Misplaced Pages

#436563

93-419: Billion Dollar Brain is a 1967 British espionage film directed by Ken Russell and based on the 1966 novel Billion-Dollar Brain by Len Deighton . The film features Michael Caine as secret agent Harry Palmer , the anti-hero protagonist. The "brain" of the title is a sophisticated computer with which an anti-communist organisation controls its worldwide anti-Soviet spy network. Billion Dollar Brain

186-485: A Honeywell 200 business computer. The remainder of the film was shot in the United Kingdom . Scenes on the ice were filmed on a disused airfield which was covered with a layer of salt. All other scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios , including the scene where Midwinter's convoy falls through the broken ice – this was done in a giant tank with slabs of polystyrene used to represent the ice itself. The large size of

279-506: A desire by audiences to see exciting and suspenseful films. The espionage film developed in two directions at this time. On the one hand, the realistic spy novels of Len Deighton and John le Carré were adapted into relatively serious Cold War thrillers that dealt with some of the realities of the espionage world. Some of these films included The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Deadly Affair (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), and

372-450: A draftsman. The last thing you need is an emotional genius." Russell wanted to make a film about Nijinsky with Rudolph Nureyev and Saltzman was interested. He suggested Russell make Billion Dollar Brain to "keep his hand in." "We never quite realised we had a lunatic genius on our hands," said Caine in 1976. "He was the least ideal man to do a thriller. What he has is this passion to make thundering great messes." In January 1967, it

465-428: A fourth, mostly likely Horse Under Water . Ken Russell was a highly regarded television director who had made one unsuccessful feature. Caine narrated a series of Russell's films and became friendly with the director; he recommended him to Saltzman for Billion Dollar Brain . Caine later said this was a mistake, although Russell was "an emotional genius. Billion Dollar Brain is a highly complicated thriller which needs

558-511: A helicopter with Anya, introducing her as his agent. He gives the eggs to Harry, explaining, "We don't need them; we have our own ideas". Back in London, Harry delivers the eggs to Ross, who agrees to reward Harry with a promotion. When he opens the package to inspect the eggs, he finds it full of chicks. Cast notes: Film rights were purchased by Harry Saltzman in November 1965, prior to

651-634: A normal winter, except sheltered bays and shallow lagoons such as the Curonian Lagoon . The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay , the northern basin of the Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm (28 in) for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases farther south. Freezing begins in the northern extremities of

744-700: A part of the Baltic Sea, "For the purposes of this Convention the 'Baltic Sea Area' shall be the Baltic Sea and the Entrance to the Baltic Sea, bounded by the parallel of the Skaw in the Skagerrak at 57°44.43'N." Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea, in tandem: in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør ; in

837-551: A postman in the opening sequence. Russell later said "it was a mistake" to make the film. "I was working with people I did not know. I was not enjoying them. One felt all the time they were working for the producer against me... It was a pity. But only because of the time wasted. You lose a year of your life when you could have been doing something better." However the film was liked by David Picker at United Artists who later hired Russell for Women in Love . Andre de Toth worked on

930-561: A private investigator, is told by a mechanical voice on the phone to take a package to Helsinki . The package contains six virus-laden eggs that have been stolen from the government of the United Kingdom 's research facility at Porton Down . In Helsinki, he is met by Anya, who takes him to meet her handler, Harry's old friend Leo Newbigen. Leo is in love with Anya, but Harry sees that she is only pretending to reciprocate. After determining that he cannot trust either Leo or Anya, Harry

1023-523: A rebellion in Latvia , which he thinks will trigger the fall of Communism worldwide. He thinks Leo has hired hundreds of Latvian agents but there are only a handful, as Leo is pocketing the money. The General plans to begin a rebellion using these agents while his private army invades to back them and simultaneously infect the Red Army with the viruses. Leo subverts Midwinter's computer orders and escapes with

SECTION 10

#1732790754437

1116-457: A related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian. Another explanation is that, while derived from the aforementioned root, the name of the sea is related to names for various forms of water and related substances in several European languages, that might have been originally associated with colors found in swamps (compare Proto-Slavic *bolto "swamp"). Yet another explanation

