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An
economics professor is offered the chance to extend his power
and influence by becoming a presidential adviser, but first
he must eliminate the only four people in the world who can
attest to his murky past as a secret agent...
The
Internecine Project made in 1973 was a late arrival to
the genre of cold war films that relied on atmosphere, rather
than gadgets, which arguably was at its height in the late
sixties early seventies with films such as The Ipcress
File in 1965. These films stood in stark contrast to the
usual spy fare provided by the James Bond films. In this convention,
the audience is rarely spoon fed plot pointers, which leads
to a much more satisfying experience. Due to the inclusion
of James Coburn, presumably to attract an American audience,
it does not have the raw grittiness of a gangster film like
Get Carter (1971) or the joyous silliness of a spy
film like Billion Dollar Brain (1967). That's not to
say that it doesn't have charms of its own.
Directed by Ken Hughes better known for directing Casino
Royale and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the direction
remains tight and the settings are generally sinister and
moody - mostly set in dark claustrophobic rooms. The film
is shot in a more realistic, less stylised fashion common
of the British and German films of the period. The oddity
here is that often these films, unlike their American contemporaries,
went straight into the action, giving a modern audience, used
to seeing the studio logo and a whole five minute preamble,
the feeling that this was a straight to video affair. This
could not be further from the truth.
The music, by Roy Budd who also provided the soundtrack for
Soldier Blue and Get Carter, is note worthy
in an age which was soon to be dominated by the orchestral
excesses of Jerry Goldsmith. Its minimalist approach is more
akin to European films of a decade earlier, and very reminiscent
of Get Carter which he also scored. We can only be
thankful that he didn't do Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- that would have been too freaky.
This
was an English/German production, which explains the very
good choices for the acting roles. Coburn, who plays Robert
Elliot, should need little introduction, an accomplished actor
whose career has spanned The Magnificent Seven (1960)
up to his recent vocal work in Monsters Inc (2001).
As you would expect, he does a magnificent job at portraying
the callous economics professor.
Lee Grant plays the love interest, but her part is rather
superfluous to the rest of the plot and would not have seriously
impacted on the film if her character had never existed. The
poor unfortunates that Coburn must set up to die are played
with great assurance by three great English character actors
- Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry and Michael Jayston - whilst the
last victim is played by Christiane Krüger, who has had a
career mainly in German cinema.
The disc has nothing in the way of extras. The print is not
great showing many artefacts and generally being soft in appearance.
The mono track works well and, given the soundscape of the
film, it's difficult to know how bumping it up to 5.1 would
have improved things. For those confused by the title - and
I count myself amongst them - Internecine apparently
means mutually destructive, so now we know.
Charles
Packer
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