Master Spy

As noted by the other reviewers, Master Spy is no classic, but it is a must-see for fans of British B movies of the era. The story is fairly routine, but is much enlivened by the cast - Alan Wheatley (excellent as always), John Carson (with his James Mason-sound-alike voice!), Peter Gimore playing his role to perfection, and most interestingly the tragic June Thorburn cast against type as a scientist who becomes dangerously involved in the espionage plot. With her shorter, blonder hair, Miss Thorburn here is a dead ringer for Angela Douglas, a likeness I had never noticed before, and she is totally credible and brings much to what could have been a nothing part. Very sadly she died in a plane crash a couple of years after completing this, her final film.

No fast action here, as spying business is a very slow and tedious affair, as already Somerset Maugham made clear in his early short stories, as that activity mainly tries your patience until it breaks, and that's when the mistakes are committed. Stephen Murray makes a very credible character as the defector from Yugoslavia seeking asylum in Britain and getting employed in an advanced nuclear research centre, where he can be at large doing whatever research he wants and using the results for his own ends, but unfortunately his collaborator is the wrong kind of man, and when he prompts the execution of Murray's secretary, for having found out about their business, Murray declines, and things are messed up. It's a rather ordinary spying story of double crossing and double purposes and the main issue getting busted, and the whole enterprise reaches a rather hasty end, without the original purpose getting fulfilled. But no one dies, and that at least is something in this rotten business where the end always justifies the means and usually get shipwrecked on the way.

This low budget British spy film is apparently based on the book 'They Also Serve', which I haven't read. The plot is thin and the screenplay bland - there seems to be little for the cast to do but read the words. The music is irritating and intrusive. The photography and lighting lacking in creativity. The result is just barely watchable.

It is impossible not to draw comparisons with Hitchcock's Torn Curtain which was made just two years later and deals with the same subject. Torn Curtain however has action and movement, characters you care about, suspense and humour. Master Spy unfortunately, has none of these.

The IMDB reviews for Master Spy are all over the place but I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. Now, I also think that being a non-British but American citizen could perhaps have influenced my opinion for the better. I've been watching a lot of the British B dramas/thrillers/suspense films lately and one thing that I consistently enjoy that few others mention, is the pure Britishness of them all. It's true, I admit it. Now having admitted that there is more to that in Master Spy. I think all of the performers did a solid job, even the minor characters were well developed. The story itself was somewhat basic but there are some fun twists at the end that all made for an interesting and fun viewing experience.

The film starts promisingly enough, with what we can only assume is a Russian scientist, Boris Turganov, played by Stephen Murray successfully seeking political asylum and for next 20 minutes the storyline unfolds as the scientist is introduced to his new British scientist colleagues and working conditions. Yet once the 'Russian' scientist settles into his new role, interest starts to falter as very early on it's clear as daylight that two of the main characters are obviously are up to their neck in spying and espionage. Most of the scenes are in either Dennis Wheatley's drawing room is his rather grand house, where everyone is well mannered and polite, and in the laboratory, where again there is very little action. Considering this is a Cold War spy film, it's very short on suspense or dramatic twists and turns. The film needed a Herbert Lom to give the film an 'edge' and menace, and although Stephen Murray, who takes the lead role does a reasonable job as the Russian scientist, his performance is too bland and too low key! Indeed, my problem with the whole film is the lack lustre script, which never allows the characters to be more than just one dimensional. Also, the characters never convince me as serious scientists working in a top secret government laboratory. For instance, Peter Gilmore, playing Tom Masters a cynical young scientist, seems more interested in 'skirt chasing' and chatting up young women, and as such comes across as an unnecessary distraction to the story. John Carson, cast as the handsome and suave Richard Colman, is wasted, as he has little to do apart from befriend his love interest, Leila played by June Thorburn. Yet it is Leila, the young female top scientist, who is the least convincing, by her timid and dull demeanour as well as her 'secretarial' manner, even when the director has her wearing glasses in the laboratory, to make her look 'studious' and something of a boffin, it doesn't really work. However, there are compensations. Alan Wheatley is always a joy to watch, as is Ernest Clark, both British stalwart character actors of the 50's & 60's. In a sense the film is a disappointment, as it promised so much at the beginning but quickly loses its way half way through. Nevertheless, it's still worth watching.