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The Human Factor (1979 Film)
''The Human Factor'' is a 1979 British neo noir film starring Nicol Williamson, Robert Morley, and Richard Attenborough, and directed and produced by Otto Preminger. It is based on the 1978 novel '' The Human Factor'' by Graham Greene, with the screenplay written by Tom Stoppard. It examines British espionage, and the difficulty of ferreting out a mole in one's intelligence service ranks. This was Preminger's last film. Plot Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is a well-bred, mid-level bureaucrat in MI6 whose life seems unremarkable, apart from the fact that he has an African wife, Sarah ( Iman), and son, Sam (Gary Forbes). The company regime, represented by éminence grise Dr. Percival (Robert Morley) and agency higher-up Sir John Hargreaves (Richard Vernon), advise newly appointed security chief Daintry (Richard Attenborough) that analysis of intel from a double-agent they have planted in Moscow indicates there is a leak in Castle's department. The info being shared with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saul Bass
Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career, Bass worked for some of Hollywood's most prominent filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Among his best known title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's ''The Man with the Golden Arm'', the credits racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of a skyscraper in Hitchcock's ''North by Northwest'', and the disjointed text that races together and apart in '' Psycho''. Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the Geffen Records logo in 1980, the Hanna-Barbera "swirling star" logo in 1979, the sixth and final version of the Bell System logo in 1969, as well as AT&T Corporation's fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double-agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organization for the target organization. Double agentry may be practised by spies of the target organization who infiltrate the controlling organization or may result from the ''turning'' (switching sides) of previously loyal agents of the controlling organization by the target. The threat of execution is the most common method of turning a captured agent (working for an intelligence service) into a double agent (working for a foreign intelligence service) or a double agent into a ''re-doubled agent''. It is unlike a defector, who is not considered an agent as agents are in place to function for an intelligence service and defectors are not, but some consider that defectors in place are agents until they have defected. Double agents are ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town of Hemel Hempstead. Berkhamsted, along with the adjoining village of Northchurch, is encircled by countryside, much of it in the Chiltern Hills which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The High Street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name: Akeman Street. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted was in 970. The settlement was recorded as a ''Burbium'' (ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. The most notable event in the town's history occurred in December 1066. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold's Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon leadership surrendered to the Norman encampment at Berkhamsted. The event was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. From 1066 to 149 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to television programmes, commercials, and pop promos. It is well known as the home of the ''James Bond'' and ''Carry On'' film franchises. History Pinewood Studios was built on the estate of Heatherden Hall, a large Victorian country house which was purchased by Canadian financier, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentford and Chiswick, Lt. Col. Grant Morden (1880–1932). He added refinements such as a ballroom, a Turkish bath and an indoor squash court. Due to its seclusion, it was used as a discreet meeting place for high-ranking politicians and diplomats; the agreement to create the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed there. In 1934, building tycoon Charles Boot (1874–1945) bought the land and turned it into a country club. The ballroom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused with the Californian recording studio of the same name). History 1930s–1960s Shepperton Studios was built on the grounds of Littleton Park, which was built in the 17th century by local nobleman Thomas Wood. The old mansion still stands on the site. Scottish businessman Norman Loudon purchased Littleton Park in 1931 for use by his new film company, Sound Film Producing & Recording Studios; the facility opened in 1932. The studios, which produced both short and feature films, expanded rapidly. Proximity to the Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft factory at Brooklands, which attracted German bombers, disrupted filming during the Second World War, as did the requisitioning of the studios in 1941 by the government, who first used it for sugar stora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joop Doderer
Johan Heinrich (Joop) Doderer (28 August 1921 – 22 September 2005) was a Dutch actor, well known for his role as the tramp Swiebertje in the eponymous television series. The series ran for 17 seasons between 1955 and 1975, and was broadcast by the NCRV. Beside the role as ''Swiebertje'', Doderer played in dozens of radio and television programs, he played the role of Alfred Doolittle in ''My Fair Lady'', acted in Dutch and English movies, and appeared on stage in comedies, musicals, cabaret and dramas. Biography Doderer was born in Velsen, but brought up in Amsterdam. After finishing the '' Hogereburgerschool'', he persuaded his parents to let him take acting lessons. In 1939, aged 18, the Amsterdam acting school rejected him for 'lack of talent'. Instead, he started his acting career as an extra at the Nederlandsch Toneel, which enabled him to study actors like Cor van der Lugt Melsert. After World War II, he played in many comedies and musicals. For seven years, he was par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Todd
Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in 1945's ''The Seventh Veil''. From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed her in 1949's ''The Passionate Friends'', 1950's ''Madeleine'' and 1952's ''The Sound Barrier''. She was a member of The Old Vic theatre company and in 1957 starred in a Broadway play. In her later years she wrote, produced and directed travel documentaries. Early years Todd was born in Hartford, Cheshire. Although latterly claiming to be born in 1909, 1911 census records show her born in 1907 and christened in March 1907. Her Scottish-born father Thomas was a salesman, and her London-born mother Constance a housewife. She had a younger brother Harold Brooke (who took their mother's maiden name), who became a screenwriter of light comedies. After the family moved to London, Todd was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne, Sussex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tactical Nuclear Weapon
A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territory. Generally smaller in explosive power, they are defined in contrast to strategic nuclear weapons, which are designed mostly to be targeted at the enemy interior far away from the war front against military bases, cities, towns, arms industries, and other hardened or larger-area targets to damage the enemy's ability to wage war. No tactical nuclear weapon has ever been used in a combat situation. Tactical nuclear weapons include gravity bombs, short-range missiles, artillery shells, land mines, depth charges, and torpedoes which are equipped with nuclear warheads. Also in this category are nuclear armed ground-based or shipborne surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and air-to-air missiles. Small, two-man portable or truck-portable tactical w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sting Operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather evidence of the suspect's wrongdoing. Mass media journalists occasionally resort to sting operations to record video and broadcast to expose criminal activity. Sting operations are common in many countries, such as the United States, but they are not permitted in some countries, such as Sweden or France. There are prohibitions on conducting certain types of sting operations, such as in the Philippines, where it is illegal for law enforcers to pose as drug dealers to apprehend buyers of illegal drugs. Examples * Offering free sports or airline tickets to lure fugitives out of hiding. * Deploying a bait car (also called a honey trap) to catch a car thief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Peoples Of South Africa
South African Bantu-speaking peoples are the majority of black South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the word for "people" common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes its contemporary usage in a racial context as "obsolescent and offensive" because of its strong association with white minority rule with their apartheid system. However, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family. History The history of the Bantu-speaking peoples from South Africa has in the past been misunderstood due to the deliberate spreading of false narratives such as ''The Empty Land Myth''. First published by W.A. Holden in the 1860s, this doctrine claims that South Africa had mostly been an unsettled region and that Bantu-speaking peoples had begun to migrate southwards from present day Zimbabwe at the same t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Vogel
Antony Leslie 'Tony' Vogel (29 June 1942 – 27 July 2015) was an English actor. He played Andrew in the mini-series of Franco Zeffirelli's ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), Aquila in '' A.D. Anno Domini'' (1985) and the title role in the 1979 television adaptation of ''Dick Barton''. He graduated from RADA in 1963 and died of asthma complications at his Normandy holiday home in France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ... on 27 July 2015. The actor was 73 and was cremated. TV and filmography References External links * 1942 births 2015 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English male film actors English male television actors {{UK-screen-actor-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
