Billion Dollar Brain (Un Cerebro de un Billon de Dolares) [Blu-ray] (Region B)

The sound quality is far better than the previous DVD. The picture quality is a bit better.

You can look upon Billion Dollar Brain as either a Cold War Spy drama, with Michael Caine or as a Ken Russell movie. Or both...I bought it as the latter as I'm trying to get all his films, on discovering some of his odder and, shall we say, more florid films.I was under no illusion, though - B.D.B has been on early hours TV many times and I've always had a quiet interest in the Harry Palmer character, rather than an infatuation, so I had seen it before. So, this DVD was a cheap (compared to scarcer Russell's) way of re-acquainting myself with Russell's take on a standard spy drama.Taken as such, it certainly passes muster - if it's the arty, OTT creativity of our Ken you're after, you've got the wrong film. Combining the sardonic dark irony of the bespectacled Palmer with frozen landscapes of the communist North (filmed in Finland) plus some familiar faces - Karl Marlden in particular, it's a steady recipe that shows Ken could turn his hand to such and curb his excesses if he needed/wanted to.Whilst some of it seems horribly dated (the opening computer scenes seem like museum relics now, showing just how far this technology has changed in the last 45 years) the print of this MGM DVD is crisp and clean and widescreen. Versions on TV tended to have been on commercial channels where quality has been poor and ad-breaks frequent, making this a nice change to watch it properly.The plot (crank Texan Ed Begley about to start a new Russian Revolution, to kill off Communism, aided by a super-computer, the 'Brain') is obviously daft and contrived and very 007, especially in these days of hindsight but if nothing more, it's a great travelogue, aided by Ken's eye for detail and composition. Oscar Homolka as the Soviet Col. Stok may seem very stereotyped but is good fun as he relishes in greeting Palmer as "English!!" Others will enjoy seeing Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorléac in her last film before she was killed in a car accident. She does indeed look very appealing wrapped in (& out!) of her furs.Donald Sutherland features as the computer 'voice', you can hear his nasal tones through the electronic distortion, once you realise it's him and there's some effective and often sinister ambient music from Richard Rodney Bennett.For all that though, the film is a bit flabby about the middle with a fair amount of chasing around through snowy forests and frozen lakes. Though at times BDD verges on Bond territory it never sustains it - and probably never should - and at 110 mins it could be a bit leaner. The budget, no doubt was a fraction of that franchise and it does show.Michael Caine is, always, perfect and overall, whilst not in either his top ten films, nor Russell's, for that matter, it remains good Cold War spy drama fodder.

Over the top can be a positive thing. For decades Bond movies have made their reputation on it. However, this third entry in the Harry Palmer series goes a long way to undoing the good will built up over the first two instalments (The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin) in its 60's excess.Its predecessors made a virtue not of reality, but creating a believable every day Cockney with unique character traits, unwillingly dragged through the existence of spying, and all the bureaucracy inherent in it. The movie and plot were never fully grounded in reality, but were nonetheless believable.Here, Ken Russell opts to throw away the edgy impressionistic camera angles developed by Sidney Furie and Guy Hamilton, instead making a pseudo Bond movie. Which is a real pity - who needs another Bond-lite character? The plot builds slowly at first with satisfyingly snowy locations and skullduggery and spying.. but soon becomes lost in an over-the-top ending involving a megalomaniac American oil billionaire using a not-so-super-now-computer to try and invade Latvia.There is never a real sense of danger to humanity, and too many plot threads are left unexplained for this to be an entirely successful affair.And yet, all of this is tempered by Michael Caine's effortless charisma in the role. If the scriptwriters fail to maintain the details in the screenplay that made the character so involving, Caine overcomes this with his screen presence. Karl Malden plays well in the rather two dimensional `greedy guy' role, and Ed Begley plays `evil megalomaniac' well within the confines of the material. Guy Coleman makes a welcome return as Colonel Ross but alas is woefully underused. The femme fatale is played by Francoise Dorleac, who tragically died at a young age later the same year in a car accident.Honeywell computers are given a big credit as having supplied all the computing rooms and material which make such a big component of the plot. It's fantastically quaint now to watch huge rooms of computers racked up to do mundane tasks, programming supplied by stacks of cards. One unintentionally hilarious scene has Karl Malden `editing' the data by taking some of the programming cards out and shredding them! I can't imagine what a generation brought up on iPods and powerful home computers must make of it.In summary, what makes the movie at best mediocre - the bland script, the over the top campness, will endear it as a classic to others. The action scenes are handled well, the locations in Finland suitably spectacular, and the actors are more than up to the task. However this reviewer was left cold by more than just the scenes of snow and ice.

At long last, the final film of French actress FrancoiseDorleac can be seen in all it's glory. Rumours that MGM had several times in the past come close to releasingthis film can now come to rest -- it's here! Despite thefact that the studio had to omit 15 seconds of a scene(due to the fact that someone was playing a Beatles recordin the background), the cut doesn't detract from the storyat all.From beginning to end the story is captivating as themystery of Michael Cain's assignment begins to unfold.Can he trust his friend Karl Malden? Can he trust thebeautiful Francoise Dorleac? Can he penetrate Ed Bagely'sorganization to prevent a third world war from takingplace? Time is running out and this beautifullyre-mastered print (in the letterbox format) really helpsbrings the story to life.While the DVD lacks any special extras(no trailers, no interviews, no featurettes, etc.)it does come with a variety of soundtracks(English, German, French, Italian,and Spanish). Also, one has a choice of subtitles (French,Dutch, Norwegian, and Greek).Now, at last, fans of Ms. Dorleac can own her final film performace and can once again witness the magicshe had on film. Truly she was headed for international fame when tragedy struck in June 1967. Now, MGM has shared with us her final moment of screen glory.