User reviews

When ex-agent Harry Palmer recieves a mysterious request to deliver a flask to Finland in return for a fee, Col. Ross forcibly re-employs him with British Intelligence. Palmer is ordered to proceed to Finland with the flask (which contains deadly nerve gas), in an attempt to infiltrate the organisation of Texan oil billionaire Gen. Midwinter, who is believed to be behind an anti-Soviet plot of some kind.

The third and final of the Harry Palmer films (if you don't count the two woeful straight to cable efforts of the mid-nineties) is generally considered to be the weakest. The strength of both 'The Ipcress File' and 'Funeral In Berlin' was that they were the complete antithesis of the Bond films, portraying the spying game as mundane, shadowy and unglamorous. However, with 'Billion Dollar Brain' maverick director Ken Russell presents the audience with an outlandish plot and large futuristic sets, which seem at odds with the style of its predecessors. The result is that the film appears to be aping Bond, and as such the character of Palmer is less effective.

Despite these shortcomings there are pleasures to be had. Michael Caine once again displays wit and charm as Palmer, Guy Doleman is his usual droll self as Ross and Oskar Homolka makes a very welcome return as Col. Stok. Ed Begley gives his all as the lunatic Midwinter, Karl Malden provides reliable support as an old aquaintence of Palmer, and the tragic Francois Dorleac lends an exotic mystery to her character. The snowbound Finnish locations are beautifully filmed and the production design by Bond man Syd Cain is very stylish.

Ultimately the film is let down by rather wild and undisciplined direction and a cartoonish finale. It's a shame that 'Billion Dollar Brain' strayed so far from the template of the previous films, but its by no means all bad, and can be reasonably entertaining if you're in the right mood.

This is the third of the Harry Palmer spy stories which made Caine a big name star as a sympathetic crook turned into an expert secret agent. Nowadays, Harry forced into retirement and working as a private eye . Henry encounters himself privately recruited by the British Secret Agency and he's again hired by MI6 and colonel Ross (Guy Doleman, usual in the Palmer trilogy) . He must deliver a thermos flask containing some strange eggs to an American (Karl Malden) resident in Finland . Harry gets a little help from a gorgeous woman (Francois Dorleac sister to Catherine Deneuve and unfortunately deceased by car crash), but treachery is all around and he starts doubting on his partners. Meanwhile, a Texan millionaire (an overacting and blustering Ed Begley) prepares a military uprising in Estonia with the help of a billion dollar computer. His objective is the overthrowing communist by means of a coup de'Etat in Riga. Meantime, the Russian intelligence officer (a wickedly comical Oskar Homolka who appeared in 'Funeral in Berlin' as defector) in charge of Russian espionage tries to detain it.

Michael Caine as a deadpan , flabby anti-hero is phenomenal , he makes a delightful creation as the cockney secret agent, an immensely agreeable role . Packs solid scenes such as the final spectacular icebound highlights, among others . There appears uncredited Donald Sutherland as a scientist at computer . This exciting picture displays a James Bond style , in fact the producer is Harry Saltzman in charge of OO7 series production. Emotive musical score including sensitive leitmotif by Richard Rodney Barrett . Colorful cinematography reflecting splendidly the freezing outdoors by cameraman Billy Williams. The motion picture was well directed by Ken Rusell, who adds his peculiar style in some frames .

The best adaptation based upon the bestseller by Len Deighton is ¨Ipcress file (1965)¨ by Sidney J Furie with Gordon Jackson, Sue Lloyd, Nigel Greene, Guy Doleman , it's followed by ¨Funeral in Berlin¨ (1966) by Guy Hamilton with Oscar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy Doleman, "Billion Dollar Brain" by Ken Russell with Karl Malden, Oscar Homlka, Ed Begley. And continuing the series with inferior renditions for TV, titled ¨Bullet to Beijing (95)¨ by George Mihalka with Mia Sara, Jason Connery, Sue Lloyd Patrick Allen and ¨Midnight in Saint Petesburg(97)¨ by Douglas Jackson with Michael Gambon, Vlastra Vrana, Jadon Connery.

