The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

A terrific spy thriller. It is a film of its time. Some of the dialogue feels slightly stilted - that doesn't detract from a superb performance by Richard Burton (who was nominated for an Oscar). The positive side is the the sparse use of dialogue and music is a refreshing change from many of today's films where tension is built by actors over-talking and the overuse of music. Tension in the film is built by actors plying their trade in an exceptional manner. The film came out only a couple of years after the book. It is easy to forget the moral dilemma inherent in the novel; that western spying was not always morally correct, and the line between the good guy and the bad guys is sometimes very blurred. The film captures this dilemma very well. Up to this point the spy genre had been defined by James Bond. This is a very different perspective and laid the path for the Harry Palmer movies. The world depicted is, as John Le Carre wrote in the novel. 'What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors, too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play Cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives.' Not Very James Bond

Of it's time and still as good !

Trust nobody at all and you might just survive ?

That is... if you can.

Alec Lemas, a hard drinking veteran intelligence officer who is drawn into a complex web of intrigue by Spymaster Control and his enigmatic deputy George Smiley. This dark moral fable brims with sadness and pathos as well as hinting at the dark compromises underpinning postwar Europe and the futility of the Cold War.

The best spy story of its era sees Richard Burton in perhaps his strongest screen performance. The sophisticated dialogue and brutal cynicism of Le Carre's source novel is preserved and delivered to perfection by the cast. An antidote to much onscreen espionage, especially the bland pastiche recreation of the 1970s that was the recent remake of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

this was a rental i had been waiting quite a long time for and it didnt dissapoint i only gave the rating i did as i feel it will be a bit 'wordy' for a lot of casual viewers but anyone familiar with the book will be pleased by this, it largly consists of men talking to each other yet still escalates tension and the end is truly heart wrenching, mainly as it is so simply made and done with out fanfare it lets the story speak for its self. the lack of score makes it real and absorbing