This is the second in a series of Harry Palmer films taken from the novels of Len Deighton. I am not sure how closely these stories follow the novels, but I was very impressed at just how seemingly ordinary Palmer (Michael Caine) is in this film. He is VERY clever....but otherwise seems just like a regular guy. He wears nerdy glasses, talks like a normal guy and is not a 100% perfect spy like James Bond! No, this character is one I could believe to be real and can't dodge 1000 bullets! While I preferred the first film ("The Ipcress File"),"Funeral in Berlin" is awfully good as well. My only complaint is that the plot is a bit confusing--keeping track of everyone and all the subplots isn't always easy. But I love the realistic touches. In one example, a gorgeous woman practically throws himself at him--and he immediately knows something is amiss, as a woman like this should NEVER come on to a guy like him! In another, he's ordered to kill someone...but can't! I would tell you more about the movie but it might spoil it. Suffice to say that it's tense, well-written and doesn't insult the audience with gadgetry. Very enjoyable despite having a mediocre IMDb rating of only 6.8.

By the way, if one of the characters ('Kreutzman' played by Günter Meisner) looks familiar, it's because a few years later he played Slugworth in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory".

FUNERAL IN BERLIN is another of the Harry Palmer spy sequels that followed in the wake of THE IPCRESS FILE. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first film in the series, I think the sequels are something of an unnecessary drag and so it proved with this clunky misfire of a movie. It's another Len Deighton adaptation in which Palmer is tasked with heading into East Berlin, where he tangles with all kinds of mysterious characters. There are more nods to the Bond franchise here, with Palmer taking time out to romance various attractive and glamorous women, with the more action elements of the story coming in at the climax. It's well-made, certainly, but also overlong and not particularly fulfilling - at least for this viewer.

The movie starts with a daring escape over the Berlin Wall. British agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is tasked with helping KGB Colonel Stok escape. Stok is responsible for the wall and Harry doesn't believe him. He infiltrates the border and makes contact with Stok who wants it to be arranged by criminal Otto Kreutzman. Harry returns to the West and has an one-night stand with Samantha Steel. Her forward manner leaves him suspicious. Kreutzman arranges for a funeral and Stok to be smuggled in a coffin. Johnny Vulkan runs the British Berlin office. Steel turns out to be an Isreali agent out to hunt for Nazi criminal Paul Louis Broum.

This is the second of the Harry Palmer movies. The franchise tries to be Bond with a murkier and more serious espionage bent. There is a fundamental problem in this movie. It seems too easy for Harry to move back and forth across the border. It makes it harder to intensify Stok's escape. The opening escape is good but none of what follows has the same thrills. Then there are the various double-crosses. It's a lot of twisty turns all revealed and explained in the second half. I am uncertain about everybody's motivations and actions. It's a bit convoluted without the sense of realism. It's all functional but not exceptional.