1209-405: A room and waits for Leo at the computer. Leo offers to pay off Harry for his trouble, but Harry insists on half of the money Leo is getting from whatever the conspiracy is all about. The pair go to Texas , where Harry meets oil tycoon General Midwinter, who proudly displays his billion-dollar "brain", a room full of computers dispensing orders to his agents around the world. The General is planning

1302-511: A staple of the explosion of spy movies in the mid-to-late 1960s. The phenomenal success of the Bond series leads to a deluge of imitators, such as the eurospy genre and several from America. Notable examples include the two Derek Flint films starring James Coburn , The Quiller Memorandum (1966) with George Segal , and the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin . Television also got into

1395-430: A station near the border. Leo runs after the train with the eggs. Anya takes them, but pushes him off the train. "She used me", Leo tells Harry. He then offers to help Harry stop Midwinter's insane plan, which could trigger World War III. In personnel carriers disguised as his company's oil tanker trucks, Midwinter leads his private army across the frozen Gulf of Finland into Latvia. Harry and Leo attempt to catch up with

1488-581: A trend away from fantasy in favor of realism, as observed in Syriana , the Bourne film series and the James Bond films starring Daniel Craig since Casino Royale (2006). Some of the most popular films include: Movie series ( franchises ) One-shots, sequels and remakes Some of the most popular television series include: Classic era Modern era Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea

1581-508: Is a criminal mastermind only interested in espionage for profit. Additionally, several of Lang's American films, such as Hangmen Also Die , deal with spies during World War II. Alfred Hitchcock did much to popularize the spy film in the 1930s with his influential thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1937) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). These often involved innocent civilians being caught up in international conspiracies or webs of saboteurs on

1674-605: Is a reduction from the 25 incidents representing 1,110 kg (2,450 lb) of material in 2003. Until now, the U.S. Government refuses to disclose the exact coordinates of the wreck sites. Deteriorating bottles leak mustard gas and other substances, thus slowly poisoning a substantial part of the Baltic Sea. After 1945, the German population was expelled from all areas east of the Oder-Neisse line , making room for new Polish and Russian settlement. Poland gained most of

1767-477: Is abducted by his former MI5 superior, Colonel Ross, who coerces him into working once more for the British government in pursuing the conspiracy and getting the eggs back. Leo takes Harry to a secret room where a computer issues daily instructions to the local team, speaking in the same voice that summoned Harry to Helsinki. The computer orders Leo to kill Anya, but he doesn't. All go to meet a scientist who assesses

1860-417: Is about 20,000 km (4,800 cu mi). The periphery amounts to about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) of coastline. The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish inland seas by area, and occupies a basin (a Zungenbecken ) formed by glacial erosion during the last few ice ages . The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Baltic Sea as follows: The northern part of

1953-413: Is adapted to reproducing also with no ice in the sea. The sea ice also harbors several species of algae that live in the bottom and inside unfrozen brine pockets in the ice. Due to the often fluctuating winter temperatures between above and below freezing, the saltwater ice of the Baltic Sea can be treacherous and hazardous to walk on, in particular in comparison to the more stable fresh water-ice sheets in

SECTION 20

#1732790754437

2046-604: Is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark , Estonia , Finland , Germany , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia , Sweden , and the North and Central European Plain . The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea . The Baltic Sea drains through

2139-426: Is basically monothematic, constantly varying the main theme. For more romantic moods, it features the ondes Martenot , an early electronic instrument, played by its most prominent soloist, Jeanne Loriod . Thus, even the tender moments have an eerie undertone. Later on, Harry Palmer attends the end of a symphony concert, which is supposed to feature Dmitri Shostakovich 's "Leningrad" Symphony , written in 1941 during

2232-571: Is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö ; it is used by the Øresund Bridge , including the Drogden Tunnel . By this definition, the Danish straits is part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg and the Bay of Kiel are parts of the Baltic Sea. Another usual border is the line between Falsterbo , Sweden, and Stevns Klint , Denmark, as this

