Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

JohnHowardReid Original French title: Le Silencieux. Never released in the U.S.A. or Australia. U.K. release through Variety Film Distributors: floating from May 1974. London opening at Studio-1: 9 May 1974 (ran 3 weeks). Original running time: 118 minutes. English dubbed version: 113 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Murderous KGB agents chase an unwilling Russian defector all over Europe.COMMENT: The print under review is the English-dubbed version and for once it's pleasing to report that the dubbing has been executed with a great deal of expertise. Of course there are still some infelicities - oddly enough it's Leo Genn who has the greatest trouble matching his own dialogue to his own lip movements - but by and large it's all pretty convincing. Even the minor players are dubbed with care and skill. The movie itself is a top-class chase thriller which will not only please lovers of this genre no end, but should appeal to a more general audience as well, particularly armchair travellers and train buffs. All the standard realistic spy thriller ingredients are here with our harassed hero making lots of hair's breadth escapes from trains, cars, hotels, cafes, apartment blocks, concert halls and hospitals. Lots of tight corners and clever stratagems. Ventura makes both a fascinating yet sympathetic hero. He really looks the part. The other players, particularly Lea Massari in a small but important role, are equally convincing. Aided immeasurably by Collomb's superlative photography, director Pinoteau makes superlative use of his real locations. The scenes in Grenoble and the climactic episode in the Austrian Alps have a pictorial beauty, a wonderfully apposite autumnal richness that lift the film from the highly professional to the stylishly dramatic. Great music score too, and forceful film editing.OTHER VIEWS: A tense, edge-of-the-seat thriller, appealingly acted, lavishly produced and excitingly photographed. The pace never lets up; but though the action comes thick and fast, Ventura still manages to etch a powerful, vivid study of an innocent amateur caught up in a deadly pursuit with few rules and no mercy. -- JHR writing as George Addison.

xyc-88783 The espionage film nowadays is much terrific than those of that times. BUt this does not mean the film of that times doesn't worth watching. Many old films, like early James Bond series, North by Northwest,etc. They are very stunning forever, in this film, Haliakov, the scientist is a very unfortunate character, I believe such stories often happen in real life, he is forced by the British intelligence to give the name of the whole team work for Russians. They set him free, but no matter where he goes, the KGB follows immediately. This film is about his escape and their hunt for him. The end, the spy exchange which was often during the cold war, and the reaction of his wife was perfectly forged by the director and writer. A spy epic.

daniel-charles2 Le silencieux can compete as one of the most undervalued movie ever. I saw it when it went out, and many times since. It might not be as things really were (they were probably worse), but it remains a BGS (Bloody Good Story). Ventura, like in most of his films, is impressive. Lea Massari character is not pointless: she is the lost charm, the lost life, the unattainable past (as unattainable as she was in Deville's "La femme en bleu"): she remains a mystery, and it is her function. Without her, the main character would be without nostalgia. Of course, there is the strange dusty colour of French movies of the 70s, not too pleasant. And the set designer of the MI5 office ought to be shot. But apart that, the movie remains tightly knit, in truth one of the best spy thrillers of the 70s.

dbdumonteil This is probably Claude Pinoteau's most interesting work,even if he is known in his native France for his abysmal "la boum" which made Sophie Marceau a star.A French scientist ,who was forced to work for the Russians is arrested in England and they ask him to denounce English spies working for the KGB.He knows when he is released that his days are numbered.Lino Ventura gives a restrained effective performance and he gets good support from Suzanne Flon whose part is quite credible .On the other hand ,Lea Massari 's character is almost completely pointless.Pinoteau was strongly influenced by Hitchcock whose "torn curtain" and above all "the man who knew too much (1956) come to mind.The last sequence ( the concert) directly comes from the latter.Like in all the good spy thrillers (Ritt's "the man who came from the cold" or Clouzot's "les espions" ) the villains are everywhere,not only in Russia.