Eye of the Needle Page #2

Synopsis: A German spy carrying information that will reveal the target of Operation Overlord becomes involved with the wife of a crippled man on an isolated island off the Scottish coast while he waits to be picked up.
Genre: Romance, Thriller, War
Director(s): Richard Marquand
Production: MGM Home Entertainment
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Rotten Tomatoes:
85%
R
Year:
1981
112 min
515 Views


She's very concerned about you.

I don't need anyone's concern.

I can manage alone.

I can't.

David, I need you.

- I love you.

- Don't.

Please, don't.

I want to sleep.

For God's sake, let me sleep.

Thank you.

You haven't let this room to anybody

since the death of Mrs Garden?

No, sir. Not since Billy Parkin

lived here. He's in the army now.

I think I've seen everything I want to see.

Thank you very much.

Sergeant. Billy Parkin?

That's right, sir. Hello, sir.

What's this all about?

Murder.

I'll never forget

coming back from the pub.

And there she was.

Dead.

- That was the worst shock of my life.

- I'm sure.

Bloody Henry Faber.

My hero, he was.

Bastard.

Even wounded in the war.

Medals on his chest.

Anyway, what do you want me for?

These are photographs

of German military graduation classes.

Same year, different schools.

Take your time.

- I am looking for Faber, aren't I?

- Yes.

That's him.

That's him.

That's Faber to the life.

And look.

Admiral Wilhelm Canaris,

the head of German intelligence.

And right behind him,

his young student - the Needle.

- Going fishing?

- And a little bird-watching as well.

If you're lucky.

Best keep to the far side of the canal.

Restricted area this side.

- Really?

- Starts half a mile from here.

The man, codename: The Needle.

Also known as Henry Faber.

He was born on May 26, 1900,

at a village called ln in West Prussia.

At the age of 13 he went to

the Karlsruhe cadet school in Baden.

Two years later, he was transferred to

the more prestigious Gro-Lichterfelde

near Berlin.

He already spoke fluent English because

his father, Baron von Mller-Guder,

had worked in Washington

as a military attach,

and had sent his son

to private school there.

But back in Germany,

the boy rebelled constantly

and was often flogged for it.

He passed his final exams

with extremely high marks.

In the '20s, the Needle was a cadet

at the war school in Metz,

and Wilhelm Canaris befriended him.

In '31, Hitler visited the family estate

and met him.

In '33, Hitler came to power.

The Needle was made a captain

and sent to Berlin for unspecified duties.

He had an affair with a German actress.

He never married.

He made no close friends.

And in '38, the Needle disappeared.

God.

Clever bastards.

- Good evening.

- Good evening.

- And who might you be?

- I should be asking who you are.

You're on my boat.

- What's in that bag?

- Binoculars, camera, reference books.

No, you don't. Put your hands up.

Would you mind? Thank you.

How nice to hear from you.

Of course.

Yes, that shouldn't be too difficult, sir.

You would prefer it in the morning?

By all means. Yes.

Good night.

I want that in the diplomatic pouch

to Lisbon this afternoon.

- And on to Berlin?

- As soon as possible.

Fine.

May I ask you...

It's insurance.

You don't come to us very often.

- Not very.

- You keep to yourself.

A cautious man.

A cautious life. But then,

how else could one survive these days?

One could stop.

But not you.

Training.

- Patriotism. Good.

- Here, please.

Pull in here, cabby.

Thank you.

Do you know what these are, Godliman?

American aircraft.

These are photographs of Patton's

Allied invasion force in East Anglia.

The Germans think

there are only two possible places

for an Allied invasion of Europe.

And they're right.

From East Anglia here

to the Pas-de-Calais,

or from the south coast of England

to the beaches of Normandy.

Operation Overlord

has decided on Normandy.

Then what is General Patton's army

doing in East Anglia?

There is no army.

These planes are made out of plywood.

We did it to fool the Germans. The man

who took those photographs knows it.

Consequently, he must also know

that we intend to invade Normandy.

Find him, Godliman.

It could cost us the bloody war.

Well, sir, if you were at this station

and wanted to get out of the country,

you could go to Holyhead or Liverpool or

Glasgow and then catch a ferry to Ireland.

He wouldn't risk Holyhead

because of the passport control.

How about Liverpool to Belfast? A car

across Ireland and a U-boat on the coast.

You're talking about

our 11.45 Marylebone to Inverness.

Stopping at Stafford, Crewe, Liverpool...

Liverpool.

That's where he'll get off. You're right.

- The 11.45 left on time.

- How do we get on it?

- You could stop the train...

- Yes. Get us a plane.

- Yes, sir.

- Come on, Billy.

- Fancy a game of poker, mate?

- Why not?

We're stopping again.

- The driver probably ran out of coal.

- Probably forgot his ration book.

Now remember, Billy,

you've just to point him out to me.

Don't you worry, sir. I could

recognise Faber in a stocking mask.

Blackout. Pull your blinds down.

Thank you.

Blackout.

Pull your blinds down.

Blackout.

Come on, give us a bit of room, pal.

Someone take him away.

Come on. Blimey.

Excuse me.

Excuse me.

Be still or I'll kill you.

Why are you looking for me?

- I'm not.

- Don't lie.

Has the army changed its uniforms, Billy?

What's the plan? Where's the trap?

Glasgow.

They're waiting for you at Glasgow.

So they finally let you in the army,

did they, Billy?

Congratulations.

Oh, my God!

Thank you. You've been terribly kind.

You won't change your mind

and have a spot of lunch?

- No, I must get on to Banff.

- As you like.

I hope your car's there

when you get back to it.

It won't get far without petrol.

The Red Army has scored

huge successes against the Germans,

striking back with tanks and troops

along the Eastern Front.

Hitler's armies have suffered

many humiliating defeats

and have fled, frozen and in disarray,

through the killing snows of Russia.

All this at the very moment Hitler

was saying that the word "surrender"

is not to be found

in the German vocabulary.

The US and British Forces have stepped

up their daylight bombing of Germany.

Mr Churchill and General Eisenhower

are in conference

and with the approach of summer,

an attack by the Allies on Europe

is, of course, only a matter of time.

The fatal question

for the Nazi command must be

where and when

will the invasion take place?

A U-boat will pick you up

off the coast of Scotland,

but only when you signal it. From six

in the evening until six in the morning.

Deliver the photographs

personally to the Fhrer.

He says he trusts you.

How very flattering.

Aye, that's the feller. I picked him up

in the middle of nowhere.

- What a fool I felt when I saw this.

- Are you positive it was the same man?

I offered him lunch.

- And he was going to Banff?

- I dropped him right opposite.

- Scotland Yard on the line.

- At last.

Scotland Yard.

I know it's late. It's late here, too.

David.

Put your arm round me.

That's it.

We've had ten more sightings

of your man.

All checked?

We've interviewed eight.

We're on to the other two.

We've searched from

Cape Wrath to Carlisle.

He hasn't got a roof over his head.

You're on Storm Island.

- Storm Island?

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Stanley Mann

Stanley Mann (August 8, 1928 – January 11, 2016) was a Canadian-born film and television writer. Born in Toronto, he began his writing career in 1951, and was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the 1965 film The Collector, based on the John Fowles novel of the same title. In 1957, he wrote an adaptation of Death of a Salesman for television. Two of his better-known credits are Eye of the Needle and Conan the Destroyer. He appeared in two of the titles, Firestarter and Meteor.He was married to Florence Wood in the 1950s, while living and working in London, England. Following their divorce in 1959, Wood married novelist Mordecai Richler, who adopted Mann's son Daniel.He died on January 11, 2016. more…

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