CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

James Hitchcock "The Tamarind Seed" is a seventies spy thriller, but not a spy thriller in the action-adventure James Bond mould. This one has more in common with the Cold War dramas of John Le Carré, although a more exact comparison would be with a Le Carré novel crossed with the cheesy romantic fiction of the Mills and Boon School. At its heart is a romance between a British Home Office official and a Russian spy. The Briton is Judith Farrow, an attractive thirty-something widow. The Russian is Fyodor Sverdlov, a military attaché (diplomatic language for spy) at the Soviet embassy in Paris. The two meet while on holiday in Barbados. (The film's somewhat enigmatic title derives from a Barbadian legend about a tamarind tree which has borne seeds in the shape of a human head ever since a slave was hanged from it for a crime he did not commit).The audience are supposed to take the Judith/Sverdlov romance as genuine, although both the British and Soviet security services are suspicious of it. British intelligence suspect that Sverdlov is planning to recruit Judith (who has access to confidential Home Office information) as an agent. Their suspicions are compounded by the fact that, between the death of her husband in a car crash and beginning the romance with Sverdlov, Judith managed to fit in a failed love affair with Richard Paterson, Sverdlov's opposite number at the British embassy. Sverdlov tells his superiors in Soviet intelligence that he is indeed trying to recruit Judith, but they (with justification) suspect him of plotting to defect.When the film first appeared in 1974 much was made of the fact, or supposed fact, that Julie Andrews was getting away from the "goodie-two-shoes" image she had been lumbered with ever since "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music"; I recall one reviewer expressing surprise because she briefly appears in a bikini. (Memo to reviewer: Julie is not a nun in real life). In fact, "The Tamarind Seed" marks much less of a break from this image than some of her later films such as "S.O.B." , also directed by her husband Blake Edwards. Judith may have affairs, but she is still the innocent heroine, even if the word "innocent" needs to be understood here in the sense of "naïve" rather than in that of "sexless". I was surprised by just how ready Judith is to take Sverdlov at face value, given that in the seventies any Briton working in a politically sensitive position would have been alert to the fact that the Soviet Union frequently used diplomacy as a cover for espionage (as, indeed, did many other countries).Sverdlov is played by the Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, a man who, at least in his English-language films, seemed to specialise in playing characters of every nationality but his own; he had previously played a Russian in "Dr Zhivago". As played by Sharif, Sverdlov does not really seem like a man in the throes of romantic passion; he comes across far more as the smooth, slick seducer which British intelligence believe him to be, making it all the more surprising that Judith was not more on her guard.Andrews is better than Sharif, although this is not one of her greatest performances, but the best acting comes from Anthony Quayle, who plays intelligence officer Jack Loder, head of security at the British embassy in Paris. Loder is the man handling Sverdlov's defection, but he does not entirely trust him, and not only for the obvious reason that Sverdlov may turn out to be a double agent. Loder is a patriot who sees intelligence work in terms of national interest rather than left-versus-right politics, and cannot understand a Russian who wants to betray Russia any more than he can understand a Briton who wants to betray Britain. Despite the nature of his work, Loder eventually turns out to have a humane and decent side to his character. Unlike most of his upper-class colleagues at the Embassy, he is from a working-class background, indicated by a strong regional accent.There is another decent performance from Dan O'Herlihy as Fergus Stephenson, a British diplomat who turns out to be a Soviet agent; he is portrayed as a member of the notorious Cambridge spy ring. (In 1974 only three of its five members had been identified, and there was much speculation about the identity of the others, later named as Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross). One thing I found difficult to understand, however, is the failure of Stephenson's wife, who loathes and despises him, to expose him when she discovers his treachery; the explanation given, that she is looking forward to the glamour of life as an Ambassador's wife when he is promoted, never rings true.The Cold War atmosphere of the seventies can seem very remote from the very different world of today, notwithstanding a renewal of anti-Russian feeling in certain quarters, and films about Cold War spy intrigue, including this one, can look very dated. This film, in fact, actually looks more dated than something like the Le Carré adaptation "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", although that film was made in black-and-white nine years earlier, or even Carol Reed's "The Man Between" from the fifties. Those two films, however, are only incidentally about espionage; they are primarily about human nature and human relationships, and contain some great acting from their stars Richard Burton and James Mason. "The Tamarind Seed", by contrast, only arouses interest when it is about espionage and not about the glossy romance at its centre. 5/10