Michael Caine's first Harry Palmer film, "The Ipcress File", seems to have been deliberately designed to present a quite different picture of life in the British Secret Service to that shown in the James Bond films. Whereas Bond is a glamorous figure who lives a life of luxury, travels to exotic locations, drives expensive cars and seduces a succession of glamorous women, Palmer earns an average wage, lives in a seedy and down-market flat, shops at his local supermarket, drives a Ford Zephyr rather than an Aston Martin and never travels outside London where he is mostly employed in dull, bureaucratic work.

I have never seen the second Palmer film, "Funeral in Berlin", but the third, "Billion Dollar Brain", is much closer to the Bond-type spy movie than is "The Ipcress File". Palmer travels to exotic foreign destinations (Finland and Latvia) and meets (and beds) a beautiful young woman who might just be a double agent. (The girl, Anya, was played by Francoise Dorleac in her last film before her tragic death). The most Bond-like element in the film is the villain, General Midwinter, a Texan oil millionaire who, with his grandiose schemes and his own private army, bears a close resemblance to some of Ian Fleming's characters such as Goldfinger or Stromberg.

When the film begins, Palmer has left MI5 and is working as a freelance private investigator. An apparently routine commission to deliver a mysterious package to Helsinki leads to his becoming embroiled with Midwinter, a far-right fanatic who dreams of overthrowing world Communism and has formed his own Crusade for Freedom, controlled by a powerful computer, the "Brain" of the title. (In 1967 it presumably looked very state-of-the-art, but today, with its reel-to-reel tapes and punch cards, it looks ludicrously dated. Strange to think that his billion dollars probably purchased Midwinter something with rather less calculating power than today's £500 laptops). The Brain has calculated (on the basis of false information fed in by a corrupt agent who has been syphoning off Midwinter's funds) that an anti-Soviet uprising is about to occur in Latvia, and Midwinter is resolved to send his private army to intervene.

Some people have seen parallels with George W Bush, but in 1967 there was another Texan in the White House, a man who had led America into a war even bloodier and even less popular than Iraq, and the character of Midwinter was doubtless intended to reflect the view that President Johnson was a dangerous warmonger. As, by implication, were those Americans who had been stupid enough to put him into the White House. (In the 1960s the European Left made little distinction between Republicans and Democrats, who were seen as two sides of the same coin). The hero of the film, apart from Palmer, is the Soviet commander Colonel Stok, desperately trying to prevent Midwinter from setting off World War III. Stok is played by Oskar Homolka who was presumably cast because of his strong resemblance to the then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

This world view- Americans are mad and bad, the Soviets are decent and civilised, and anyone who opposes Communism or Russian domination of Eastern Europe must be a Neo-Nazi- was an unusual one to find in a Cold War thriller, but it was one that was fairly common in left-wing circles in Europe during the sixties, even though the Soviets had plenty of self-righteous lunatics of their own, many of them in positions of high authority. Replace the word "Communism" in Midwinter's speeches with "Capitalism" and he begins to sound like Brezhnev's ranting, shoe-banging predecessor Nikita Khrushchev. Any hopes that Brezhnev would prove to be more liberal, however, were to be dashed the year after the film was made when he ordered the Red Army to crush the pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia. This sort of pro-Soviet viewpoint looks very outdated today, discredited by the events of the late eighties and early nineties when the peoples of Eastern Europe proved that they did indeed prefer democracy to the Communist system. We can be thankful that at the time of these events the Soviet Union was led by the only real statesman it ever produced, Mikhail Gorbachev. Had the likes of Brezhnev and Stok still been in charge they would have turned half a continent into a bloodbath in an attempt to maintain Soviet power by force of arms.

