The Eye Of The Needle (1981)

Review written August 2024

Neatly crafted wartime spy thriller with dose of melodramatics

This is a neatly crafted thriller, directed by Richard Marquand a couple of years before he helmed Return of the Jedi, in which Donald Sutherland plays the charming but lethal German spy known as the Needle. After some setting up of his character traits (he likes to use a stiletto between the ribs to kill those who uncover his identity) he uncovers information about a ruse by the Allies that he must get back to Germany in person to deliver. Chased from England to Scotland as he heads to a rendezvous with a U-Boat, he finds himself isolated on a remote island with an embittered crippled ex Fighter pilot, and his doting but frustrated wife (Kate Nelligan). The romantic and sexual tension which then ensues struck me as melodrama when younger – but returning to the movie I now see the sex not as a diversion from the spy story, but its very essence – deceit using every means necessary, and the most effective deceit being when there is an element of truth in it.

All in all, an effective stripped down thriller which benefits from not trying to get any bigger and bolder as it goes along – but bringing the essence of war down to Sutherland and Nelligan on an island. This all benefits immensely from a reliable performance from Sutherland and affecting performance by Nelligan. Genuinely tense at times, it flirts with stereotypes but adds enough colour to make this a worthwhile revisit.