Eye of the Needle

Eye of the Needle is a 1981 British spy film directed by Richard Marquand and starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Written by Stanley Mann, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Ken Follett. The film is about a German Nazi spy in the United Kingdom during World War II who discovers vital information about the upcoming D-Day invasion and his attempt to return to Germany while he is stranded with a family on the isolated (fictional) Storm Island, off the coast of Scotland. Plot Henry Faber is a cold and emotionless German sleeper agent nicknamed "the Needle" because he prefers to kill with a stiletto. While spying in England, he obtains critical information of a massive military deception campaign to disguise the Allies' plans to invade Normandy instead of Pas de Calais as Nazi Germany High Command expects, but is unable to transmit the information. MI5, knowing that Faber's discoveries could foil D-Day, are hounding his every move. Faber heads to Scotland for a rendezvous with a U-boat, but fierce weather strands him on Storm Island. On the island he meets Lucy, a beautiful young woman; her disabled husband, David; their young son Jo; and an elderly, alcoholic shepherd named Tom, the only other person on the island. Tom runs the lighthouse and the island's only two-way radio. A passionate romance develops overnight between Faber and Lucy because of the estrangement she has from her husband after a car crash on their honeymoon, which left him without legs and embittered. David becomes suspicious of Faber when he discovers he is carrying a film canister. When questioned about the film, Faber ruthlessly kills David by throwing him off a cliff, and then kills Tom, who has found him trying to contact the U-boat with the shepherd's radio. Faber lies to Lucy to explain David's absence, claiming David has been drinking with Tom, as is often the case. However, Lucy soon finds her husband's body on the rocky shoreline and, lying to Faber, manages to flee with Jo. When Faber realizes she knows, he pursues her. Lucy reaches the radio at Tom's lighthouse, contacts the mainland and is told that help will be sent immediately, but in the meantime it is vital for her to destroy the transmitter. Lucy, alone and terrified, refuses.