Eye of the Needle – 1981 | 112 mins | Thriller, War | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Based on Ken Follett’s best-selling novel. Eye Of The Needle is a taut, erotically charged World War Two espionage thriller featuring picturesque photography on the Isle of Mull.

The setting is England, 1940, Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland), a German deadly spy nicknamed ‘The Needle’, works at a local railway station where he collects information about train and troop movements which he subsequently reports back to Germany. After returning to his flat one evening, Faber is busy transmitting his information one evening when his landlady disturbs him, realising she has a traitor in her midst – Faber kills her and goes to ground. Elsewhere, newlyweds Lucy (Kete Nelligan) and her fighter pilot husband David (Christopher Cazenove), are busy driving away on their honeymoon, after stopping to consume some champagne, they are later involved in a horrific car crash from which only one of them will escape unscathed.

The film now advances four years and takes us to the remote Scottish Isle of Storm. Due to the earlier accident, a bitter David is crippled and has withdrawn from society with his family to live in a croft. Faber is still in England, and has received orders from Germany to reassess the Allied invasion force in East Anglia, he must take pictures, and after rendezvousing with a U-Boat, deliver the film to the Fuhrer in person. After leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, Faber is now being pursued by British counter-intelligence officer Godliman (Ian Bannen), who with the assistance of an old acquaintance discovers Faber’s true identity and past.

Faber uncovers the bogus D-Day landing staging area and manages to capture photographic evidence, he must now get the film back to Berlin whilst hotly pursued across England by Godliman. From a small seaport Faber steals a boat and heads out to sea to meet the German U-Boat, but a fierce storm thwarts his mission and he is washed ashore on the island of Storm. Here he finds refuge with David and Lucy, who initially believe his cover story of being a writer; after talking late one night Faber and the sexually frustrated Lucy begin an affair. Faber learns that another island inhabitant, Tom, has a radio transmitter, and drives to his house along with David. When they reach the house David challenges Faber about a reel of film he has discovered in the agents coat pocket, a fight ensues and Faber throws the disabled David from a cliff top to his death. Lucy discovers Faber’s true identity and that he has murdered her husband, she manages to inform the authorities of his presence on the island but must stop him reaching the U-Boat that has surfaced and awaits his arrival.