Pinter on Screen: The Quiller Memorandum + Intro
To introduce the screening, Michael Billington will interview Natasha A Fraser, Harold Pinter’s stepdaughter, Paris-based journalist, film writer and author of 17 books including – Sam Spiegel (Little, Brown, 2003) – the biography of the Academy Award-winning film mogul who produced The Last Tycoon and Betrayal and her recent memoir Harold! Ma Jeunesse avec Harold Pinter (Grasset, 2023) that describes the early years of her relationship with her stepfather (1975 – 1985.) “We met when I was eleven,” she says, “Harold woke me up to the power of performance.”
About The Quiller Memorandum:
Directed by Michael Anderson with George Segal and Senta Berger.
Quiller is a secret agent assigned to West Berlin where he must uncover the operations of a neo-Nazi organisation. His enquiries lead him to investigate a school where a World War II Nazi leader has hanged himself. There he encounters a beautiful teacher, Inge, and the two fall in love. He is soon captured by the neo-Nazis and must escape, but he runs back to Inge. Is she as innocent as she first appeared?
Michael Billington:
“At a time when Berlin-based Cold War films were all the rage, Pinter came up with an exceptional example. Radically changing Adam Hall’s original novel, Pinter makes his hero a mysterious American caught between his manipulative British spymasters- memorably embodied by Alec Guinness- and an insidious group of neo-Nazis. A compelling film that has gained more resonance with time.”
Presented in partnership with Chiswick Book Festival, Pinter on Screen runs until September 2024. Season curated by Michael Billington in collaboration with Torin Douglas and Chris Parker.
About The Quiller Memorandum:
Directed by Michael Anderson with George Segal and Senta Berger.
Quiller is a secret agent assigned to West Berlin where he must uncover the operations of a neo-Nazi organisation. His enquiries lead him to investigate a school where a World War II Nazi leader has hanged himself. There he encounters a beautiful teacher, Inge, and the two fall in love. He is soon captured by the neo-Nazis and must escape, but he runs back to Inge. Is she as innocent as she first appeared?
Michael Billington:
“At a time when Berlin-based Cold War films were all the rage, Pinter came up with an exceptional example. Radically changing Adam Hall’s original novel, Pinter makes his hero a mysterious American caught between his manipulative British spymasters- memorably embodied by Alec Guinness- and an insidious group of neo-Nazis. A compelling film that has gained more resonance with time.”
Presented in partnership with Chiswick Book Festival, Pinter on Screen runs until September 2024. Season curated by Michael Billington in collaboration with Torin Douglas and Chris Parker.
Cast
George Segal • Alec Guinness • Max Von Sydow
Director
Michael Anderson
Running Time
100 minutes