The film was directed by Ken Russell, not a name normally associated with spy movies. This was, however, only his second feature film (in the sixties he was much better known for his work on television) and he apparently made it reluctantly, being obliged to do so for contractual reasons. It is, however, obvious that he already had ambitions to be more than the director of run-of-the-mill thrillers, because his style already shows the hallmarks of the auteur director he was to become in the following decade- unusual camera angles especially on close-ups, shots using a moving camera, moody, atmospheric photography of the wintry, snow-bound Finnish landscape. The battle on the ice is a direct Eisenstein reference. This makes the film quite attractive visually, and some of the acting is good. Caine is too downbeat- he clearly failed to realise that this style of film called for a different style of acting from "The Ipcress File"- but Karl Malden is good as the cynical, amoral Leo Newbigen, and Ed Begley makes the best Bond villain not actually found in a Bond movie. Nevertheless, the film must lose at least one star for its objectionable politics. 5/10

Definitely an odd film, it is best to take it as a parody of the spy-film genre: as such it is enjoyable. Michael Caine is mostly sort of half bemused and half confused as the hapless Harry Palmer whose job is drawing him deeper into insanity and mayhem. And implausibility. The culminating scene is, well, pure symphony of the best (read:trash) special effects of the day. The plot is full of twists and double-crosses, and includes a Texan bent on taking over the world (how very now).

If you are Finnish, or have visited Finland, the experience is either heightened or or lowered: Billion Dollar Brain is one of the films where Finland stands as a location-double for the unaccessible Soviet Union. It is hard to concentrate on the plot, when first Helsinki is playing Helsinki, then Porvoo is in Russia, and Riga is again in Helsinki. The border is seemingly in Hameenlinna. One ends up wondering how Harry does not realize his train is going merely back and forth. Location-spotting can keep you amused as well, though.

A mad Texas general wants to start to overthrow parts of the satellite Eastern Block using his own private army and super computer. Reluctant secret agent - and former crooked army sergeant - Harry Palmer is given the job of trying to stop him before it is too late.

Last of the three HP films made for the cinema.

What a silly idea this film is based on. For a start the plot is far too James Bond for a series whose raison d'etre is to be anti James Bond and besides how can a basic Honeywell Computer (with punch cards) be worth a billion dollars? The thing had about as much power as a Sinclair Spectrum!

Star Caine looks bored to death with all this nonsense and chases around Finland looking like he would rather have been anywhere else but here - and I don't think it is all skilled acting. Director Ken Russell has his supporters and fans, although every passing years his supporters seemed less-and-less inclined to put their hands in their pocket for his product. He became a clapped out old duffer very early in life.

Danger, tension and silly are not easy bedfellows and even solid pros like Malden, Begley and Caine cannot breath much life in to this race-and-chase nonsense. Although Ed Begley chews up the set as a red-baiting Texan general gone mad in a bunker. Part Hitler, part Sterling Hayden in Doctor Strangelove.

Russian general Colonel Stock (Oskar Homolka) turns up again to reprise his role from Funeral in Berlin, even though it makes no sense to the plot - why would the enemy (in the cold war) help a British agent? Last thing on earth he would do unless he had gone stark raving mad or liked Gulag food.

Despite the series coming back much later as a made-for-TV double (made back-to-back) the show had clearly had its day. I could have lived without seeing this and you could too.

Former MI5 Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is now a private detective. He gets a phone call from a computer voice directing him to a package in an airport locker. He's told to go to Helsinki where he gives the thermos to Anya (Françoise Dorléac) and his old friend Leo Newbigen (Karl Malden). He is soon suspicious of Leo and his mysterious boss. He is coerced to work for MI5 Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman) who tells him that the thermos is filled with a deadly virus and the conspiracy is headed by an oil tycoon General Midwinter (Ed Begley).

This spy thriller isn't serious or realistic. It's basically a lower grade espionage movie with a convoluted premise. It does jump around a little with out-of-the-way locales, virus, beauties and Russians. Director Ken Russell made a competent but somewhat unimpressive movie. It's a low tension mystery rather than a high power thriller. Then the movie turns into a spoof with the cartoon villain. Its craziness is just enough fun to be interesting.

Enjoyable if dated, they are still using punch cards to program their computers!, espionage thriller with a solid cast. Caine is cool as ice as the reluctant protagonist casting a jaundiced eye on all the shenanigans going on around him. Francoise Dorleac is a lovely mystery woman although her character seems to vanish at several key points in the film when it feels like she would be there. This might be because she was killed in a traffic accident while the picture was still filming necessitating a rethinking to still make her completed work usable. She's quite magnetic, her resemblance to her sister Catherine Deneuve is striking, and her death cut short a career that was already very successful in France and was starting to expand worldwide. Ed Begley also stands out, having a great time as a crazy old coot. Subtle he ain't but memorable for sure.

