(Der Maulwurf [de])
France / Switzerland 1982
d: Yves Boisset
Arte TV (Region 0 de)
sc: Michel Audiard, Yves Boisset, Claude Veillot (based on George Markstein's novel "Chance Awakening")
c: Jean Boffety (Fujicolor)
e: Albert Jurgenson
pd: Serge Douy
m: Ennio Morricone
p: Norbert Saada (Cathala Productions / TF1 Films Productions)
w: Lino Ventura, Michel Piccoli, Bruno Cremer, Bernard Fresson, Marc Mazza, Roger Jendly, Heinz Bennent, Krystyna Janda, Christian Baltauss, Kurt Bigger, Pierre Boffety, Yves Boisset, Philippe Brizard, Jean-Paul Franky, Beate Kopp, Dieter Moor, Daniel Plancherel, Jean Reney
pr: 27 Jän 1982
rt: 94:57 (+4%PAL= 98) min
dvd-rl: 30 Jän 2006
ar: 1.78:1 (4:3 Letterboxed Widescreen)
sd: French MPEG-2 2.0 Mono
st: --
supp: --
Here's a belated digest of mid-'60s espionage clichés, from the bandstand rendezvous at the start ("The Ipcress File") to the perforated hero and heroine at the end ("The Spy Who Came In From the Cold"). Once again government agencies and their creatures are characterised as ruthless, cynical and devious beyond comprehension, crushing the innocent in the interests of some great obscure McGuffin. The setting (Zurich, with all its Franco-German confusions) might have stimulated some originality, but no: this is all cold-eyed hitmen, spot the traitor and shoot-outs on the funicular. Ventura, Piccoli and the composer Morricone in their different ways keep their heads below the parapet, but Janda unwisely charges forth, acting away as though all this might mean something.
— BBa, Time Out Film Guide
