M.15 demande protection

It is surprising that a film made in London during the late 60s wouldn't expose at least a part of the swinging town it was.In fact it exposes a dark, terribly somber atmosphere. Mr. Freddie Francis' wonderful photography and Lumet's masterful direction of the terrific cast makes this adaptation of the John Le Carre novel both interesting and thoughtful. It succeeds in showing, as Lumet aimed, life's disappointments... it seems that bitterness, vengeance and discontent are the motivations to all characters.

It's a simple plot that unravels with so much complexity, you will be amazed. A British Intelligence Agent tries to solve the mystery involved behind one of his colleagues' apparent suicide. Soon his wife comes along and... well, you really don't want me to tell you... :)

It also features one of the greatest soundtracks in film history, with a smooth use of Quincy Jones' bossa nova theme song, which Astrud Gilberto sings in the movie's most fierce love (?) scene.

Much-touted mainstream entry recommended to serious spy buffs as a well-crafted, bleak treatise on perceived realities. Deeper than many other spy films, the pleasure is derived from sifting through the strata of meaning in John Le Carre's story and reveling in the fine performances and top-notch film making.

This is one of those movies where you'll recognize all the actors; Harry Andrews, Roy Kinnear, Robert Flemyng, Lynn Redgrave, David Warner, etc. One standout is Simone Signoret as Elsa, a woman without a country, who scorns Dobbs and his attempts at clearing up the death of her husband. A concentration camp survivor, Elsa has no illusions about patriotism nor allegiances in that regard, remarking to Dobbs `I am a battlefield for you… toy soldiers."

Quincy Jones plays some fun cinematic tricks with the soundtrack (Astrud Gilberto sings the theme song) and it is appropriately melancholy for the material. Director Sidney Lumet is in fine form here and through the half-light of Freddie Young's cinematography is revealed the gray world beneath our intricately constructed lives.

You've been conversing with a man, later he's dead, a suicide, but you need to close the thread, so you visit his cold wife, find out more about his life, but the yarn is frayed, you can't put this to bed. You're resigned to make your own examinations, retired copper then assists, investigations, you pursue the clues, prepare, a cunning trap so you can snare, a red flag spy, using your guile, and circumspection.

Even today it plants you back into the time of its enactment, you feel the frostiness of the times, as well as the emotional disconnection, encapsulated in a world of mistrust. James Mason plays a himself, as so often he did, Simone Signoret the unemotional widow, Harriet Andersson not in a Bergman film is a bit strange, and who'd want to meet Harry Andrews on a dark, misty night if they'd been up to no good.

... based on a book by John Le Carre, directed by Sidney Lumet. Charles Dobbs (James Mason) is an aging agent with the British Home Office. He knows his wife (Harriet Andersson) is having an affair, but he has more pressing matters at hand: a politician has committed suicide shortly after being questioned by Dobbs about his college-era communist leanings. The higher-ups don't think it was suicide, so Dobbs, with the assistance of a retired Scotland Yard inspector (Harry Andrews), is ordered to look into it.

Also featuring Simone Signoret as the dead man's widow, Maximilian Schell as an old friend of Dobbs', Kenneth Haigh, Roy Kinnear, Max Adrian, Lynn Redgrave, Corin Redgrave, and David Warner. This was another of Le Carre's George Smiley books, but due to rights issues the names were changed. Director Lumet presents a drab, gray London that perhaps fits the dour tone of the story but doesn't invite much audience enthusiasm. I was very impressed with Andrews as the tough cop, and Signoret as the Holocaust-surviving widow. The Quincy Jones soundtrack jars badly against the onscreen action.

A gloomy (and gloomily lit) but very interesting spy thriller of the 60's,with a fine performance by James Mason(as Charles Dobbs,but George Smiley in all but name),and good support from Simone Signoret(convincing as a Concentration Camp survivor),Harry Andrews,Kenneth Haigh,Roy Kinnear and Max Adrian.As an answer to the artificial,antiseptic glamour of the James Bond extravaganzas,THE DEADLY AFFAIR works very well for the most part,with an intelligent script compensating for the occasionally over-prolonged and too static dialogue exchanges between the principals.The production is set,deliberately,in dismally unattractive,murky interior and exterior locations around London,though this oddly gives the film more atmosphere,and is also helped by a haunting score by Quincy Jones,one of the best and most criminally underrated of his career.

The film only drags a little in a sub-plot involving Mason's nymphomaniac wife,played somewhat uncomfortably by Harriet Andersson.The film would have worked equally well if not better had Ms Andersson been a decent,devoted spouse,and Maximillan Schell is given little to do as an old wartime colleague (and as it turns out,yet another of Mrs Dobbs' lovers) of Dobbs.But for the most part,American Sidney Lumet does a first-class job as an outsider's look into British/European espionage,and it grips solidly throughout.

RATING:7 and a half out of 10.