To my horror, this is a 1 disc edition on Blu-Ray with no extras, not the 3 disc sold in the U.S. $31 for this??? What a rip-off!!
AVOID AT ALL COST!!!

After years of remaining in video limbo, the last of the "Harry Palmer" trilogy comes to DVD. Following The Ipcress File ( the best of the series )and Funeral In Berlin ( there was 2 made for TV films, but we won't count those here )and produced by Harry Saltzman ( co-producer of the 007 series with Cubby Broccoli )presented Michael Caine as a more realistic spy battling Ed Begley's Gen. Midwinter as he plans on starting WW III with Russia.
Brain was by far the strangest of the three films with a somewhat surreal feel to it, do in large part to eccentric director Ken Russell. Many Russell fans will dismiss Brain as not being "true Russellesque", but there is enough to hint at what was to come later.
Many viewers might wonder if the film is more black comedy than thriller, this is do to a somewhat over-the-top performance by Ed Begley as General Midwinter.
The DVD has a rather good widescreen picture on 1 side and a pan & scan on the other ( on my copy the side labels were mixed up )unfortunately, due to music rights issues, the brief "Beatles Hard Days Night" song sequence has been removed, roughly 10 to 15 seconds. There is no trailer for the movie, but trailers for several unrelated films.
While not the best of the series,the film has good location work in Helsinki and a moody score by Richard Rodney Bennett, it's nice to finally have the final Harry Palmer film on DVD.

No need to buy this DVD, a Panavision title released in pan & scan? Yep, we're back in the stone age.
Columbia pictures should be ashamed, heaping this crap on the public,the movie is no classic, but it's worth a look, but this transfer is awful. At least you get the opening credits in letterbox ;)