Julgamento de um Traidor

A dour little spy thriller which acts as a corrective to the James Bond school of spy movies, and benefits from an excellent performance by George Peppard as an exhausted, stressed out Ango-US agent searching for a mole in British Intelligence (just the one?). The atmosphere of post-swinging London is interesting from a modern standpoint, as is the unusual flashback plot structure.

Trivia for Gerry Anderson fans: Both Paul Maxwell (the voice of Steve Zodiac in Fireball XL5) and Peter Dyneley (the voice of Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds) have quite major roles in The Executioner.

Results when British Intelligence Agent John Shay (George Peppard) suspects Adam Booth (Keith Michell), a colleague, of being a double-agent. So the British spy must prove that his former colleague is a double agent. Although Shay's superiors (Nigel Patrick, Charles Gray) warn him against an investigation, he travels to Istambul (Turkey), Athens (Greece) and Corfu (Greece) in order to check out his suspicions. There, Shay becomes involved with the beautiful Sarah (Dame Joan Collins), who was once his lover, and is now Booth's wife. Soon after, Shay realizes that he is being used as a Communist pawn, and has fallen into grave danger. Every day he lives, somebody else dies!

An exciting espionage and spy thriller with action , suspense , intriguing events twits and turns. A passable thriller with explosive international intrigue in which elements of backstabbing, betrayal and espionage abound. George Peppard gives a passable acting as a British Intelligence Agent must track down a fellow spy suspected of being a double agent. In this film, a great British cast stands out, made up of the best performers of that country at the time, just as Joan Collins, Judy Geeson, Charles Gray, Nigel Patrick, Keith Michell, George Baker, Alexander Scourby, Peter Bull, while Peppard is the only North American actor.

It displays a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Denys Coop. Shot in various sightseeing locations in Corfu, Greece Villa Sylva, Kanoni, Corfu, Greece, Athens, Greece, Trafalgar Square, St James's, London. Likewise, a tense and suspenseful musical score by Ron Goddwin. The motion picture was professionally directed by Sam Wanamaker. He was a notorious secondary actor and occassionally director as cinema as TV, such as: Catlow, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The legend of Custer ,The File of the Golden Goose, The killing of Randy Webster, The Champions, Cimarron , Custer Hawk, Columbo . Rating: 5.5/10. Average but acceptable.

I liked this film; because even though the film is 50 years old, the picture provides a very interesting and vivid panorama of people and society during the Cold War.

I think this film also depicts very well the intellectual clash between Western- and Soviet Intelligence during the Cold War; both sides being guilty of unscrupulous and unethical conduct, by using innocent people as pawns to further their own respective agendas. On the other hand, these negative policies by Intelligence Agencies during the Cold War probably also helped a bit to avoid another world war; conventional diplomacy having failed between the West and the Soviet Union during that time - before the Cold War ended and the Iron Curtain was finally lifted. Regrettably though, it would seem that those times are not quite over yet. Although spies and diplomats are much more gently disposed and peace loving than in the Cold War; there is still some work to do concerning International Peacebuilding and diplomacy. Hence we should do everything in our power to make sure that human rights are no longer infringed upon; and to convince British, American, Russian, French, German and Chinese Intelligence agencies - and all other Intelligence Agencies in the world - to get those rogue factions from the International Intelligence Community in line, so that human rights can fully be upheld - and that all intelligence agencies in the world finally make peace with each other, so that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) can be manifested in the International Community.

On another note, I think this film shows very well that gender issues are very much a topic in the intelligence community. In this film the British MI5 agent John Shay (George Peppard) suspects a colleague of his to be a double agent, who happens to be the husband of a girl he loves - and this causes all kinds of problems in the close-knit MI5 intelligence community; with three highly trained British agents wanting to have a romantic relationship with the kind and lovely Sarah; played by Joan Collins. As it turns out, Sarah is a bit of a Femme fatale; having a bit of fun with MI5 agents - perhaps because out of boredom, or perhaps because Sarah is not as kind and lovely as she appears to be, having some unresolved psychological issues - even though she is not a Russian spy, but just a misguided soul, lacking the mystic power to manifest joy, love and harmony in her life.

In short, this is a great film with a remarkable resemblance of today's world; highlighting human frailties in the Intelligence Community - of yesterday and today :)

Espionage dramas which depend on bureaucratic characters engaged in prolonged conversations rarely make good movies and this is no exception. It's competent but never sparks any real interest and the plot seems a bit muddled.

There are a number of good names in the cast and they do the best they can with pedestrian material. Top billing goes to George Peppard who plays an Englishman but his American accent is explained by saying that he grew up in the United States. He's involved, in a vaguely romantic way, with two different women -- Joan Collins and Judy Geeson -- but not much comes of this. The ads hint at some hot bedroom action between Peppard and Collins but most of these scenes must have been left on the cutting room floor.

Location work in Greece and Istanbul is, like the rest of the movie, strictly routine.

Unremarkable B British movie. I don't know if it is the director or the acting, but there is no energy in it. It is watchable (once). You can see a glimmer of the charisma Joan Collins can bring to a nighttime soap opera. The blonde girl was a bit whiny for my taste. The dresses for she and Joan Collins were outstanding. I saw a blue number I wouldn't mind wearing myself. The movie had potential, if in the right hands. It was relatively painless, but kind of flat. You didn't feel you were at the Parthenon even though they splurged on location shooting. The movie cover looks far more exciting than the movie itself. There were areas where there should have been music to set the mood, but there was silence. In the proper hands this movie could have been a classic.