Michael Caine as Harry Palmer comes up against the "Billion Dollar Brain" in this 1967 film also starring Karl Malden, Oscar Homolka, Francoise Dorleac and Ed Begley, directed by Ken Russell.

Harry is dragged back into MI-5, this time to get biological warfare out of the hands of the enemy. The enemy in this case is the lunatic Texas oilman Midwinter (Ed Begley) who's funding his own army to beat down Communism.

He's planning on attacking Latvia, and one of the men working for him, Newbigen (Karl Malden) is controlling the movements of 30 agents working there. Except there aren't - Newbigen is pocketing the money. That's 30 agents at $30,000 a week.

Midwinter also has these enormous computers that have tons of paper coming out of them and get fed info with punch cards - oh, the memories! Bizarre and very sixties in its style, "Billion Dollar Brain" is filled with wild camera angles and lunatic crowd scenes, as well as some gorgeous Finnish scenery. The finale is fantastic.

It's all completely insane and yet futuristic - the biological warfare, the bad intelligence, the Texas warmonger - let's face it, you could have those elements in a film today and they would all seem pretty timely.

The anchor for all this madness is Michael Caine, whose underplayed Harry is laid back as he tries to figure out who's working for whom. Homolka is great as Stok, and Ed Begley portrays the mad Midwinter way over the top, which is totally appropriate for such a character. Smiling Karl Malden is effective as a man in love who only cares about getting his.

Fast-moving and enjoyable.

"Billion Dollar Brain" is an unbelievably, inexplicably bad movie. It's so bad that the Harry Palmer series didn't survive it. I can't realize (after two viewings) what exactly is wrong with it, but it seems to fail on every level: plot, action, satire. Even Caine looks passive and unable to save it. A real curiosity.

Just wanted to add a few foot notes concerning the vastly under rated plot line of Billion Dollar Brain. The character of Midwinter was actually based on H. L. Hunt, the Texas oil and ketchup king who ran his own international spy network (occasionally doing jobs on the side for the CIA), was insanely anti-Russian, and (according to the death bed claims of E. Howard Hunt) may have bank rolled the murder of JFK.

When the film was first released, many critics felt that the computer system was a sill sci-fi element. In reality, the US was already involved in the creation of the internet system. Since it was suppose to be top secret, it is a little surprisingly that they didn't utter a peep.

Virtually all American critics at the time took swipes at the film for it's intense anti-American statement. It was the Sixties, the Vietnam was still burning hot, and attacks on stupid war waging Texans seemed pretty cheap and easy. Today, after 7 years of George W. and Dick Cheney, the film almost looks like a news program.

You can look upon Billion Dollar Brain as either a Cold War Spy drama, with Michael Caine or as a Ken Russell movie. Or both...

I bought it as the latter as I'm trying to get all his films, on discovering some of his odder and, shall we say, more florid films.

I was under no illusion, though - B.D.B has been on early hours TV many times and I've always had a quiet interest in the Harry Palmer character, rather than an infatuation, so I had seen it before. So, this DVD was a cheap (compared to scarcer Russell's) way of re-acquainting myself with Russell's take on a standard spy drama.

Taken as such, it certainly passes muster - if it's the arty, OTT creativity of our Ken you're after, you've got the wrong film. Combining the sardonic dark irony of the bespectacled Palmer with frozen landscapes of the communist North (filmed in Finland) plus some familiar faces - Karl Marlden in particular, it's a steady recipe that shows Ken could turn his hand to such and curb his excesses if he needed/wanted to.

Whilst some of it seems horribly dated (the opening computer scenes seem like museum relics now, showing just how far this technology has changed in the last 45 years) the print of this MGM DVD is crisp and clean and widescreen. Versions on TV tended to have been on commercial channels where quality has been poor and ad-breaks frequent, making this a nice change to watch it properly.

