Spy Who Came in from the Cold (The)

 

Genre: espionage thriller (in black and white)

With: Richard Burton (Alec Leamas), Claire Bloom (Nancy Perry), Oskar Werner (Fiedler), Sam Wanamaker (Peters), George Voskovec (Comrade Karden), Rupert Davies (George Smiley), Cyril Cusack (Control), Peter van Eyck (Hans-Dieter Mundt), Michael Hordern (Ashe)

Director: Martin Ritt

Screenplay: Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper (based on John le Carré's novel)

Release: 1965

Studio: Salem Films Limited

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.6/10 

 

‟There’s only one rule: expediency.” 

 

QuickView

Story-line: when his efforts to protect an East German defector are thwarted in Berlin, British agent Alec Leamas is called back to London and offered a desk job. Dissatisfied with this new assignment, he becomes frustrated, reckless and even violent.

Pluses: an intense performance by Richard Burton, excellent support from Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner and cast, a formidable screenplay using logic, sly humour and blunt dialogues to show the dark, unflashy side of espionage, great cinematography (the exteriors especially), able direction that weaves a tight web of intrigue, a superbly mysterious musical score, convenient production values and a forceful ending.

Minuses: when Leamas and Ashe meet for lunch at a restaurant, pay attention to the paintings on the wall… frankly, I wouldn’t want them in my living room!

Comments: according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to ‟come in from the cold” means ‟to become part of a group or of normal society again after one has been outside it”. In our case, Alec Leamas may have taken a step back in his career but his new endeavours won’t be any less strenuous, as Martin Ritt shows us in this magnificent and absorbing film. Don’t expect explosions, glamour or fancy gadgets from THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD… only murk, hidden intentions and a brutal game in which the stakes are sky-high for everyone, even the common citizen.          

 

MBiS 

© 2022 – All rights reserved

Paris nous appartient

English title: Paris Belongs to Us

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Betty Schneider (Anne Goupil), Giani Esposito (Gérard Lenz), Françoise Prévost (Terry Yordan), Daniel Crohem (Philip Kaufman), François Maistre (Pierre, Anne’s brother)

Director: Jacques Rivette

Screenplay: Jacques Rivette and Jean Gruault

Release: 1961

Studio: Ajym Films, Les Films du Carrosse

Rating: -

MBiS score: 7.9/10

 

 

They’re Coming to Kill Us All… But Don’t Try to Find Out Who They Are  

 

 

QuickView

Story-line: June 1957 in the French capital. While studying for her English exams, Anne Goupil is called upon to comfort one of her neighbours, a desperate-looking young woman who knows her brother Pierre. Referring to other people she knows, the neighbour says, quite enigmatically, “They killed him. First it was Asunta, and now Juan. All his friends, all of us are goners, the whole world!” The next time Anne meets Pierre, she tells him about this odd encounter and he decides to introduce her to a group of intellectuals who have rallied around a renegade American journalist. It all adds up to something… but what is it exactly?

Pluses: a solid group of little-known actors playing complex, inscrutable characters (kudos in particular to Betty Schneider and Daniel Crohem), a well-built, innuendo-filled and slightly paranoid screenplay driven by brisk, cryptic and open-ended dialogues, a pleasing orchestral score recalling Varèse’s cacophonous classics, a couple of very funny moments, attractive photography, fitting production values and intelligent direction that makes sense of what could have been a very messy motion picture.  

Minuses: in spite of the movie poster above, PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT is not a travelogue but a politically-oriented whodunit. It isn’t a great film, it does feel longish at times but, oddly enough, it keeps you interested as you wonder how this is all going to end.   

Comments: what amazed me about this Kafkaesque story is its lead character, Anne the everyday heroine, a quiet young woman who shows surprising tenacity and courage as she investigates the uneasy relationships between members of the group and other individuals around them. Jacques Rivette (1928-2016) was a champion of atypical moviemaking and this, his first work, succeeds as an unsettling, original work in a genre that has seen its fair share of failures over the years. If you believe that conspiracy theories and alternative facts are very recent inventions, PARIS NOUS APPARTIENT will undoubtedly change your mind… and bend it at will.

 

MBiS 

© 2022 – All rights reserved