Closely based upon one of my favorite books in Rogue Male by Jeffery Household the BBC film came a good 50 years after it was written but remains a timeless piece as evidenced by recent optioning for a new version with Benedict Cumberbatch.
Of course here you have a very small love story thrown in as a motivation for the protagonist to go seeking the assassination of Hitler (with the love interest implied to be a member of the Jewish underground in Germany), and you have Hitler and the Nazis themselves here whereas in the original work they all go unnamed.
Outside of that, it remains very faithful to the original down to the underground lair in which Sir Robert Hunter (unnamed in the original) retires in hopes of escaping his Nazi pursuers through a chase across Europe and eventually bonny England, the cat he then befriends, its truly depressing demise, and so on.
O’toole I’ve always felt to be too effeminate and too thin to portray some of his roles and never more so here after serious stomach cancer treatment he appears anorexic in nature and far too unhealthy to bear up under his torture, chase, harassment, and deprivations he is subject to here. Where he does excel however was in his portrayal of pain and suffering through Nazi torture. Perhaps digging down to his cancer treatment experiences his pain is evident and uncomfortable to watch.
The dialogue here is also excellent and surpasses anything in the original novel. The wit and banter between O’Toole’s Hunter and his Nazi torturer/pursuer, Quive-Smith, is wonderfully dark and revealing about each character’s motivations. Hunter’s multiple talks with his parliamentary uncle in which Churchill is dismissed out out hand and Hitler described as a generally nice fellow is biting against the upper class Brits of the time and exchanges with Hunter’s Jewish lawyer are also wonderful in the undercurrents and societal examinations of the day that are addressed.
The only version I was able to obtain was one from Amazon and is REALLY poor in nature with a number of drastic color palette changes seemingly from recording a deteriorating VHS tape or similar and the grain and noise makes you wonder just how long many such material is going to be around. This one deserves to be preserved. If you have enjoyed Household’s book, the stiff English upper lip under horrid circumstances, and O’toole’s acting, this deserves a look.