The plot (crank Texan Ed Begley about to start a new Russian Revolution, to kill off Communism, aided by a super-computer, the 'Brain') is obviously daft and contrived and very 007, especially in these days of hindsight but if nothing more, it's a great travelogue, aided by Ken's eye for detail and composition. Oscar Homolka as the Soviet Col. Stok may seem very stereotyped but is good fun as he relishes in greeting Palmer as "English!!" Others will enjoy seeing Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorléac in her last film before she was killed in a car accident. She does indeed look very appealing wrapped in (& out!) of her furs.

Donald Sutherland features as the computer 'voice', you can hear his nasal tones through the electronic distortion, once you realise it's him and there's some effective and often sinister ambient music from Richard Rodney Bennett.

For all that though, the film is a bit flabby about the middle with a fair amount of chasing around through snowy forests and frozen lakes. Though at times BDD verges on Bond territory it never sustains it - and probably never should - and at 110 mins it could be a bit leaner. The budget, no doubt was a fraction of that franchise and it does show.

Michael Caine is, always, perfect and overall, whilst not in either his top ten films, nor Russell's, for that matter, it remains good Cold War spy drama fodder.

The Ipcress File was a downbeat and gritty antidote to the James Bond films.

The Harry Palmer films suddenly enter the psychedelic sixties with Billion Dollar Brain.

Ken Russell was never going to make this into a straightforward spy drama. He was more into exotic flourishes and that is exactly what he brings to the table.

Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) has left the secret service and is now a private detective. Out never means out and his old boss Colonel Ross forces Palmer back to work for MI5.

Palmer's mission whether he likes it or not is go to Finland and stop biological warfare. A mad oil tycoon General Midwinter (Ed Begley) wants to take a war to the Soviet communists. An old friend Newbigen (Karl Malden) is acting suspicious as he is pocketing some Midwinter's money.

Russell must have taken his cue from Dr Strangelove when it comes to General Midwinter. However this film is plodding and comes across more as a spoof than a serious spy drama without much underlying wit.

I'm baffled by the dislike afforded this enjoyable sixties romp. The charge that it is less realistic than the previous films is groundless because the others weren't the real world either. The first featured some daft business with a psychedelic torture chamber and the second some far fetched romps around the Berlin wall. Of course, the events in 'Brain' are no less credible. The kremlin wouldn't allow a top Colonel to be chums with a British spy, let alone allow him to wander around Latvia taking photographs. The real purpose is to open the plot and make it more colourful, and also the opportunity to satirise entrenched positions and the madness of humanity. Recent events in Russia, especially under Yeltsin, prove that truth is definitely stranger than fiction. The score is terrific and the breath-neck direction may be enough to make it accessible to young, contemporary film fans.

The cast is superb. Guy Doleman is brilliant again as the supercilious Colonel Ross. The scene where he spills the cereals and refuses to move his feet while Palmer sweeps them up is priceless. The Russian spy Anya gives a hilarious speech of ennui about her father on the boat with Palmer and Oskar Homolka as Colonel Stock gives a short, classic lament on the ice flow written by John McGrath who does a great job here, especially in his cutting swipes at blinkered thinking. "The air in Texas is pure. That's why I haven't set foot outside of Texas in twenty five years" yells the batty General Midwinter. But the most chilling and truthful exchange occurs between Palmer and amoral spy Leo Newbigen. "When he gets between five miles of the Latvian border, every alarm in the world is gonna blow and four minutes later no one is going to be around." - "You want your money, don't you?"

Ken Russell began his career doing documentaries about classical composers and his experience pays off here in his use of sound with image. Anyone bored with current fair and hasn't seen this trilogy could do worse in giving them a go. This one was the best, in my opinion.

BILLON DOLLAR BRAIN features a rabid anti communist meglomaniac in the role of villain General Midwinter and it`s up to British agent Harry Palmer to stop his lunatic scheme

I wonder how many people at the time realised the irony of rabid right winger Midwinter being portrayed as a looney villain ? In 1967 President Johnson was spending billions of American dollars and tens of thousands of American lives to protect South East Asia from communism while plenty of main stream right wing American politicians like Ronald Reagan thought the Johnson administration weren`t going far enough to protect the free world from the red menace . So the over the top rhetoric from Midwinter feels more like biting satire than the rantings of a mad man . It`s also good to see a movie making a nod towards the sacrifice of nearly 30 million Soviet citizens lives during the second world war , many of them being murdered by nationalists from puppet regimes created by the Nazis .

