I watched this movie yesterday and I didn't get the real reason why Michael went to East Berlin. I know it was to steal the formula to the german scientist but why? Was he a spy? There is a scene where he tells Sarah, but there's no sound, so we never knew...
shareYes, he is faking a defection to East Germany so he can get access to Prof. Lindt, whom he knows is the designer of the Soviet missle system and is due to go to Russia in a couple of days, making the timing very tight. He needs to find out what Lindt knows, and he does this very cleverly by inciting Lindt's ego, in effect goading him into revealing his design.
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Professor Armstrong (was his name really Michael?) went to East Berlin at his own iniciative, as he explains to the man in the tractor. The man asks him: "How did you get in touch with our Copenhague's connection?" "I have friends in high places" he replies. This films makes no sense. But I like the German professor (do German professors still look like Trotsky?) and the bad guy who follows Armstrong everywhere. Very good performances both. The woman who gets killed is also excellent. You can see the German professor as someone's neighboor in "The Group".
fcalderp on Mon Oct 13 2008 14:25:45
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The woman who gets killed is also excellent.
The woman who helps Paul Newman in the small house. The "pi" agent. Some members of IMDB believed she was Liv Ullmann. Of course, she is not. But she is wonderful in this picture.
at what point is she killed?
"all I have ever asked of my men is to follow my orders as if they were the word of god"
I don't remember if she is actually killed in the picture, but the authorities did find Gromecks' body and his motorcycle buried. In communist countries spyes are shot. They don't have long trials like in the US.