Eye of the Needle (1981)

June 15, 2024 7:07 PM

Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.
posted by bunderful (8 comments total)

Is this based on a novel?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:19 PM on June 15

Yes, it is based on a Ken Follett novel. The novel was really good. The movie is okay but not great.
posted by briank at 8:27 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]

Mild spoilers below.

For some reason I had the idea that this would be a charming war-time romance. I was wrong about that. And when Donald Sutherland started assassinating people with shocking efficiency, I thought he was a double agent (based on the dialogue I thought he was intentionally misleading Hitler about Allied movements). I was also wrong about that too.

I’d have liked to have seen this in a theater. It seems to be playing with some larger themes - intellectualism vs emotion, for example. I’d only see Sutherland in Buffy and this was a pleasant surprise.
posted by bunderful at 8:03 AM on June 16 [1 favorite]

““Eye of the Needle” resembles nothing so much as one of those downbeat, plodding, quietly horrifying, and sometimes grimly funny war movies that used to be made by the British film industry, back when there was a British film industry. They used to star Stanley Baker or Trevor Howard. This one stars Donald Sutherland, as the kind of introverted psychopath who should inhabit only black-and-white movies, although the color here is sometimes gloomy enough to suffice. I admired the movie. It is made with quiet competence…”

Roger Ebert
posted by bunderful at 8:07 AM on June 16 [2 favorites]

Love a good spy flick and missed this one; thanks. Looks like it's free on Tubi.
posted by mediareport at 1:05 PM on June 16 [1 favorite]

Nice! I revisited Marathon Man yesterday and had Eye of the Needle and The Boys From Brazil in mind for later this week. I have my themes.

Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan had awesome chemistry in this, before and after certain revelations. That's what really made Eye of the Needle so memorable for me.

Well, that and the scene with the fingers.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 7:50 PM on June 16 [1 favorite]

I loved this movie when it came out, I think I saw it a few times in the theatre. Follett's books had a big impact on my already simmering interest in WWII, brought to me by my dad, who was a corporal in a tank brigade. I devoured The Key to Rebecca and the book of this movie.

I had such a crush on Kate Nelligan, and Donald Sutherland had always seemed like one of those actors who was just way, way too good at pulling out some inner psycho creep and he always made me nervous, from movies like Klute up to Don't Look Now to Backdraft. There was just always something in his eyes and physical demeanor that gave me a little shudder.

What I loved most was that she pulled out all these inner resources every time--your awful husband, finding out you'd just slept with a murderous spy/assassin, you're alone and no one is willing to come help, etc. I loved her. Anyways, I just rewatched it a few months ago, and I was surprised that it held up well, even with the typical period turgid music and the flatness of the cinematography.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:26 PM on June 17 [1 favorite]

I remember a bit early on in the book, don’t know if it’s in the movie, in which on a crowded train, he amuses himself by filling out a crossword in the newspaper and well-pleased that he, a foreigner, was able to complete it. It wasn’t until a couple years later in England that I realized it was a cryptic crossword and omg, those things are *impossible*. It makes the Saturday NYT crossword a walk in the park.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:07 PM on June 18