I think this is undoubtedly the best of the Harry Palmer movies , helped in no small part by Ken Russell`s not quite mainstream , not quite art house direction . Caine is in good form as are the rest of the cast , but of course the best performance award goes to Ed Begley as General Midwinter who rants about the evils of communism and preaches the virtues of the free world without pausing to draw breath . BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN also features early appearances from Susan George and Donald Sutherland in blink and you`ll miss them roles .

Entertaining thriller and an interesting one for not making the commies the bad guys . Compare it to THE GREEN BERETS if you want to know the difference between chalk and cheese

As an admirer of the first two films THE IPCRESS FILE and FUNERAL IN BERLIN featuring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, I was excited to finally get a copy (pan and scan, with Spanish subtitles)of the obscure third entry in the series BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN, which also was the breakthrough film (in the US at least) for director Ken Russell, who'd worked primarily in British TV before this. It starts out promisingly with Palmer's seedy office and the promise of an exciting new case and reinstatement into the intelligence community. As Palmer goes to Helsinki, it continues well and features fascinating, little-seen locations in Finland. Oscar Homolka is wonderful as a Russian operative who knows Palmer from way back and helps him find his way through a strange land. However, as the film veers off into the wacko anti-communist cult led by Ed Begley (in a performance that would be more fitting in a serial like THE LOST CITY than a serious feature film) and gives a lot of attention to dated computers that huff and puff and don't look at all threatening, it loses a lot of steam and often treads into cartoonish territory. The scenes that are supposed to be set in Texas are laughable--it's certainly no part of Texas I've ever seen. Karl Malden is a fine actor, but he's given very little to work with here, and I hope I never again see him with his shirt off in a sauna. I'm not familiar with Ken Russell's TV work prior to this feature, but his over-the-top style seen in films such as LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM, the outrageously entertaining CRIMES OF PASSION, and LIZSTOMANIA is hinted at here with the ridiculous right-wing movement led by Begley and the computer-as-monster motif that takes up too much time in the film. A villain must have some level of believability to him for the audience to be fearful of him--even Ming The Merciless in the old serials had a convincingly real quality to him even though he was played in an exaggerated melodramatic style. Begley (and I blame both the script AND the direction here, not Begley, as he had been a subtle and nuanced actor elsewhere--surely Russell was egging him on to play the character so broadly) is not "real" for a minute in this role, and thus the threat he poses both to the hero and to the world for that matter was never taken seriously by me, leading to a lack of suspense, even though there was a lot of action and intrigue and narrow escapes, and the film was fun to watch. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind to appreciate the film. If a letterboxed version is ever released in the USA, and if I'm in the proper mood to take the whole film as satire, perhaps I'll retract my comments and "get" the vision of the filmmakers. Until then, I'd recommend the film only to Harry Palmer fans who have always wanted to see the film and to Caine fans--Caine is, after all, the one major element of the film (along with its fine photography and musical score) that can't be faulted. Ken Russell fans might want to check it out also, as many of the elements for which he's (in)famous are already in evidence.

"Billion Dollar Brain" (1967), directed by the iconoclastic Ken Russell, in the 1970s a firebrand of British cinema. This was the third and final Harry Palmer spy film, following "The IPCRESS File" (1965) and "Funeral in Berlin" (1966), based on Len Deighton's popular novels, Palmer had been pitched as an anti-James Bond. Michael Caine as the bespectacled and cockney hero was certainly far away from the suave glamour of Sean Connery's Bond movies and seemed to inhabit a recognisable Swinging Sixties London. Yet after the dour realities of the previous two films, which are closer to le Carré than Ian Fleming, Russell makes a spy film that is as much a parody of the genre as it is a thriller.