2325-529: Is that the name originally meant "enclosed sea, bay" as opposed to open sea. In the Middle Ages the sea was known by a variety of names. The name Baltic Sea became dominant after 1600. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east of the sea started only in the 19th century. The Baltic Sea was known in ancient Latin language sources as Mare Suebicum or even Mare Germanicum . Older native names in languages that used to be spoken on

2418-519: Is the southern border of Øresund. It is also the border between the shallow southern Øresund (with a typical depth of 5–10 meters only) and notably deeper water. Drogden Sill (depth of 7 m (23 ft)) sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill (depth of 18 m (59 ft)), and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of heavy salt water from the Kattegat into

2511-723: Is the third of the Harry Palmer film series, preceded by The Ipcress File (1965) and Funeral in Berlin (1966). It is the only film in which Ken Russell worked as a mainstream 'director-for-hire', and the last film of Françoise Dorléac . A fourth film in the series, an adaptation of Horse Under Water , also to be released by United Artists, was tentatively planned but never made. Caine played Palmer in two later films, Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in Saint Petersburg . Harry Palmer, who has left MI5 to work as

2604-518: The Harry Palmer series, based on the novels of Len Deighton . In another direction, the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming were adapted into an increasingly fantastical series of tongue-in-cheek adventure films by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli , with Sean Connery as the star. They featured secretive and flamboyant supervillains, an archetype that would later become

2697-556: The All Saints' Flood of 1304 and other floods in the years 1320, 1449, 1625, 1694, 1784 and 1825. Little is known of their extent. From 1872, there exist regular and reliable records of water levels in the Baltic Sea. The highest was the flood of 1872 when the water was an average of 2.43 m (8 ft 0 in) above sea level at Warnemünde and a maximum of 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) above sea level in Warnemünde. In

2790-780: The Black Sea and southern Russia. This Norse-dominated period is referred to as the Viking Age . Since the Viking Age , the Scandinavians have referred to the Baltic Sea as Austmarr ("Eastern Sea"). "Eastern Sea", appears in the Heimskringla and Eystra salt appears in Sörla þáttr . Saxo Grammaticus recorded in Gesta Danorum an older name, Gandvik , -vik being Old Norse for "bay", which implies that

2883-605: The Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund , Great Belt and Little Belt . It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea ), the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk . The " Baltic Proper " is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by

Billion Dollar Brain - Misplaced Pages Continue

2976-455: The Danish straits . According to the 18th-century natural historian William Derham , during the severe winters of 1703 and 1708, the ice cover reached as far as the Danish straits. Frequently, parts of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland are frozen, in addition to coastal fringes in more southerly locations such as the Gulf of Riga. This description meant that the whole of the Baltic Sea

3069-726: The Great Belt at Nyborg ; and in the Little Belt at its narrowest part then Fredericia , after that stronghold was built. The narrowest part of Little Belt is the "Middelfart Sund" near Middelfart . Geographers widely agree that the preferred physical border between the Baltic and North Seas is the Langelandsbælt (the southern part of the Great Belt strait near Langeland ) and the Drogden -Sill strait. The Drogden Sill

3162-665: The Netherlands , Denmark , and Scotland . The Polabian Slavs were gradually assimilated by the Germans. Denmark gradually gained control over most of the Baltic coast, until she lost much of her possessions after being defeated in the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved . In the 13th to 16th centuries, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe was the Hanseatic League , a federation of merchant cities around

3255-531: The Netherlands : their fleets needed the Baltic timber, tar, flax, and hemp. During the Crimean War , a joint British and French fleet attacked the Russian fortresses in the Baltic; the case is also known as the Åland War . They bombarded Sveaborg , which guards Helsinki ; and Kronstadt , which guards Saint Petersburg; and they destroyed Bomarsund in Åland . After the unification of Germany in 1871,

