Assignment K

Assignment K
Assignment K
Directed by	Val Guest
Screenplay by	Val Guest; Bill Strutton; Maurice Foster
Based on	Department K; 1964 novel; by Hartley Howard
Produced by	Maurice Foster; Ben Arbeid
Starring	Stephen Boyd; Camilla Sparv; Michael Redgrave; Leo McKern; Robert Hoffmann; Jeremy Kemp
Cinematography	Ken Hodges
Edited by	Jack Slade
Music by	Basil Kirchin
Color process	Technicolor
Production; companies	Gildor Productions; Mazurka Productions Ltd.
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	18 February 1968;
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Assignment K (also known as Department K) is a 1968 British spy thriller film directed by Val Guest in Techniscope and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave, Leo McKern, Robert Hoffmann and Jeremy Kemp.^[1]^[2] The film was based on the 1964 novel Department K by Hartley Howard.

Plot

A British spy has his cover blown, leading to the East German Stasi kidnapping his girlfriend to try to extract information about his double agents' activities.^[3]

Cast

Stephen Boyd as Philip Scott
Camilla Sparv as Toni Peters
Michael Redgrave as Harris
Leo McKern as Smith
Robert Hoffmann as Paul Spiegler
Jeremy Kemp as Hal
Jane Merrow as Martine
Carl Möhner as Inspector (as Carl Moehner)
Vivi Bach as Erika Herschel
Werner Peters as Kramer
Dieter Geissler as Kurt
John Alderton as George
Jan Werich as Dr. Spiegler
David Healy as David
Ursula Howells as Estelle
Basil Dignam as Howlett
Geoffrey Bayldon as The Boffin
Joachim Hansen as Heinrich Herschel

Production

Val Guest said "We shot it all out in Kitzbuhel, great cast: we had my Leo McKern again, and Michael Redgrave who was a very sick man, had terrible difficulties with his lines... Stephen [Boyd] was a wonderful person, a great giggler, a great professional, very nice guy."^[4]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Routine spy thriller, unimaginatively scripted and directed. The entirely conventional settings include the inevitable night clubs, expensive hotels and ski slopes (where the travelling matte is much in evidence). Stephen Boyd is bland and wooden as the toy tycoon/spy; Camilla Sparv has little to do but look alluring; and Leo McKern and Michael Redgrave appear fleetingly and to little effect. The plot meanders from dull beginning to dull end with nothing of interest in between."^[5]

References

^ "Assignment K". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
^ "Assignment K(1968)". Yahoo Movies. Retrieved 31 May 2012. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Assignment K(1968)". TCM. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
^ Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
^ "Assignment K". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 35 (408): 39. 1 January 1968 – via ProQuest.