''The Tamarind Seed'' is a 1974

romantic thriller A romantic thriller is a narrative that involves elements of the romance and thriller genres. A good thriller provides entertainment by making viewers uncomfortable with moments of suspense, the heightened feeling of anxiety and fright. A thril ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written and directed by

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

and starring

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

and

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif ( ar, عمر الشريف ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub , 10 April 193210 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the ...

. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by

Evelyn Anthony Evelyn Bridget Patricia Ward-Thomas (; 3 July 1926 – 25 September 2018), better known by the pen name Evelyn Anthony, was a British writer. Anthony was born in the Lambeth district of London. She had a very prolific writing career, transla ...

, the film is about a British Home Office functionary and a Soviet era attaché who are lovers involved in

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

intrigue. ''The Tamarind Seed'' was the first film produced by

Lorimar Productions Lorimar Productions, Inc., later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993, when it was folded into Warner Bros. Televisio ...

. The film score was composed by John Barry.

Plot

After a failed love affair with a married man, British Home Office assistant, attractive Judith Farrow meets handsome Soviet

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...

Colonel Sverdlov while on vacation in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, but their budding personal relationship does not go unnoticed by British Intelligence. Judith is enchanted by a story that the seeds of a

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...

tree on a certain plantation take the form of the head of a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

hanged from a tamarind, a tale mocked by Sverdlov. Returning to London, Judith finds a surprise gift from Sverdlov: an envelope containing a tamarind seed. Convinced Sverdlov is recruiting Judith to be a spy, British Intelligence Officer Jack Loder has his hands full with a clandestine Russian spy, code-named ‘Blue’, when he learns his assistant, George MacLeod, is having an affair with the wife of a British diplomat, Fergus Stephenson, who is a conduit of

state secrets Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

. Loder cautions Judith who is to contact him if she hears from Sverdlov. Meanwhile Sverdlov, assigned to the Soviet Embassy in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, suspects his boss, Soviet General Golitysn distrusts him and insists Judith can be recruited as a spy, a story he shares with Judith when he visits her in London. Amidst drumbeat of suspicions on the cusp of betrayal and blackmail a gaggle of real and possible double-agents abound in a tangled web amidst a budding Sverdlov-Judith love story that could also be a ruse. Sverdlov pleads with General Golitsyn for more time to recruit demure Judith, a ploy that’s wearing thin with the suspicious General. Sverdlov steals the ‘Blue’ file, his bargaining chip with London to get asylum in Canada and he finagles a romantic stop in Barbados where he’s to meet Judith. Sverdlov eludes an assassination attempt by General Golitsyn’s agents at London Airport and meets Judith in Barbados where they are sequestered in a beachside bungalow rife with unrequited love. But the General is hot on his tail and jets a group of Soviet agents disguised as wealthy businessmen on holiday to attack the bungalow with napalm, an explosive bullet-riddled event that reportedly kills Sverdlov, destroys the ‘Blue’ file and traumatizes Judith who narrowly escapes with her life. Loder now knows ‘Blue’ is Fergus Stephenson, a double-agent he can now manipulate. Loder meets convalescing shell-shocked Judith in Barbados where he divulges that newspaper accounts of Sverdlov’s death were a false cover; seconds before the explosion Sverdlov was whisked away to Canada. Her doubts dissolve when Loder gives her an envelope that contains a tamarind seed. In a bucolic Canadian mountain valley Judith and Sverdlov share a lovers' embrace.

Cast

Production

''The Tamarind Seed'' was partly financed by Sir

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

as part of a two-movie deal to get Andrews to commit to a TV show;Lew Grade, ''Still Dancing: My Story'', William Collins & Sons 1987 p 227 the other film was ''Trilby''. It was Andrews' first film in four years since ''

Darling Lili ''Darling Lili'' is a 1970 American romantic-musical spy film, written by William Peter Blatty and Blake Edwards, the latter also directing the film. It stars Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, and Jeremy Kemp, with music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by ...

''. During that time, she had married

and concentrated on raising their children. "This is a nice film," said Andrews, "It's just right for my comeback."

Filming locations

''The Tamarind Seed'' was filmed on location in

Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...

(including

Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia ...

) in London, and Paris.

Reception

The film received a

Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commis ...

Box office

Lew Grade said the film "did fairly well" at the box office but claims that he struggled to make much money from it because Edwards and Andrews took such a large percentage of the profits (Andrews 10% of the gross, Edwards 5%). This was common practice for a top-billed star and writer/director.

Critical response

In a 1974 review in ''Movietone News'', Kathleen Murphy wrote that the film was a good example of the concept of "the community of two" against the backdrop of complex international forces waging a cold war. Murphy writes: Murphy concluded that ''The Tamarind Seed'' turns this genre of "the community of two" into the genuine article that "shifts and reshapes our thinking and feeling and seeing." In its place, a "new perception of reality" transcends the confines of the movie theater and makes its way into the "larger, less defined, and thus less understandable, territory of our lives."

Cultural references

The film was spoofed in '' Mad'' magazine in 1975 as ''The Tommy-Red Seed''.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamarind Seed, The 1974 films 1974 romantic drama films 1970s American films 1970s British films 1970s English-language films 1970s romantic thriller films 1970s spy drama films 1970s spy thriller films 1970s thriller drama films American spy drama films American spy thriller films American romantic drama films American romantic thriller films American thriller drama films British spy drama films British spy thriller films British romantic drama films British romantic thriller films British thriller drama films Cold War spy films Embassy Pictures films Films based on British novels Films based on thriller novels Films directed by Blake Edwards Films scored by John Barry (composer) Films set in Barbados Films shot in Barbados Films with screenplays by Blake Edwards ITC Entertainment films