Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Directed by Ken Russell

Film Review

By the mid-1960s, Ken Russell had come to be regarded as one of the most revered figures in British television.  His quality documentaries for the arts programmes Monitor and Omnibus earned him considerable acclaim, particularly his 1962 feature Elgar, a celebration of the life and work of the British composer Sir Edward Elgar.  One man who was especially impressed by Russell was the successful film producer Harry Saltzman, who hired him to direct  Billion Dollar Brain, the third in the series of spy films adapted from Len Deighton novels and featuring the popular character Harry Palmer.  The first two films in the series - The Ipcress File (1965) and Funeral in Berlin (1966) - had been a great success and helped to cement Michael Caine as one of the leading British screen actors of the time (rivalling his friend Sean Connery in the James Bond movies).

By this time, Ken Russell had already made one commercial feature for the cinema, French Dressing (1964), inspired by Roger Vadim's acclaimed French romantic comedy Et Dieu... créa la femme (1956), but this had been ill-received by both the critics and audiences.  It soon became clear during the making of Billion Dollar Brain (to both the cast and production team) that Russell was woefully ill-suited for the project and the result proved to be another disaster, a massive commercial and critical failure.  It would be another three years before Russell returned to the cinema, to helm what is widely considered his greatest film - Women in Love (1969), an inspired and daring adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's well-known novel, notorious for its nude male bonding scene.

Billion Dollar Brain certainly has its flaws but it is by no means a complete write-off (contrary to what many reviewers would have us believe).  Its weakest point is John McGrath's hopelessly muddled script (in which Russell had no hand), a rambling cliché-sodden mess that struggles to get the film underway and leaves the audience confused as to what is going on for at least the first hour.  Characters are poorly developed and invariably look like stock spy film stereotypes, their behaviour barely fathomable as the plot is so tangled that logic and motives are virtually undetectable.  Despite the strong cast, the film struggles to hold the viewer's attention for the first half, after which, inexplicably, it starts to gel and thereafter becomes rather enjoyable.  Bewilderment gives way to amusement as the humour of the madcap story finally starts to come through. Russell's extraordinary visual flair helps to redeem the film, making effective use of the ice-covered rural locations and closing the proceedings with a spectacular action denouement that was apparently inspired by Sergei Eisenstein's epic Alexander Nevsky (1938).

The best way to approach Billion-Dollar Brain is to regard it as a spoof that is a little too coy to admit to being a spoof.  It does its damnedest up to the mid-point to try and persuade us that it is a serious attempt at a popular spy flick, in the classic James Bond mould, but eventually it gives up the pretence and has fun being what it really is - a deliriously unhinged comic book parody.  Ed Begley is outrageously funny as the comedy villain of the piece - a mad, bad oil tycoon with a plan to defeat Communism that is so insane it would be hilarious, were it not for the fact it threatens to destroy the world (the vague similarities with Kubrick's Dr Strangelove (1964) are hard to miss).  Michael Caine brings his familiar brand of cool detachment to the part of Harry Palmer, although he is clearly less comfortable than in his other outings in the role.

Oskar Homolka turns in the most memorable performance as the KGB officer Colonel Stok, the only character in the entire film that rings true (probably because he gets the best lines and can see the twisted humour in them).  Although she is pretty well wasted in this film, Françoise Dorléac (sister to Catherine Deneuve) adds considerable lustre to it as the seductive and treacherous spy Anya - sadly this was to be her final screen appearance as she was killed in a road accident a few weeks after filming had been completed.  To sum up, Billion Dollar Brain serves as an enjoyably daft counterpoint to the somewhat staid and formulaic James Bond movies of the era, directed and photographed with boundless visual flair but hampered with a mare's nest of a script that badly impairs the film's coherence and prevents it from being as satisfying as it deserves.

Film Synopsis

Now gainfully employed as a private detective, former MI5 agent Harry Palmer thought his days as a spy were well and truly behind him when, out of the blue, he receives a mysterious telephone call.  On the orders of a mechanical voice, he is instructed to take a sealed package containing a number of virus-infected eggs to Helsinki.  Here, he meets up with Leo Newbigen, an old acquaintance, and Anya, one of his more attractive operatives.  Agreeing to work with Leo in return for a large sum of cash, Harry heads off to Latvia to join a rebel group.  He is captured and released by Colonel Stok, a KGB agent he has met before.  Harry accompanies Leo to Texas, where he is introduced to General Midwinter, an incredibly wealthy oil baron who believes he has built up a vast network of agents with his billion-dollar brain, a highly sophisticated computer.

In truth, Leo has pocketed the money given to him by Midwinter for this purpose, with the result that only a handful of agents are active in Latvia.  The General plans to use his agents to cause a rebellion that will, with the help of the infected eggs, crush the Red Army and bring about the fall of the Soviet Union.  Having exposed Leo's treachery, Harry persuades Midwinter to let him return to Finland on a bid to salvage his insane scheme.  In fact, realising that the General's plan is more likely to trigger a Third World War, Harry enlists Leo's help in thwarting it.  Fortunately, Colonel Stok is aware that Midwinter is on his way to Latvia with his own private army and takes steps to ensure he will not succeed, sinking the entire convoy as it makes its way across the frozen Gulf of Finland.