The Human Factor [1979]
1. Smashing an owl.
2. He gives him the injection, cheerfully adding, “No need for you to suffer.”
3. Ratty fur coat.
It’s just not very good. Preminger’s approach (passionless, almost clinical) is usually an asset, but here it’s dull rather than delicate. He seems terrified to have us identify with the characters and that’s exactly what makes Greene’s novel work! Iman doesn’t have the dramatic chops to carry her role. The music is all wrong. Yet I find it curiously difficult to hate the film.
