes too far here - you'll notice it in the first ten minutes - gags abound and, while they may be mildly amusing (most aren't even that), they do nothing to establish the credibility of the plot or the seriousness of the actors. If you want humour, go for Pierce Brosnan in James Bond (I saw Die Another Day recently and it was full of crap jokes and innuendo. I never realised how bad an actor Brosnan was until I saw it again.) or Sid James in a Carry On film.

The plot was okay but I thought it a bit muddled, with too many things going on, so it lacked the direct simplicity of the earlier film. There are agents from Russia/East Germany, West Germany, GB and Israel all vying with one another. Hmmm! Too much.

On a positive note, the picture quality is sharp and the colours very strong, and you get a chance to see Palmer being pulled by a gorgeous bird and Guy Doleman doing his suave bit as Palmer's unflappable boss with a superb accent and a great line in withering put-downs. The grittiness of this film is Berlin in the mid-sixties - how run-down and seedy it all looked, but this was only twenty years after the war and regeneration was still proceeding.

It's good enough for an evening's entertainment, but a disappointing sequel for Palmer.