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1968, 100 MINS, UK
CAST:
(Paramount/Maccius)
Very good direction, acting and dialogue are apparent in Sebastian, but a fatal flaw in basic
plotting makes this production just a moderately entertaining Cold War comedy-drama.
The amusing, and not so amusing, pressures on persons who break foreign government secret codes are potent angles for a
strong film, but, herein, story touches so
many bases that it never really finds a definite concept.
Leo Marks' original screen story, scripted
by Gerald Vaughn-Hughes, depicts Dirk
Bogarde as a daffy math genius in cryptography. Susannah York, a new recruit to the code
force, breaks down his romantic reserve.
Lilli Palmer, as a politically-suspect coder,
and John Gielgud, an Intelligence chief, add
lustre. Janet Munro scores very well as a
boozy fading pop singer who, with Ronald
Fraser, attempts to compromise Bogarde's security clearance.
Despite all the plus elements, film wanders
about in its unfolding. Short, tight scenes of
good exposition are broken by recurring transitional sequences which add up to an apparent padding effect.
yul brynner | christopher plummer | romy schneider
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