The Human Factor

Director Preminger was handed his first project in five years, a great cast, and good material (based on a Graham Greene novel), and he came up with this anemic little thriller. Williamson plays a middle-aged British Secret Service employee who betrays his country by passing information to the Soviets in order to aid an old friend in Africa. As a result of his indiscretion, an innocent man is "removed" by the British, and Williamson is forced to defect to the USSR, leaving his wife and child behind. While far from a bad film, THE HUMAN FACTOR fails to convey the desperation and stagnation felt by the Williamson character.