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Eye of the Needle

Eye of the Needle

Drama · Thriller · 1981

Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.

Movie details

Eye of the Needle

“To love a stranger is easy. To kill a lover is not.”

1981 Drama · Thriller 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.1 / 10

13.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

85 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

61 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Eye of the Needle?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Richard Marquand

Written by

Stanley Mann

Donald Sutherland

Donald Sutherland

Faber

Kate Nelligan

Kate Nelligan

Lucy

Ian Bannen

Ian Bannen

Godliman

Christopher Cazenove

Christopher Cazenove

David

Faith Brook

Faith Brook

Lucy's Mother

Barbara Ewing

Barbara Ewing

Mrs. Garden

David Hayman

David Hayman

Canter

Court is in session

Put Eye of the Needle on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.