Assignment K

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Assignment K
Assignment K FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Val Guest
Screenplay byVal Guest
Bill Strutton
Maurice Foster
Based on Department K
1964 novel
by Hartley Howard
Produced byMaurice Foster
Ben Arbeid
Starring Stephen Boyd
Camilla Sparv
Michael Redgrave
Leo McKern
Robert Hoffmann
Jeremy Kemp
Cinematography Ken Hodges
Edited byJack Slade
Music by Basil Kirchin
Color process Technicolor
Production
companies
Gildor Productions
Mazurka Productions Ltd.
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • 18 February 1968 (1968-02-18)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Assignment K (also known as Department K) is a 1968 British spy thriller film directed by Val Guest in Techniscope and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave, Leo McKern, Robert Hoffmann and Jeremy Kemp. [1] [2] It was written by Guest, Bill Strutton and Maurice Foster based on the 1964 novel Department K by Hartley Howard.

Contents

Plot

A British spy has his cover blown, leading to the East German Stasi kidnapping his girlfriend to try to extract information about his double agents' activities. [3]

Cast

Production

Val Guest said "We shot it all out in Kitzbuhel, great cast: we had my Leo McKern again, and Michael Redgrave who was a very sick man, had terrible difficulties with his lines... Stephen [Boyd] was a wonderful person, a great giggler, a great professional, very nice guy." [4]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Routine spy thriller, unimaginatively scripted and directed. The entirely conventional settings include the inevitable night clubs, expensive hotels and ski slopes (where the travelling matte is much in evidence). Stephen Boyd is bland and wooden as the toy tycoon/spy; Camilla Sparv has little to do but look alluring; and Leo McKern and Michael Redgrave appear fleetingly and to little effect. The plot meanders from dull beginning to dull end with nothing of interest in between." [5]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Dreary espionage thriller, instantly forgettable, and only watchable at odd moments while it's on." [6]

See also

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References

  1. "Assignment K". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  2. "Assignment K(1968)". Yahoo Movies. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  3. "Assignment K(1968)". TCM. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  4. Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
  5. "Assignment K". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 35 (408): 39. 1 January 1968 via ProQuest.
  6. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 56. ISBN   0586088946.