SimonJack Some reviewers – but not all, seem to have missed the point of this film. "The Tamarind Seed" is not a spy movie. There is no espionage, passing of secrets, skulduggery, clandestine meetings, secret codes and passwords, or any of the myriad other things that usually make up spy and espionage thrillers. Rather, this is a film about a planned defection from the Soviet Union to the West. And, it centers around a chance meeting that blossoms into a friendship, then a deep romance and love. It does have touches of the espionage character on the edges – the Soviet Union and England each concerned about their person giving away secrets to the other, and about possibly getting information from the other. But there's never any of that activity in the film. And, Omar Sharif's character, Colonel Feodor Sverdlov. even makes that a point in his discussions with Judith Farrow (played by Julie Andrews). The other touch of espionage has to do with a mole in British intelligence somewhere. And there's somewhat of a humorous and satirical take on that, in that when the traitor's wife finds out, she decides to help protect her husband because she yearns for him to get a promising embassy posting. So, she too becomes a traitor. This is a new take on what people will do out of greed and the lust for power and prestige. It's quite interesting. The story is a good one – not at all implausible. And who says it must be plausible? It's refreshingly different in that the focus of the two lead characters is on them, their friendship, love, and what their future life may be. It's not about espionage because they're not in this for that reason. They want out of the business and any association with it. The frankness of discussions in the plot helps establish that in the minds of the audience. Still, I found myself wondering if he was on the up and up or really being straightforward with her. Just enough for some intrigue about how this would play out, and therefore keeping me very interested in the film. As I said, no skulduggery, suspenseful moments or intense situations are here – until near the very end when things come to a head. This is a good film and look at a subject that grabbed the headlines in the world for nearly half a century – defections of Soviet agents, athletes, artists and scientists. Too few of such films were made, and the public awareness of that time and those situations has dimmed. So, "The Tamarind Seed" has some historical value as well, with its look at that subject and the times. The acting and supporting cast are all very good. The cinematography and other technical aspects, direction and editing are very good. It's a nice movie to see a couple of performers who starred in and made some great films in the mid-20th century.

Hojalataes Blake Edwards, better known for his comedies, directs this respectable spy film based on Evelyn Anthony's novel of the same title. July Andrews in on a holiday in Barbados trying to recover from a love affair with a married man. She meets Omar Sharif and she falls in love with him, only to discover that he's an international Russian spy willing to change sides.On the bright side, the story keeps you interested despite the slow pace. It shows that it is possible to make a nice spy film without crazy special effects, nonsense action scenes and going ballistic for the most unsuspected reason. There's a very nice soundtrack by John Barry and a spectacular song sung by Wilma Reading.On the dark side, it has several of the stereotypes of this kind of movies from the 70's, as for example, the Russians spies have a very strong Russian accent: how do they manage to spy and mingle without being noticed? To keep it short, a nice spy movie where for over 108 minutes, not a single gun is shot and not a single blood drop is spilt. It has great climax scene, where suspense is very well built. A rara avis nowadays, where the explosions have to be loud and action has to be unbelievable in the less realistic possible way. By the way, the movie is 119 minutes long and, believe it or not, July Andrews doesn't sing on this film!!

moonspinner55 It's nice to see Julie Andrews trying a straight dramatic role here--something she hadn't done in awhile--but her character of Judith (wise they didn't try to pass her off as a 'Judy') has the old refined manners and tomboyish hairstyle of yore, and Andrews enacts 'grown-up' as any other actress would interpret frigid. Surprisingly bland, unmemorable drama set in Barbados involves shady Omar Sharif (not the liveliest leading man around, not even in 1974!) hoping to make Andrews a spy while also slowly leading her into the proverbial bedroom. Woeful outing does have some camp value: the James Bond-like credits at the beginning are a cheesy hoot. As for Julie, she's quiet and contemplative, but that doesn't do much for the audience--or for the film. Director Blake Edwards paces the whole drab thing like a funeral. *1/2 from ****