Customer Reviews

Enigma

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With a mix of total cynicism and idealism, this is a late Cold War thriller which will provide you with the necessary elements of suspense, fear for the fate of the "Good Guys" and loathing for the "Bad Guys" with a novel twist. There are elements which weaken the impact as compared to the best of breed in this genre, but still it should grip most who do not demand only the superior. Martin Sheen and Sam Neill fulfill the demands of the script, which is a bit high in its requirement that one accepts the unlikely, particularly in the case of Neill's character; Brigitte Fossey is appealing in her heroines role. Derek Jacobi is wasted in a caricatured role as an East German security agent but the other supporting players do not induce the same sense of waste in fulfilling the stereotypes they play. All in all, it would have made an excellent made for television film and is worth a look-in by devotees of this type of work.

Lots of twists and turns right up to the end, very convincing and enjoyable -- one of the better spy films we've seen.

Good plot, surprise ending, good script, love and betrayal, decent acting. A few scenes stretch credibility but for the most part an enjoyable cold war spy yarn.

"Engima" is a 1983 black and white spy thriller starring Martin Sheen, Sam Neill, and Brigette Fossey. It was directed by French director Jeannot Szwarc.

Martin Sheen was hot in 1983. He had been nominated for an Emmy for his performances in "The Execution of Private Slovak" (1974) and "Taxi!!" (1978) and for a Golden Globe in "The Subject was Roses" (1968) and "Blind Ambition" (1979). "Apocalypse Now" (1979) had been a huge hit and the TV mini series "Kennedy" in which he played the President was ongoing.

French director Jeannot Szwarc started in TV in the late 60s then turned to films with "Jaws 2" (1978) and "Somewhere in Time" (1980). "Engima" was his next film, but before long he returned to TV where he has worked exclusively . Szwarc said he was trying to create a film as good as "The Third Man" (1949).

What we don't have is another "Third Man". The acting is mediocre, the action is extremely slow, and the photography is dull. The story is OK and there are some good twists and turns, but overall it is disappointing. The NY Times said "this is the spy film at its most absurdly hard-boiled and at its most icily perfunctory".

When you think of great spy films, circa 1980, the ones that come to mind are Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" (1969), "The Lady Vanishes" (1938), and "Notorious" (1946), Richard Burton's "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965), and "Three Days of the Condor" (1975). Fans of the spy thrillers would do better viewing any of these films.