Caine looks consistently bemused by the intrigues and betrayals after encountering his old friend Leo Newbigen (an excellent Karl Malden who conveys his character's unease and unreliability). Once Midwinter's plot emerges (Ed Begley who overacts outrageously), the entire facade of the film threatens to crumble. Russell constantly undercuts our expectations: the Soviet authorities, represented by a faintly ridiculous Oskar Homolka, are seen as essentially reasonable and as keen as MI5 to avert World War Three, while Midwinter's base, run by a giant computer that is coordinating his plan, is so over the top that it could be production designer Syd Cain commenting on his own work for "From Russia with Love" (1963). Russell extends the none-too-serious tone with Caine getting beaten up and knocked out more than everyone else and the entire climax is a replication of Sergei Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" (1938) ending, with its battle on a frozen lake. There's no denying the skill with which Russell directs the whole farrago, particularly the scenes with Caine stumbling across the frozen Finnish landscapes, benefiting enormously from shooting on location.

Other treats are Billy William's elegant cinematography, the entire title sequence with its elaborate computer motifs and Richard Rodney Bennett's thundering, highly romantic piano score, borrowing liberally from Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, strangely fitting the action on screen and helps maintain the tension when it seems as if Russell is engaged with other tangents such as the subplot of Françoise Dorléac and her ambiguous relationship with Karl Malden. The film as a consequence, isn't brilliant, its energies dissipated by too many digressions, but "Billion Dollar Brain" still provides a lot of entertainment, partly as it playfully rejects so many of the clichés of the genre that it's nominally a part of.

This film hasn't much to recommend, aside from some nice location photography in Finland (standing in for Russia). It's too boring and low key to appeal to those looking for a James Bond type of film, and too goofy to appeal to those looking for a serious spy film. The goofy plot would look more at home in a Matt Helm film, except this film doesn't have the bevy of beauties that are rampant in the Helm movies to keep the eye's interest. The sole female of note in the cast is Francoise Dorleac (Catherine Deneuve's sister), who unfortunately died in a car crash not long after shooting most of her scenes. Michael Caine and Karl Malden clearly had fun playing off each other in their scenes, it's just too bad that they weren't doing a better movie.

This was Ken Russell's first theatrical film. At the time he was more known as a TV director. Some of his usual trademarks are already present, such as an overabundance of odd characters and experimental editing techniques.

With a title sequence at the beginning by Maurice Binder, who was also behind the vast majority of the James Bond title sequences, they give you reason to believe that you're in for something on the level of James Bond. But alas, it wasn't to be. Billion Dollar Brain was the last of the Harry Palmer franchise at the time. Michael Caine returned to the role however, for two USA Network TV movies which i haven't seen (yet).

I do not know the Harry Palmer series at all, so I am viewing this film with no backstory nor understanding of the recurring characters or the franchise "rules." That said, as a standalone movie, I found Billion Dollar Brain, confusing at best.

At the one-hour mark, so many questions. Why is a Russian general sneaking into Michael Caine's hotel room? Why is Caine on some ambush party in Latvia photographing "secrets" being carried in a potato truck? What's his relationship with Karl Malden other than just being "old friends?" And no curiosity at all about the billion dollar brain that spits out commands and orders? The glamorous Francoise DorleacI pops in and out, with not much explanation. What's her story? I hate exposition, but this is one movie that could actually use a little more.

Michael Caine is quoted by his biographer, Michael Hall as saying, "Ken Russell lost the story somewhere and no one could care a damn about what was going on because they couldn't follow what was going on."

I actually had to go to the Wikipedia plot summary to get re-oriented and then rewatch earlier scenes. (I am grateful for streaming). The crib notes vastly improved my enjoyment of the film.

I'm guessing the incoherence is just a function of lazy editing. Perhaps a disjointed script. Too much plot. Inattention as Caine stated. Or maybe that was the style that permeated spy movies of the time, though the Bond films are very easy to follow.

On the plus side, I love Michael Caine's performance as sort of a poor man's Bond. He's a middle class guy - he's in MI5 not MI6 after all - struggling to run what looks to be a Sam Spade-type detective agency in London. He's low key. Skeptical bordering on cynical. The glasses give him a touch of vulnerability.

