Assignment K

{{Infobox film

| name = Assignment K

| image = Assignment K FilmPoster.jpeg

| alt =

| caption =

| director = Val Guest

| producer = Maurice Foster
Ben Arbeid

| screenplay = Val Guest
Bill Strutton
Maurice Foster

| based_on = {{based on|Department K
1964 novel|Hartley Howard}}

| narrator =

| starring = Stephen Boyd
Camilla Sparv
Michael Redgrave
Leo McKern
Robert Hoffmann
Jeremy Kemp

| music = Basil Kirchin

| cinematography = Ken Hodges

| editing = Jack Slade

| color_process = Technicolor

| studio = Gildor Productions
Mazurka Productions Ltd.

| distributor = Columbia Pictures

| released = {{film date|df=yes|1968|2|18|}}

| runtime = 97 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Assignment K (also known as Department K) is a 1968 British spy thriller film directed by Val Guest in Techniscope and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv, Michael Redgrave, Leo McKern, Robert Hoffmann and Jeremy Kemp.{{Cite web |title=Assignment K |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150060491 |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web|title=Assignment K(1968)|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/assignment-k/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715071915/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/assignment-k/|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 July 2012|publisher=Yahoo Movies|accessdate=31 May 2012}} It was written by Guest, Bill Strutton and Maurice Foster based on the 1964 novel Department K by Hartley Howard.

Plot

A British spy has his cover blown, leading to the East German Stasi kidnapping his girlfriend to try to extract information about his double agents' activities.{{cite web|title=Assignment K(1968)|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/27468/assignment-k|publisher=TCM|access-date=31 May 2012}}

Cast

Stephen Boyd as Philip Scott
Camilla Sparv as Toni Peters
Michael Redgrave as Harris
Leo McKern as Smith
Robert Hoffmann as Paul Spiegler
Jeremy Kemp as Hal
Jane Merrow as Martine
Carl Möhner as Inspector (credited as Carl Moehner)
Vivi Bach as Erika Herschel
Werner Peters as Kramer
Dieter Geissler as Kurt
John Alderton as George
Jan Werich as Dr. Spiegler
David Healy as David
Ursula Howells as Estelle
Basil Dignam as Howlett
Geoffrey Bayldon as The Boffin
Joachim Hansen as Heinrich Herschel

Production

Val Guest said "We shot it all out in Kitzbuhel, great cast: we had my Leo McKern again, and Michael Redgrave who was a very sick man, had terrible difficulties with his lines... Stephen [Boyd] was a wonderful person, a great giggler, a great professional, very nice guy."{{cite web|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/val-guest|website=British Entertainment History Project|first=Roy|last=Fowler|date=1988|title=Interview with Val Guest}}

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Routine spy thriller, unimaginatively scripted and directed. The entirely conventional settings include the inevitable night clubs, expensive hotels and ski slopes (where the travelling matte is much in evidence). Stephen Boyd is bland and wooden as the toy tycoon/spy; Camilla Sparv has little to do but look alluring; and Leo McKern and Michael Redgrave appear fleetingly and to little effect. The plot meanders from dull beginning to dull end with nothing of interest in between."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1968 |title=Assignment K |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305826629/40A323227054B3APQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=35 |issue=408 |pages=39 |via=ProQuest}}

Leslie Halliwell said: "Dreary espionage thriller, instantly forgettable, and only watchable at odd moments while it's on."{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=56}}