The Spy Who Came in from the Colddirected by Martin Ritt | |
| List(s): | "Movie Two" |
|---|---|
| Category: |
"Suspense" |
| Year of Release: | 1965 |
| Date Added: | 02/05/2015 |
| Date Watched: | 10/21/2024 |
| Description: | Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), British agent in Berlin, goes home after his chief contact is killed by the German agent Mundt. Leamas's control in British intelligence asks him to help destroy Mundt. Leamas pretends to be disgraced, an alcoholic who spends time in prison for assaulting a store keeper. The only job he can get (supposedly) is as a clerk in a library where he meets and begins and affair with Nan (Claire Bloom). Leamas is contacted by the Communist party and offered a large sum of money to answer some questions. He is taken to Holland and then to East Germany where he is grilled by German agent Fiedler (Oskar Werner). The information Leamas gives convinces Fiedler that his rival Mundt is working for the British. Mundt is put on trial. His lawyer has managed to get Nan to come over from London. The evidence she gives proves that Leamas is a friend of George Smiley, British control. At that point, Leamas realizes that he's been used by Smiley all along for the purpose of discrediting Fiedler. Fiedler is killed and Mundt is reinstated — but it turns out that Mundt IS a British agent. He allows Leamas and Nan to "escape" prison and get to the wall where — or so Smiley's plan goes — Leamas will escape but Nan will be killed because she now knows too much. When Leamas sees Nan gunned down, instead of escaping over the wall, he drops back into East Germany and dies with her. |
| My Rating: | 6 |
Reviewed by Roger on 2024-10-21 16:14:05
