Eye of the Needle (film)

Eye of the Needle
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Marquand
Screenplay by	Stanley Mann
Based on	Eye of the Needle 1978 novel by Ken Follett
Produced by	Stephen J. Friedman
Starring	Donald Sutherland Kate Nelligan Ian Bannen Christopher Cazenove
Cinematography	Alan Hume
Edited by	Sean Barton
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Production company	Kings Road Entertainment
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	24 July 1981 (1981-07-24) (U.S.)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$17.5 million

Eye of the Needle is a 1981 British spy film directed by Richard Marquand and starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Written by Stanley Mann, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Ken Follett.

The film is about a German Nazi spy in the United Kingdom during World War II who discovers vital information about the upcoming D-Day invasion and his attempt to return to Germany while he is stranded with a family on the isolated (fictional) Storm Island, off the coast of Scotland.

Plot[]

Henry Faber is a cold and emotionless German Nazi sleeper agent nicknamed "the Needle" because he prefers to kill with a stiletto. While spying in England, he obtains critical information about the Allies' plans for the Invasion of Normandy but is unable to transmit the information. After narrowly escaping British intelligence in London, Faber heads to Scotland for a rendezvous with a German U Boat. But fierce weather strands him on Storm Island. On the island he meets Lucy, her disabled husband, David, their son; and a shepherd named Tom.

A romance develops between Faber and Lucy because of the estrangement she has with her husband after an accident on their honeymoon which left him embittered and physically confined to a wheelchair. David becomes suspicious of Faber when he discovers he is carrying military information. When challenged about the documents, Faber ruthlessly kills David by throwing him off a cliff. Faber lies to Lucy to explain David's absence, claiming David had been drinking with Tom. However, Lucy finds her husband's body and decides to flee. When Faber finds her missing, he realises she knows and pursues her. Lucy finds Tom's dead body. She radios the mainland but is told that help will be sent immediately, but in the meantime, it is vital for her to destroy the island's radio transmitter.

Faber appears and threatens to kill her son if she does not do as he says. He tries to use the radio to report where the exact location of the D-Day invasion will happen but just as he is about to impart the information. Lucy blows the house's fuses rendering the transmitter useless. Faber expresses admiration for what Lucy has done, telling her that the war has come down to both of them. Considering her no longer a threat, he heads towards the beach to be picked up by the previously-arranged U-boat.

Lucy, now fully aware of the stakes that are involved, follows Faber to the shore shooting wildly at him with her husband's pistol. As he tries to launch a small rowing boat to reach the waiting U-boat, one of her shots strikes Faber in the leg. He struggles to launch the boat but she shoots him again in the abdomen and he dies in the rowing boat.

Cast[]

Production[]

The Storm Island scenes were shot over eight weeks on the Isle of Mull, in the Inner Hebrides.^[1] The distinctive Connel Bridge appears in the film, and some of the location filming was shot at Blackbushe Airport, Yateley, and also in London.

Reception[]

Roger Ebert "admired the movie" and stated that it "resembles nothing so much as one of those downbeat, plodding, quietly horrifying, and sometimes grimly funny war movies that used to be made by the British film industry, back when there was a British film industry."^[2] On Rotten Tomatoes, 83% out of 18 critics gave the film positive reviews.

References[]

External links[]

• Eye of the Needle at IMDb
• Eye of the Needle at the TCM Movie Database
• Eye of the Needle at AllMovie
• Eye of the Needle at Rotten Tomatoes
• Eye of the Needle at Box Office Mojo