Yar, you be here: Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Ws Sub) > Customer Reviews

Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Ws Sub) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 12 Reviews)

A Cold World of Gray in the Psychedelic Sixties
In another review here (a good one, too), I found out that Richard Burton lost the Best Actor Oscar to Lee Marvin in CAT BALLOU, thus solidifying my opinion that the Academy Awards operate at the level of a high school popularity contest.
(I believe Burton and fellow hellraiser Peter O'Toole share the record for most nominations without a win: 8 apiece).

Shot in a stark black and white, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is definitely closer to the down and dirty business of Cold War spying than James Bond.
There are no exotic locales or a parade of bikini-clad babes, but there is plenty of intrigue and double-crossing as a cynical, broken Richard Burton descends further into the spider's web of the Cold War. More thought-provoking than thrilling, SPY remains as a cold reminder that the Cold War wasn't just fodder for the swingin' Sixties culture.

I never thought I'd live to see the Berlin War fall, such was the climate of fear that the, to quote Ronald Reagan, "empire of evil" maintained in my lifetime. It fell in 1989. This film is a reminder of what a powerful and scary symbol that wall used to be.

A Surreal, Gloomy Treasure
What a wonderful movie. This is the real world of cold war espionage folks, not the Bond nonsense. I was an intelligence officer in Germany during the cold war and this film is so realistic it's scary. Anyone who wants to know what East Germany or the DDR looked like, watch this film. Pinewood Studios reproduced Checkpoint Charlie down to the exact detail. Richard Burton is excellent as usual in the role of Alec Leamas. Claire Bloom, whom I consider one of the most beautiful women on the screen, does a masterful acting job as a naive, British communist. Watch this one and remember that the cold war was no cakewalk!

A Masterpiece of Story Telling
I needn't repeat all the fine reviews preceding mine. Just a few salient items round them out.

First, as Martin Ritt never made a bad film, this is among his finest, especially in his poetic understanding of LeCarre's masterpiece. How his colleague and competitor Sir Carol Reed must have smiled upon that moment when Burton, seeing his photo on the front page of The Times, listed as missing and sought by the police, looks westward from Holland's shores toward an invisible Britain, the Channel's mist symbolic of an England which he then knows he'll never see again. This must be among all of filmdom's finest moments.

Second, the wondrous collusion between Ritt and LeCarre is masterful. To belabor the point: As 20th century prosody shakes out, the author doubtless will be considered among the top of the heap. If ever a film faithfully transferred not just plot, not just characters, but as well the ethos of the writing, Ritt's film does it.

Third, the electricity between Burton and Bloom is ecstatic in the literal sense precisely because she is no sex-pot and he is, in fact, a burned-out sot. Her need of him is electrifying because of her need for realizing herself. This LeCarre struggled to portray in the book, and Ritt brought it out so beautifully in this splendid actress, Burton so masterfully assisting her. What a protege quality to their roles!

Fourth, for those of us devotees of George Smiley, Rupert Davies' Smiley role is perfectly cast, well fitting LeCarre's description of him. No one would ever fault the decades-later portrayal by Sir Alec Guinness, of course, because he gave the role in impression. But Davies, for his spare moments in the film, shows us what Smiley looks like in LeCarre's ink.

Fifth, the writing is superlative, LeCarre having had the major hand in the screenplay. The more philosophic conversations thankfully are easily summarized by Bloom, Burton, Cusack and Werner, quite to the point, sparing us any contrivances. Only the later Rohmer could have done more, but his type of talent would have destroyed this picture.

Sixth, what a good transfer this is, for sound as well as sight. Altogether, it is fine film-making. And that this movie in its generation is a faithful representation of an early LeCarre work makes it a joy to see, so tragic as it is.

1 2 3 4

Next Page