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Fabrique d'espions

Original title: Ring of Spies
  • 1964
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
533
YOUR RATING
Fabrique d'espions (1964)
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.
Play trailer2:53
1 Video
67 Photos
CrimeDramaThriller

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.

  • Director
    • Robert Tronson
  • Writers
    • Frank Launder
    • Peter Barnes
  • Stars
    • Bernard Lee
    • William Sylvester
    • Margaret Tyzack
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    533
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Tronson
    • Writers
      • Frank Launder
      • Peter Barnes
    • Stars
      • Bernard Lee
      • William Sylvester
      • Margaret Tyzack
    • 18User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:53
    Trailer

    Photos67

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    Top cast50

    Edit
    Bernard Lee
    Bernard Lee
    • Henry Houghton
    William Sylvester
    William Sylvester
    • Gordon Lonsdale
    Margaret Tyzack
    Margaret Tyzack
    • Elizabeth Gee
    David Kossoff
    David Kossoff
    • Peter Kroger
    Thorley Walters
    Thorley Walters
    • Cmdr. Winters
    Nancy Nevinson
    Nancy Nevinson
    • Helen Kroger
    Derek Francis
    • Chief Supt. Croft
    Hector Ross
    • Supt. Woods
    George Pravda
    George Pravda
    • Russian Agent
    Patrick Barr
    Patrick Barr
    • Captain Warner
    Justine Lord
    Justine Lord
    • Christina
    Gillian Lewis
    • Marjorie Shaw
    Newton Blick
    • P.O. Meadows
    Philip Latham
    Philip Latham
    • Captain Ray
    Cyril Chamberlain
    • Anderson
    Edwin Apps
    Edwin Apps
    • Blake
    • (uncredited)
    Jack Armstrong
    • Man in Monitoring Room
    • (uncredited)
    Demeter Bitenc
    Demeter Bitenc
      • Director
        • Robert Tronson
      • Writers
        • Frank Launder
        • Peter Barnes
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews18

      6.5533
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      Featured reviews

      6shakercoola

      Light on thrills but with interesting machinations

      A British spy thriller; A story about a British navy clerk assigned to a top secret research facility where he is blackmailed into stealing vital secrets in exchange for cash. A film set during the height of the Cold War and based on true events of the Portland Spy Ring, where daily duels play out between Soviet intelligence and British counter-espionage. Tension is undermined by a docudrama style, though the playout of the espionage activities is absorbing. Bernard Lee performs well, but his character is not sympathetic, and his cohort, played by Margaret Tyzack, is also drawn to things venal without much struggle, so it ends up being a drawn-out morality tale.
      7robert-temple-1

      A portrait of betrayal

      This film has recently been released on DVD under its original title of RING OF SPIES. It is an excellent film, and a fascinating dramatization of the notorious 1950s Gordon Lonsdale spy case, better known as the 'Portland Spy Ring' in Britain. The film is made with a documentary attitude, and a great deal of verisimilitude is added to the film through the use of a wide variety of genuine locations (i.e., Ruislip Station because the Krogers really lived there). Many of the location scenes are genuinely fascinating on their own account. For instance, this film may contain the only surviving extended footage of the roof terrace at Derry and Tom's Department Store in London at that time. No expense was spared to give this film all the location shooting it needed, and the producer Sidney Gilliat was clearly not shouting at the director to get back into the studio and save some money. The director was Robert Tronson, a talented director who has always been under-estimated because most of his work was for television. He directed some of the most popular series on British television, such as THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY (1991-3), BERGERAC (1983-8), and ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (1978-88). The casting of this film was impeccable. William Sylvester is a smooth and affable charmer as the Russian spy Konon T. Molody, who masqueraded as a Canadian and an American under the pseudonym of Gordon Lonsdale. But Sylvester is a master at dropping that mask of affability as soon as his guests leave, and reverting to a grim and determined expression with ruthless immediacy. The finest performance in the film is by Bernard Lee as the alcoholic Henry Houghton who steals files from the safe at the Portland Naval Establishment so that the Soviets can learn all the British secrets about advanced submarine warfare. Two other reviewers have already provided background on the real spy case, so I shall not repeat it myself. The film wisely suggests that the drunken Houghton would never have been tolerated at Portland if he had not been protected by someone higher, which is doubtless true, considering how riddled with spies for foreign powers the Foreign Office has always been. This film is very well worth watching, both for entertainment and for historical purposes, and the location shots really are worthwhile.
      6dierregi

      Minimalist

      Based on true facts, the plot narrates without many embellishments, frills and thrills the downfall of Henry Houghton an alcoholic Navy Clerk.

      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.
      5Prismark10

      Ring of Spies

      Based on the true story of the Portland Spy Ring. Bernard Lee takes time off as M to play hard drinking loose cannon Harry Houghton. Sacked as an embassy attaché in Warsaw. He bids a drunken farewell to his girlfriend who works for the Russians.

      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.
      8wilsonstuart-32346

      The Spies of Ruislip

      No need to repeat the background to the actual case that inspired this excellent spy thriller. Compared to the ludicrous heroics and wild SFX of Bond, Bourne or Mission Impossible, Ring Of Spies seems like a different planet. But this was an era when the West faced a different sort of opponent (even if the the three threat was exaggerated to one degree or another). Security breaches had occurred before Portland, and would feature again afterwards, but never had the shadow of the enemy spy felt so close to suburbia and the Home Counties. Although long forgotten now, perhaps only Profumo overtook Portland in terms of (the then) public conscious.

      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.

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      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        45 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.
      • Goofs
        The 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 credits
        Disclaimer 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."
      • Connections
        Featured in Al Murray's Great British Spy Movies (2014)
      • Soundtracks
        Trautonium Music
        (uncredited)

        Music by Oskar Sala

        CBS TV Music Library

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      FAQ12

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      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • April 21, 1965 (France)
      • Country of origin
        • United Kingdom
      • Language
        • English
      • 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
        • British Lion Films
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Tech specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        • 1h 30m(90 min)
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.66 : 1

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