3348-590: The Sambia Peninsula in Kaliningrad Oblast . The Bay of Pomerania lies north of the islands of Usedom/Uznam and Wolin , east of Rügen . Between Falster and the German coast lie the Bay of Mecklenburg and Bay of Lübeck . The westernmost part of the Baltic Sea is the Bay of Kiel . The three Danish straits , the Great Belt , the Little Belt and The Sound ( Öresund / Øresund ), connect

3441-657: The Stockholm area, southwestern Finland, and Estonia. The Western and Eastern Gotland basins form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea or Baltic proper. The Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm, and the shallower Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster and Zealand . In the south, the Bay of Gdańsk lies east of the Hel Peninsula on the Polish coast and west of

3534-445: The action and science fiction genres, presenting clearly delineated heroes for audiences to root for and villains they want to see defeated. They may also involve elements of political thrillers . However, there are many that are comedic (mostly action comedy films if they fall under that genre). James Bond is the most famous of film spies, but there were also more serious, probing works like le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from

3627-404: The 12th century. The bordering countries have also traditionally exported lumber, wood tar , flax , hemp and furs by ship across the Baltic. Sweden had from early medieval times exported iron and silver mined there, while Poland had and still has extensive salt mines. Thus, the Baltic Sea has long been crossed by much merchant shipping. The lands on the Baltic's eastern shore were among

3720-462: The Baltic Sea and the North Sea . In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Poland , Denmark , and Sweden fought wars for Dominium maris baltici ("Lordship over the Baltic Sea"). Eventually, it was Sweden that virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea . In Sweden, the sea was then referred to as Mare Nostrum Balticum ("Our Baltic Sea"). The goal of Swedish warfare during the 17th century

3813-677: The Baltic Sea is known as the Gulf of Bothnia , of which the northernmost part is the Bay of Bothnia or Bothnian Bay . The more rounded southern basin of the gulf is called Bothnian Sea and immediately to the south of it lies the Sea of Åland . The Gulf of Finland connects the Baltic Sea with Saint Petersburg . The Gulf of Riga lies between the Latvian capital city of Riga and the Estonian island of Saaremaa . The Northern Baltic Sea lies between

Billion Dollar Brain - Misplaced Pages Continue

3906-645: The Baltic Sea was known as the Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum . Tacitus in his AD 98 Agricola and Germania described the Mare Suebicum, named for the Suebi tribe, during the spring months, as a brackish sea where the ice broke apart and chunks floated about. The Suebi eventually migrated southwest to temporarily reside in the Rhineland area of modern Germany, where their name survives in

3999-488: The Baltic Sea with the Kattegat and Skagerrak strait in the North Sea . The water temperature of the Baltic Sea varies significantly depending on exact location, season and depth. At the Bornholm Basin, which is located directly east of the island of the same name, the surface temperature typically falls to 0–5 °C (32–41 °F) during the peak of the winter and rises to 15–20 °C (59–68 °F) during

4092-500: The Baltic states and Poland. The remaining non-NATO and non-EU shore areas are Russian: the Saint Petersburg area and the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave . Winter storms begin arriving in the region during October. These have caused numerous shipwrecks , and contributed to the extreme difficulties of rescuing passengers of the ferry M/S Estonia en route from Tallinn , Estonia, to Stockholm , Sweden, in September 1994, which claimed

4185-469: The Baltic states. In 1945, the Baltic Sea became a mass grave for retreating soldiers and refugees on torpedoed troop transports . The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the worst maritime disaster in history, killing (very roughly) 9,000 people. In 2005, a Russian group of scientists found over five thousand airplane wrecks, sunken warships, and other material, mainly from World War II, on

4278-575: The Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea were frozen with solid ice near the Baltic coast and dense floating ice far from it. In 2008, almost no ice formed except for a short period in March. During winter, fast ice , which is attached to the shoreline, develops first, rendering ports unusable without the services of icebreakers . Level ice , ice sludge , pancake ice , and rafter ice form in

4371-803: The Cold that also emerged from the Cold War . As the Cold War ended, the newest villain became terrorism and more often involved the Middle East . The spy film genre began in the silent era , with the paranoia of invasion literature and the onset of the Great War . These fears produced the British 1914 The German Spy Peril , centered on a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament , and 1913's O.H.M.S. , standing for "Our Helpless Millions Saved" as well as On His Majesty's Service (and introducing for