Karl Malden is convincing as an international criminal / con artist. Grizzled and blustery as ever. And that nose! Ed Begley as the over the top General Midwinter has just the right degree of right-wing craziness. In 2023 we know a lot more about what that looks like.

Oh, and the second half of the movie? Once we meet General Midwinter in Texas the action gets into gear and the plot makes more sense. The right-wing hoe-down / political rally is chilling.

The locations in Finland are marvelous. The Honeywell computers are authentic. Clearly there was a generous budget. And the prediction of an easy break up of the Soviet Union, turned out to be prescient as did the rise of an American, right-wing cult leader.

So a seven rating. Points for the cast and locations. A few more for "effort". But minuses for editing and coherence.

I haven't seen the intervening film "Funeral In Berlin" in the Michael Caine/Harry Palmer Len Deighton trilogy of mid-60's British spy-thrillers and so came to "Billion Dollar Brain" via "The Ipcress File" which I have seen and enjoyed. I was intrigued to learn that it was an early directorial outing for infant-terrible Ken Russell and it was certainly interesting to see what flair he could bring to a typical, almost mundane "Cold War" spy narrative.

To be fair though, I found the whole movie pretty under-powering, not helped by a plot that seems to borrow more from the escapist world of James Bond than the workaday environs of Harry Palmer, I mean a deranged billionaire Commie-hating Southern US General with a private army and super computer planning to trigger a war by invading Latvia! I'm aware that Bond producer Cubby Broccoli was also producer on the Palmer films but believe he seriously got his wires crossed here, to the extent that we get a flashy Bond-type title sequence, tons and tons of expensive-looking military hardware (apart from the "cheap-as-chips" afore-mentioned super computer!) and a horde of extras who reach an icy end on the frozen wastes of Latvia.

Contained in the over-prolix story are the usual devices of our man's anti-Establishment cussedness, cross and double-cross, love interest and the usual hero-saves-the-day conclusion, but in truth, rather like the snowy landscapes which proliferate in the background, I was left pretty cold and dreary by the film as a whole.

Caine seems to show less conviction in his acting this time around and for me his style doesn't bond with Karl Malden's either, while Ed Begley goes over the top of Everest as the mad General Midwinter. Director Russell handles his locations well, gives us one or two interesting shots, like the initial scene where we get to see by torch-light the dishevelment of P.I. Harry's shambolic office and a scene where a just beaten-up Palmer comes around amongst a score of others like him, like so many broken dolls and yes, I did smile at the mild nudity scene which prefigures "Women In Love" by a few years.

But as I said though, it takes a long time to get to the end, there's never really any sense of danger or suspense at any time and for me the actors all look confused throughout. Perhaps it's not surprising therefore that a fourth instalment wasn't commissioned after this outing.

After the first two film this should've been an equally good film. Indeed things start off very well Harry (Michael Caine) bumping into his old boss Ross (Guy Doleman). Before Harry knows it he's back working for Ross and heading to Helsinki, Finland. Here he meets old friend Leo Newbigen (Karl Malden) and Anya (Francoise Dorleac). All is not what it seems, maybe the Russians are more friendly than the Americans, especially Col. Stock, at least this Russian laughs. This is when the film deteriorates, when the film goes to Texas and the over the top Gen. Midwinter (Ed Begley). Shame really because it should've been a lot better. Sadly Dorleac died a few months later in a car crash at the age of 25, a tragic loss when she was about to hit the big time.

I enjoyed both The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin but not Billion Dollar Brain. Whilst the first two films in the trilogy had a feeling of realism about them, Billion Dollar Brain felt like it was just a send-up of the spy world(which maybe is was meant to be). From the opening James Bond type titles I felt that it was being played tongue-in-cheek. We even have a wild eyed maniac type character who wants to take over the world in the form of Ed Begley. Perhaps if Ipcress and Funeral had not been serious visits into the espionage world than Billion Dollar might be viewed differently.

Finally, the soundtrack to this film is pretty bad, which is a shame as it was written by the usually excellent Richard Rodney Bennet who wrote the wonderful soundtrack for the Julie Christie film 'Far From the Madding Crowd'.