This is one of the greatest and most passionate World War 2 and/or spy movies ever made, and it is so British! :-)
German spy Faber (superbly played by the ever-errant Canadian actor Donald Sutherland) was a nonconforming discipline problem as a naval cadet and so became an intelligence officer for (anti-Hitler) Admiral Canaris's Abwehr agency. Planted in England and working in transportation ... and not young enough to be conscripted ... he is in perfect position to monitor British troop and equipment strengths and movements.
However, his cover is blown when his not unattractive landlady discovers him tapping out a message to home base, and he bloodily dispatches her with his stiletto "needle," evidencing a cold, calculated ruthlessness which then puts every viewer on the edge of his/her seat every time Faber is in desperate circumstances and around any potential victim. He later even kills a fellow German spy - a young courier - to prevent the latter from being captured and identifying him and his mission, directly ordered by Hitler.
Only Faber is trusted by Hitler to find out if the famous and feared U.S. General Patton's First Army Group is real or a mere diversion, to threaten a D-Day landing directly across the English Channel at Pas de Calais. Hitler intuits that Normandy will be the real landing site instead, and he needs proof to goad his generals into re-focusing German forces down there.
Once Faber discovers the truth about FAG, he must get the information radioed or in person back to Hitler, but MI6 - led by veteran actor Ian Bannen's Godliman - is closing in on him, and he flees north, eventually shipwrecked on a beautifully filmed island and given shelter by the bitterly hateful, unfulfilled former Royal Air Force fighter pilot and legless amputee David (grimly played by Christopher Cazenove) and his little family.
But totally complicating everything is David's voluptuous, sweet, spurned, and thus emotionally and sexually repressed and desperate young wife, Lucy. Then too, there is their little boy who loves and respects his daddy as well as his mommy, even if his parents are in such unhappy turmoil.
Moved out of his own emotional shell - cell - by the girl's unhappiness, Faber suddenly opens up as a human being and gives Lucy the sympathy and affection ... and sexual relief ... she craves. And so just as suddenly and irresistibly they fall deeply in love with each other.
(Kate Nelligan's remarkably perfect beauties were fully displayed in a later BBC TV series, the title of which I forget. Sorry.)
Sensing what has happened intensifies David's suspicions about their guest, and David finally discovers Faber's true identity and intentions. They get into a life-and-death struggle on the edge of a cliff - David wanting revenge for Faber's betrayal of his hospitality and to stop Faber's intelligence mission and Faber wanting to liberate Lucy from her domestic hell ... and for himself.
This battle between a ruthless spy and a determined, patriotic amputee revives Faber's ruthlessness, and Lucy soon finds out what has happened. But to save herself and her child she must fake love and sexual ardor with him - submit and essentially prostitute herself to this unmasked monster who has murdered her husband - for fear of him killing her and her little boy. This is a scene of unsurpassed horror ... and a disturbing kind of eroticism.
The climax of the film is the struggle by Lucy to save herself, her little boy - and (in loyalty to David as well) save D-Day and the Allies by somehow stopping Faber from escaping to a waiting U-boat to complete his mission. And Faber MUST get to that U-boat, regardless of any love or sympathy he has felt for Lucy.
The film's climax is right down to the sea and absolutely rending.
German spy Faber (superbly played by the ever-errant Canadian actor Donald Sutherland) was a nonconforming discipline problem as a naval cadet and so became an intelligence officer for (anti-Hitler) Admiral Canaris's Abwehr agency. Planted in England and working in transportation ... and not young enough to be conscripted ... he is in perfect position to monitor British troop and equipment strengths and movements.
However, his cover is blown when his not unattractive landlady discovers him tapping out a message to home base, and he bloodily dispatches her with his stiletto "needle," evidencing a cold, calculated ruthlessness which then puts every viewer on the edge of his/her seat every time Faber is in desperate circumstances and around any potential victim. He later even kills a fellow German spy - a young courier - to prevent the latter from being captured and identifying him and his mission, directly ordered by Hitler.
Only Faber is trusted by Hitler to find out if the famous and feared U.S. General Patton's First Army Group is real or a mere diversion, to threaten a D-Day landing directly across the English Channel at Pas de Calais. Hitler intuits that Normandy will be the real landing site instead, and he needs proof to goad his generals into re-focusing German forces down there.
Once Faber discovers the truth about FAG, he must get the information radioed or in person back to Hitler, but MI6 - led by veteran actor Ian Bannen's Godliman - is closing in on him, and he flees north, eventually shipwrecked on a beautifully filmed island and given shelter by the bitterly hateful, unfulfilled former Royal Air Force fighter pilot and legless amputee David (grimly played by Christopher Cazenove) and his little family.
But totally complicating everything is David's voluptuous, sweet, spurned, and thus emotionally and sexually repressed and desperate young wife, Lucy. Then too, there is their little boy who loves and respects his daddy as well as his mommy, even if his parents are in such unhappy turmoil.
Moved out of his own emotional shell - cell - by the girl's unhappiness, Faber suddenly opens up as a human being and gives Lucy the sympathy and affection ... and sexual relief ... she craves. And so just as suddenly and irresistibly they fall deeply in love with each other.
(Kate Nelligan's remarkably perfect beauties were fully displayed in a later BBC TV series, the title of which I forget. Sorry.)
Sensing what has happened intensifies David's suspicions about their guest, and David finally discovers Faber's true identity and intentions. They get into a life-and-death struggle on the edge of a cliff - David wanting revenge for Faber's betrayal of his hospitality and to stop Faber's intelligence mission and Faber wanting to liberate Lucy from her domestic hell ... and for himself.
This battle between a ruthless spy and a determined, patriotic amputee revives Faber's ruthlessness, and Lucy soon finds out what has happened. But to save herself and her child she must fake love and sexual ardor with him - submit and essentially prostitute herself to this unmasked monster who has murdered her husband - for fear of him killing her and her little boy. This is a scene of unsurpassed horror ... and a disturbing kind of eroticism.
The climax of the film is the struggle by Lucy to save herself, her little boy - and (in loyalty to David as well) save D-Day and the Allies by somehow stopping Faber from escaping to a waiting U-boat to complete his mission. And Faber MUST get to that U-boat, regardless of any love or sympathy he has felt for Lucy.
The film's climax is right down to the sea and absolutely rending.