4464-491: The General but he orders their car to be fired on and Leo is killed. Stok knows all about the invasion and orders bombers to intercept the convoy. Rather than bombing it directly, they simply drop the bombs on the ice in its path. The convoy plunges through the ice into the freezing water and all the vehicles and soldiers—including General Midwinter—sink to an icy Baltic grave. Harry awakes alone on an ice floe. Stok arrives in

4557-595: The Gulf of Bothnia normally thaw in late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern extremities of the Gulf of Finland. In the northernmost reaches of the Bothnian Bay, ice usually stays until late May; by early June it is practically always gone. However, in the famine year of 1867 remnants of ice were observed as late as 17 July near Uddskär . Even as far south as Øresund , remnants of ice have been observed in May on several occasions; near Taarbaek on 15 May 1942 and near Copenhagen on 11 May 1771. Drift ice

4650-494: The Gulf of Bothnia typically in the middle of November, reaching the open waters of the Bothnian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea , the basin south of Kvarken , freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January. In 2011, the Gulf of Finland was completely frozen on 15 February. The ice extent depends on whether the winter is mild, moderate, or severe. In severe winters ice can form around southern Sweden and even in

4743-918: The Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal . The Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area includes the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat , without calling Kattegat

SECTION 50

#1732790754437

4836-694: The Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from "belt", and therein mean "near belt of sea, strait". Others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel meaning "white, fair", which may echo the naming of seas after colours relating to the cardinal points (as per Black Sea and Red Sea ). This '*bʰel' root and basic meaning were retained in Lithuanian (as baltas ), Latvian (as balts ) and Slavic (as bely ). On this basis,

4929-404: The Suebic Sea, Latin: Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi , and Ptolemy Sarmatian Ocean after the Sarmatians , but the first to name it the Baltic Sea ( Medieval Latin : Mare Balticum ) was the eleventh-century German chronicler Adam of Bremen . The origin of the latter name is speculative and it was adopted into Slavic and Finnic languages spoken around

5022-426: The Vikings correctly regarded it as an inlet of the sea. Another form of the name, "Grandvik", attested in at least one English translation of Gesta Danorum , is likely to be a misspelling. In addition to fish the sea also provides amber , especially from its southern shores within today's borders of Poland , Russia and Lithuania . First mentions of amber deposits on the South Coast of the Baltic Sea date back to

5115-429: The act with series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E and I Spy in the U.S., and Danger Man and The Avengers in Britain. Spies have remained popular on TV to the present day with series such as Callan , Alias and Spooks . Spy films also enjoyed something of a revival in the late 1990s, although these were often action films with espionage elements or comedies like Austin Powers . Some critics identify

5208-429: The basins around Bornholm and Gotland . The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology. The remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen, and in species. Thus, statistically, the more of the entrance that is included in its definition, the healthier the Baltic appears; conversely, the more narrowly it is defined, the more endangered its biology appears. Tacitus called it

5301-423: The bottom of the Gotland Basin, at depths greater than 225 m (738 ft), the temperature typically is 4–7 °C (39–45 °F). Generally, offshore locations, lower latitudes and islands maintain maritime climates , but adjacent to the water continental climates are common, especially on the Gulf of Finland . In the northern tributaries the climates transition from moderate continental to subarctic on

5394-524: The bottom of the sea. Since the end of World War II , various nations, including the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom and the United States have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns of environmental contamination. Today, fishermen occasionally find some of these materials: the most recent available report from the Helsinki Commission notes that four small scale catches of chemical munitions representing approximately 105 kg (231 lb) of material were reported in 2005. This

5487-401: The collapse of the Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively, making the Baltic Sea almost entirely surrounded by the alliance's members, leading some commentators to label the sea a ″NATO lake″. Such an arrangement has also existed for the European Union (EU) since May 2004 following the accession of

