Billion-Dollar Brain
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| Billion-Dollar Brain | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by | Harry Saltzman |
| Written by | Len Deighton (novel) John McGrath |
| Starring | Michael Caine Françoise Dorléac Karl Malden Ed Begley Oscar Homolka |
| Release date(s) | December 20, 1967 U.S. release |
| Running time | 111 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Billion-Dollar Brain (1966, ISBN 0-09-985710-3) is a spy novel by Len Deighton. In 1967 it was adapted for the cinema under the title Billion Dollar Brain, without the hyphen; the film was directed by Ken Russell, and starred Michael Caine.
It was the fourth of Len Deighton's spy novels to feature an anonymous secret agent working for the fictional British intelligence agency, the W.O.O.C.(P). It followed The IPCRESS File (1962), Horse Under Water (1963), and Funeral in Berlin (1964). For the film adaptations of IPCRESS and Funeral, the spy was given the name Harry Palmer, and was portrayed by Michael Caine.
Like many of Len Deighton's other novels, the plot of Billion-Dollar Brain is intricate, with many film noir-style dead ends. The film is not faithful to the plot and characters of the novel.
The eponymous billion-dollar brain is a 1960s supercomputer, operated by a private American intelligence agency known as "Facts for Freedom" (FFF), run by a General Midwinter. The Brain is used to optimize the operations of the FFF's agents. The FFF plans the overthrow of Soviet power in Latvia, as a test case for the ultimate destabilisation, and downfall, of Communism. British secret agent Harry Palmer is instructed to penetrate an FFF cell operating from Finland.
The main Finland FFF operative, Harvey Newbegin ('Leo' in the movie, but the suggestive surname remains) is a traitor. He is running a phantom network of agents, and pocketing the money supplied to fund it, while passing information to the Harry Palmer's Russian adversary, Colonel Stok of the KGB. Meanwhile, FFF agents have infiltrated the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down, England, and are stealing a virus (transported in eggs). The agents believe the virus is destined for the FFF in America, but Newbegin is attempting to pass it off to the Soviets.
In the film version, the retired Harry Palmer is blackmailed into returning to work for the British secret service as a double agent. He is to infiltrate an American-financed, ultra- right-wing group dedicated to liberating Latvia from the Soviet Union, and, most importantly, to recover the virus-incubating eggs for the West. The screenplay's plot relies heavily upon the sophisticated computer system with which the right wing group controls its Latvian anti-Soviet spy network.
The movie is the last screen appearance of French actress Françoise Dorléac, who was killed in a road accident weeks after the end of principal photography.
The film of Billion Dollar Brain follows The Ipcress File (film) and Funeral in Berlin (film).
