The Ipcress File was one of my earliest Letterboxd reviews. I enjoyed the film so much that I made immediate plans to watch Michael Caine’s next outing as Harry Palmer, and a mere four years later, here I am. Funeral in Berlin actually does something subtly different from The Ipcress File. Where the first film’s focus on drab offices, paperwork and procedural legwork made Palmer feel like an anti-Bond, this one is more outward-looking and mischievous, although it still keeps its feet firmly on the ground.

The Cold War intrigue is broader and the plot more tangled, but Caine is again the key. His Palmer is now a little more confident and perhaps a bit too self-satisfied, especially where women are concerned. It is great that he still feels like a fairly ordinary man earning a distinctly unglamorous living, rather than a super-spy constantly saving the world. Caine’s ability to project intelligence and scepticism without doing too much really makes the character.

And the city of Berlin—divided, tense and morally ambiguous—is as sharply drawn as the slippery contacts played by Paul Hubschmid and Eva Renzi. I could almost believe that the city exists purely to undermine the idea that Palmer might be a hero. Guy Hamilton lets the atmosphere breathe by focusing on process rather than spectacle, which is not what I expected from the director of Goldfinger, surely the definitive Bond film. All the double and triple bluffs inevitably make the story feel a bit convoluted, and I must confess that I did not always find it easy to follow, but I like that the tone remained grounded even when the twists started to stretch credibility.

I still think The Ipcress File is the definitive anti-Bond spy thriller, but Funeral in Berlin is cooler, slyer and far more comfortable in its own skin. It is another smart, atmospheric Cold War thriller that proves this series wasn’t just a one-off response to 007. And I certainly won’t be waiting another four years to watch Billion Dollar Brain. Maybe.