5580-409: The computer Midwinter uses to plan his invasion) is not nearly as entertaining as its predecessors in the Harry Palmer trilogy, The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin . Michael Caine thought the visuals were "stunning" but felt "Ken Russell lost the story somewhere and no one could care a damn about what was going on because they couldn't follow what was going on." Spy film Spy films show

5673-408: The eastern coast. Russia became and remained a dominating power in the Baltic. Russia's Peter the Great saw the strategic importance of the Baltic and decided to found his new capital, Saint Petersburg , at the mouth of the Neva river at the east end of the Gulf of Finland . There was much trading not just within the Baltic region but also with the North Sea region, especially eastern England and

SECTION 60

#1732790754437

5766-404: The eggs. Midwinter realises Harry is a double agent but Harry tells him what Leo is doing and convinces him that he can track Leo down. Back in Helsinki, Leo and Anya board a train for Moscow with the eggs but Harry, accompanied by two of Midwinter's men, chases the train in a car, intercepts it and escorts Leo off the train with the eggs. Anya shoots Harry's bodyguards as the train pulls away from

5859-410: The espionage activities of government agents and their risk of being discovered by their enemies. From the Nazi espionage thrillers of the 1940s to the James Bond films of the 1960s and to the high-tech blockbusters of today, the spy film has always been popular with audiences worldwide. Offering a combination of exciting escapism , technological thrills, and exotic locales, many spy films combine

5952-428: The famous scientist. In the mid-1950s, Alfred Hitchcock returned to the spy genre with The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film) , a remake of his 1934 film of the same name . He followed this up in 1959 with North by Northwest (1959), widely considered one of the most influential works within the spy genre. The peak of popularity of spy films is often considered to be the 1960s when Cold War fears meshed with

6045-453: The film as a producer and said Russell ultimately "did a fine job on the film." The score is by Richard Rodney Bennett . To create a relentless, harsh mood, he left out sweet-sounding instruments like violins and flutes and relied mainly on brass and percussion including three pianos, which are featured prominently in the main theme, and later, together with the percussion, create sonorities similar to Stravinsky 's Les Noces . The score

6138-408: The first time a strong female character who helps the hero). In 1928, Fritz Lang made the film Spies which contained many tropes that became popular in later spy dramas, including secret headquarters, an agent known by a number, and the beautiful foreign agent who comes to love the hero. Lang's Dr. Mabuse films from the period also contain elements of spy thrillers, though the central character

6231-413: The historic region known as Swabia . Jordanes called it the Germanic Sea in his work, the Getica . In the early Middle Ages , Norse (Scandinavian) merchants built a trade empire all around the Baltic. Later, the Norse fought for control of the Baltic against Wendish tribes dwelling on the southern shore. The Norse also used the rivers of Russia for trade routes, finding their way eventually to

6324-546: The home front, as in Saboteur (1942). Some, however, dealt with professional spies, as in Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), based on W. Somerset Maugham 's Ashenden stories, or the Mr. Moto series, based on the books of John P. Marquand . In the 1940s and early 1950s, several films were made about the exploits of Allied agents in occupied Europe, which could be considered a subgenre. 13 Rue Madeleine and O.S.S. were fictional stories about American agents in German-occupied France. There were several films based on

6417-431: The ice further into the north, and much of the waters north of Gotland were again free of ice, which had then packed against the shores of southern Finland. The effects of the afore-mentioned high-pressure area did not reach the southern parts of the Baltic Sea, and thus the entire sea did not freeze over. However, floating ice was additionally observed near Świnoujście harbor in January 2010. In recent years before 2011,

6510-443: The interior lakes. The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits ; however, the flow is complex. A surface layer of brackish water discharges 940 km (230 cu mi) per year into the North Sea . Due to the difference in salinity , by salinity permeation principle, a sub-surface layer of more saline water moving in the opposite direction brings in 475 km (114 cu mi) per year. It mixes very slowly with

6603-446: The land as a belt ( Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam ). He might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder . Pliny mentions an island named Baltia (or Balcia ) with reference to accounts of Pytheas and Xenophon . It is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia ("the royal") in On

