During the Cold War, a RN warrant officer stationed in the British Embassy in Warsaw leaks secrets to his Polish girlfriend who's a Soviet agent and after his transfer to a naval station in ... Read allDuring the Cold War, a RN warrant officer stationed in the British Embassy in Warsaw leaks secrets to his Polish girlfriend who's a Soviet agent and after his transfer to a naval station in Britain he joins a Soviet spy ring.During the Cold War, a RN warrant officer stationed in the British Embassy in Warsaw leaks secrets to his Polish girlfriend who's a Soviet agent and after his transfer to a naval station in Britain he joins a Soviet spy ring.
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After having been sent back to England in disgrace, from his post at the British Embassy in Warsaw, Houghton decides to take revenge and sell military secrets to Lonsdale, a man he believes to be an American agent.
Lonsdale is actually a Russian spy, connected with a couple of minor key players also located in London. The last member of the ring is Elizabeth Gee, a spinster secretary convinced by Houghton to collaborate with him in exchange for substantial payments that afford some luxuries to the couple.
It is exactly the more affluent lifestyle to raise suspicions and get the Houghton/Gee couple under surveillance. Way more believable than any James Bond story.
Harry is posted at a secret a Royal Navy equipment testing facility at Portland. He is soon approached by secret Soviet intelligence to hand over documents to them with the veiled threat of blackmail. After all he used to drunkenly tell secrets to his girlfriend back in Warsaw.
Harry realises that to take the documents from the safe. He needs to seduce work colleague Elizabeth Gee as she has the keys. She nervously and reluctantly agrees.
Once they get used to the money paid by his handler Gordon Lonsdale (William Sylvester.) They enjoy the good life, not realising that they have attracted the attention of the authorities suspicious of traitors in their midst.
Lee plays Harry as a bluff chancer. A cynical drunk and not too bright. Margaret Tyzack makes more of an impression as Gee, seduced by the good life and greed.
The movie has a documentary setting but plays it too safe and straight.
The cast are uniformly good, a real effort is made to dig out (but not condone) Bernard Lee's cash strapped wheeler dealer clerk, and his infatuated spinster girlfriend. William Slyvester excels as the smooth talking professional operating under a Soviet 'legend'. The action takes place in rustic pubs, cafes, drab offices and snack bars - there's no glamour or gadgets in this slow burner, Cold War thriller.
Did you know
- Trivia45 Cranley Drive, Ruislip which features as the Krogers' home, was their actual address in real life, from which they transmitted messages to Moscow. A second transmitter was found at the bottom of the garden in 1980.
- GoofsThe scene at Lords cricket ground uses a shot of stock footage of a match there. We then see a close-up of the pavilion, but it is clearly not the one at Lords. It was probably filmed at another, smaller, cricket ground in the south-east.
- Quotes
Captain Warner: You're a bad security risk, Houghton!
Henry Houghton: Okay, sir, that's it. That's it.
Captain Warner: I'll have to make a report to the Admiralty about you. Maybe as a civil servant, they can't fire you. But I don't see how they can possibly give you a job with any responsibility again.
[smash cut to]
Christina: [Reading a letter from Houghton] Christina Darling - You will be surprised to learn that I have been posted to Portland, the most secret Admiralty base in the country.
- Crazy creditsDisclaimer in closing credits: "Although the substance of this film is based upon true events and the leading characters depict actual persons, neither the officials portrayed, nor their establishments, officers or places of work, are based upon real places or actual individuals."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Al Murray's Great British Spy Movies (2014)
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ring of Treason
- Filming locations
- 45 Cranley Drive, Ruislip, Middlesex, England, UK(The Kroger's home - and in real life)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 30m(90 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1