History Film / TheHumanFactor

A South African intelligence officer arrives in England for a joint operation, and brings word that there is a suspected leak in [=MI6=]. Castle's superiors, Hargreaves and Dr. Perceval, get Daintry from internal security (Creator/RichardAttenborough, in his last acting role until ''Film/JurassicPark'' 14 years later) to hunt for the mole, but Hargreaves and Perceval themselves zero in on Davis--he's single, he drinks a lot, he likes strip clubs, he just generally fits their preconception of a mole.

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Dr. Perceval seems like little more than an eccentric buffoon during most of his interactions with [=MI6=] personnel. Under this surface, he's a man who's ruthless in eliminating any possible threat to their operations using any means necessary (from threats to murder).

* DownerEnding: Castle is stuck in Moscow, in what appears to be glorified house arrest in a dingy apartment. He is likely to be permanently separated from his wife, as Perceval tells her that if she tries to leave Britain, she'll be investigated for possible involvement in her husband's espionage--and the boy can't leave anyway as he doesn't have a passport. Castle tells his Moscow contact that he'd rather have stayed at home because at least jails have visiting hours. The film ends with tears rolling down his face as he talks with Sarah on the phone.

* YouCanLeaveYourHatOn: Castle, Davis, and Hargreaves go to a strip club in a scene that is basically an excuse to have a FanserviceExtra stripper.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Perceval kills Davis with an injection meant to simulate death by natural causes.

* TheCameo: Creator/JohnGielgud appears in one scene as Watson, Castle's supervisor at the agency. Even though Gielgud only appears in a single brief scene, he gets high billing alongside Attenborough and Williamson.

''The Human Factor'' is a 1979 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film based on the novel of the same name]] by Creator/GrahamGreene, directed by Creator/OttoPreminger.

Creator/JohnGielgud appears in one scene as Watson, Castle's supervisor at the agency.

''The Human Factor'' is a 1979 film directed by Creator/OttoPreminger.

Maurice Castle (Creator/NicolWilliamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa section. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Creator/{{Iman}}, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

Otto Preminger's last film, an adaptation of a novel by Creator/GrahamGreeneAuthor. It was a TroubledProduction in which Preminger had to sell a house and some art work to fund the film himself after his backers pulled out. Creator/JohnGielgud appears in one scene as Watson, Castle's supervisor at the agency.

Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa section. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Creator/{{Iman}}, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

Maurice Castle (Creator/Nicol Williamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa section. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Creator/{{Iman}}, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa section. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Creator/{{Iman}}, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

Otto Preminger's last film, an adaptation of a novel by Creator/GrahamGreene. It was a TroubledProduction in which Preminger had to sell a house and some art work to fund the film himself after his backers pulled out. Creator/JohnGielgud appears in one scene as Watson, Castle's supervisor at the agency.

* AffablyEvil: Dr. Percival is a jolly and friendly man who loves fly fishing and socializing over a drink with friends. He also has absolutely no qualms about poisoning an [=MI6=] agent suspected of leaking secrets to the Soviets, and shrugging off the agent's death as no great loss when he realizes that he's murdered the wrong man.

* AffablyEvil: Dr. Percival is a jolly and friendly man who loves fly fishing and socializing over a drink with friends. He also has absolutely no qualms about poisoning an [=MI6=] agent suspected of leaking secrets to the Soviets, and shrugging off the agent's death as no great loss when he realizes that he's murdered the wrong agent.

* PlayingAgainstType: Casting hellraiser Nicol Williamson as the quiet, meek, and mild-mannered Castle and the refined Derek Jacobi as trouble-maker, hard drinker, and playboy Davis.

Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa section. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Iman, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

* AffablyEvil: Dr. Percival is a jolly and friendly man who loves fly fishing and socializing over a drink with friends. He also has absolutely no qualms about poisoning an MI6 agent suspected of leaking secrets to the Soviets, and shrugging off the agent's death as no great loss when he realizes that he's murdered the wrong agent.

* PlayingAgainstType: Casting Nicol Williamson as the quiet, meek, and mild-mannered Castle and Derek Jacobi as hellraiser, hard drinker, and playboy Davis.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Castle is, as he himself admits, a traitor. But he is in debt to the Soviets after using them to get his wife out of South Africa, and he is far more sympathetic than Hargreaves and Perceval, who coolly murder poor Davis in order to spare the agency embarrassment, and aren't even all that sorry when they find out they killed the wrong man.

Maurice Castle (Nicol Williamson) is an operative in the British spy agency [=MI6=], working in the Africa. He is hardly Franchise/JamesBond but instead is a worker bee with an office and a desk, and he has to share the office, with a fellow named Davis (Creator/DerekJacobi). In the past however he worked in the field in South Africa, and from South Africa he brought back a wife (Iman, the supermodel, in her film debut) and an adopted son, Sam.

A South African intelligence officer arrives in England for a joint operation, and brings word that there is a suspected leak in [=MI6=]. Castle's superiors, Hargreaves and Dr. Perceval, get Daintry from internal security (Creator/RichardAttenborough) to hunt for the mole, but Hargreaves and Perceval themselves zero in on Davis--he's single, he drinks a lot, he likes strip clubs, he just generally fits their preconception of a mole.