6696-605: The last in Europe to be converted to Christianity . This finally happened during the Northern Crusades : Finland in the twelfth century by Swedes, and what are now Estonia and Latvia in the early thirteenth century by Danes and Germans ( Livonian Brothers of the Sword ). The Teutonic Order gained control over parts of the southern and eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where they set up their monastic state . Lithuania

6789-549: The last very heavy floods the average water levels reached 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) above sea level in 1904, 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) in 1913, 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) in January 1954, 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) on 2–4 November 1995 and 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) on 21 February 2002. An arm of the North Atlantic Ocean , the Baltic Sea is enclosed by Sweden and Denmark to

6882-461: The lives of 852 people. Older, wood-based shipwrecks such as the Vasa tend to remain well-preserved, as the Baltic's cold and brackish water does not suit the shipworm . Storm surge floods are generally taken to occur when the water level is more than one metre above normal. In Warnemünde about 110 floods occurred from 1950 to 2000, an average of just over two per year. Historic flood events were

6975-463: The more open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice is similar to the Arctic , with wind-driven pack ice and ridges up to 15 m (49 ft). Offshore of the landfast ice, the ice remains very dynamic all year, and it is relatively easily moved around by winds and therefore forms pack ice , made up of large piles and ridges pushed against the landfast ice and shores. In spring, the Gulf of Finland and

7068-493: The northernmost coastlines. On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered at the annual maximum for about 45% of its surface area. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga , the archipelago west of Estonia, the Stockholm archipelago , and the Archipelago Sea southwest of Finland. The remainder of the Baltic does not freeze during

7161-451: The novel's publication in January 1966. Saltzman paid $ 250,000; he had already bought the rights to The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin . The book became a best seller. The New York Times called it "a strikingly effective thriller". In January 1966 Caine announced he had signed with Saltzman to make 11 films in five years, with three of the films to be Harry Palmer stories by Len Deighton: Funeral in Berlin , Billion Dollar Brain and

7254-470: The peak of the summer, with an annual average of around 9–10 °C (48–50 °F). A similar pattern can be seen in the Gotland Basin , which is located between the island of Gotland and Latvia. In the deep of these basins the temperature variations are smaller. At the bottom of the Bornholm Basin, deeper than 80 m (260 ft), the temperature typically is 1–10 °C (34–50 °F), and at

7347-514: The sea, very likely due to the role of Medieval Latin in cartography . It might be connected to the Germanic word belt , a name used for two of the Danish straits, the Belts , while others claim it to be directly derived from the source of the Germanic word, Latin balteus "belt". Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through

7440-657: The shores of the sea or near it usually indicate the geographical location of the sea (in Germanic languages), or its size in relation to smaller gulfs (in Old Latvian), or tribes associated with it (in Old Russian the sea was known as the Varanghian Sea). In modern languages, it is known by the equivalents of "East Sea", "West Sea", or "Baltic Sea" in different languages: At the time of the Roman Empire ,

7533-678: The siege of Leningrad . What we hear, however, is the end of Shostakovich's 11th Symphony "The Year 1905". Yet, music from the "Leningrad" symphony is featured later on during Midwinter's speech to his soldiers in Finland and during the final battle on the ice. Author and critic Anne Billson calls this "by far" the best film of the series, noting that critics and audiences did not like it on first release. The Guardian called it "just terrible". "What rubbish it all is," said The Observer . TV Guide says, "Overly plotted and almost without humor, The Billion Dollar Brain (which takes its name from

7626-674: The southern shore . The Soviet Union gained another access to the Baltic with the Kaliningrad Oblast , that had been part of German-settled East Prussia . The Baltic states on the eastern shore were annexed by the Soviet Union. The Baltic then separated opposing military blocs: NATO and the Warsaw Pact . Neutral Sweden developed incident weapons to defend its territorial waters after the Swedish submarine incidents . This border status restricted trade and travel. It ended only after

7719-554: The stories of real-life British S.O.E. agents, including Odette and Carve Her Name With Pride . A more recent fictional example is Charlotte Gray , based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks . Also during the period, there were many detective films ( The Thin Man Goes Home and Charlie Chan in the Secret Service for example) in which the mystery involved who stole the secret blue-prints, or who kidnapped

