End of the Game - film review

End of the Game is a 1975 film that is known under various names, including the original German title, Der Richter and sein Henker (The Judge and his Hangman.) It's based on a book published 25 years earlier, written by the Swiss playwright and novelist Friedrich Durrenmatt. When I was studying for my A Levels and S Levels in German, at the tender age of 17, I read Durrenmatt's famous play, The Visit, which I thought was superb. This prompted me to seek out his other work, including Der Richter und sein Henker, a detective story. I really enjoyed it - and not just because it was short and pretty easy to read in the original German!

I did not, however, find out until recently that the book had been filmed. Thanks to Sergio's excellent blog, Tipping My Fedora, I learned about the DVD's existence, and made sure I acquired a copy. I'm glad I did. The cast is excellent. Donald Sutherland has a tough part, playing a cop who is found shot dead in his car right at the start of the story. Jon Voight plays the keen young detective Tschanz, the breathtaking Jacqueline Bisset is the dead man's girlfriend, and Robert Shaw is the nasty criminal whom the lead detective, the cancer-stricken Barlach, is trying to pay back for past misdemeanours,

One very pleasing feature of the film is that Durrenmatt himself makes an appearance - as a writer called Friedrich. We encounter him, musing over a chess game. When asked what he is doing, he says, "I am playing myself." The double meaning is a typical Durrenmatt joke - his specialism was not detection, but comedy, usually with an ironic edge.

This is a stylised film, by no means wholly realistic, but none the worse for that. The mystery element is not at all bad - the complications are piled on rather cleverly, thus blinding the viewer to what is, in truth, an obvious solution to the whodunit question. The cast is very good, and the soundtrack is provided by that wonderful composer Ennio Morricone. I was glad to be reminded of Durrenmatt's excellence. Recommended.

From Russia With Love

Over the past few weeks, I’ve watched, at long last, the first three James Bond films. From Russia With Love was the follow-up to Dr No, and it introduced a number of trademark features, including a score by John Barry, and the debut of Desmond Llewellyn as Q, the technical wizard. Again, I thought the film had worn well, considering its age – thanks partly to the excellence of Sean Connery in the lead role, and largely to a tight and fast-moving screenplay, packed with incident.

In this movie, the villainous organisation SMERSH plays Russia off against Britain, and Bond is meant to be the fall guy. We don’t get to see the face of the evil mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but are allowed a few shots of him stroking a cat with gleeful menace. His henchman include Rosa Klebb (memorably played by the legendary Lotte Lenya), Walter Gotell, who regularly appeared on tv in my youth, and that notable tough guy actor Robert Shaw, who was born in Lancashire – though you’d never guess it from this performance. When one thinks of Shaw’s very different role in The Sting, one realises what a good actor he was, and apparently he was also a novelist of some distinction.

Pedro Armendariz, a Mexican actor, also had a key role in the story, as Ali Karim Bey, who assists Bond before falling victim to assassination by Shaw. I was sad to read that, while the film was being made, Armendariz was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that he committed suicide shortly after the film was completed. His performance in the movie is very likeable, and he is deservedly remembered for it.

As usual, I enjoyed the John Barry soundtrack. Monty Norman is credited, as usual, with writing the James Bond Theme itself. But, having failed to be commissioned to score the movie, he must have been further and very understandably irked to see his name misspelt on the final credits.