7812-447: The tank was deemed necessary because of the decision to use real vehicles instead of miniatures. Otto Heller – who had photographed the first two Harry Palmer films – was supposed to shoot the film but would not submit to a medical examination and so the production could not hire him. The final battle on the ice was inspired by Sergei Eisenstein 's 1938 film Alexander Nevsky . Michael Caine's brother Stanley made his film debut as

7905-559: The value of the eggs and Harry is introduced as a new operator. Harry is ordered to Latvia , in the USSR , where he joins rebels to obtain intelligence. After being captured and left for dead, Harry is set free by Colonel Stok, an old acquaintance from the KGB . Back in Helsinki, Anya tries to kill Harry while seducing him, then confesses that the computer told her to kill him. Harry locks her in

7998-454: The west, Finland to the northeast, and the Baltic countries to the southeast. It is about 1,600 km (990 mi) long, an average of 193 km (120 mi) wide, and an average of 55 metres (180 ft) deep. The maximum depth is 459 m (1,506 ft) which is on the Swedish side of the center. The surface area is about 349,644 km (134,998 sq mi) and the volume

8091-716: The whole southern coast became German. World War I was partly fought in the Baltic Sea. After 1920 Poland was granted access to the Baltic Sea at the expense of Germany by the Polish Corridor and enlarged the port of Gdynia in rivalry with the port of the Free City of Danzig . After the Nazis' rise to power, Germany reclaimed the Memelland and after the outbreak of the Eastern Front (World War II) occupied

8184-568: Was the last European state to convert to Christianity . In the period between the 8th and 14th centuries, there was much piracy in the Baltic from the coasts of Pomerania and Prussia , and the Victual Brothers held Gotland . Starting in the 11th century, the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic were settled by migrants mainly from Germany , a movement called the Ostsiedlung ("east settling"). Other settlers were from

8277-414: Was also observed on 11 May 1799. The ice cover is the main habitat for two large mammals, the grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) and the Baltic ringed seal ( Pusa hispida botnica ), both of which feed underneath the ice and breed on its surface. Of these two seals, only the Baltic ringed seal suffers when there is not adequate ice in the Baltic Sea, as it feeds its young only while on ice. The grey seal

8370-884: Was announced Russell would direct from a script by John McGrath, with Oscar Homolka reprising his role from Funeral in Berlin . Principal photography took place from 30 January to the end of May 1967. Approximately five weeks later, on 26 June, Françoise Dorléac was killed in an automobile accident in Nice, France. It is unclear whether or not her voice was dubbed by another actress, due to her death. Location filming for Billion Dollar Brain took place in Helsinki and other parts of Finland , including Turku . The Riga scenes were filmed in Porvoo , also in Finland. Scenes involving "The Brain" were filmed in Honeywell facilities and featured

8463-467: Was covered with ice. Since 1720, the Baltic Sea has frozen over entirely 20 times, most recently in early 1987, which was the most severe winter in Scandinavia since 1720. The ice then covered 400,000 km (150,000 sq mi). During the winter of 2010–11, which was quite severe compared to those of the last decades, the maximum ice cover was 315,000 km (122,000 sq mi), which

8556-470: Was reached on 25 February 2011. The ice then extended from the north down to the northern tip of Gotland , with small ice-free areas on either side, and the east coast of the Baltic Sea was covered by an ice sheet about 25 to 100 km (16 to 62 mi) wide all the way to Gdańsk . This was brought about by a stagnant high-pressure area that lingered over central and northern Scandinavia from around 10 to 24 February. After this, strong southern winds pushed

8649-630: Was to make the Baltic Sea an all-Swedish sea ( Ett Svenskt innanhav ), something that was accomplished except the part between Riga in Latvia and Stettin in Pomerania. However, the Dutch dominated the Baltic trade in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, Russia and Prussia became the leading powers over the sea. Sweden's defeat in the Great Northern War brought Russia to

#436563