I think I just watched the greatest spy film of all time. But first, just to clarify - this is in English, yet it's a very British film. Hence my classification under foreign.
The reason I offer such extravagant praise, is that in this film many of the elements of typical, Bondish spy films are completely absent. It's an intelligent spy film that relies on an utterly compelling and enticing if not at some points confusing characters that unfold like an orange throughout the course of the film. Richard Burton gives an excellent performance that reaches its climax by way of his "What the Hell do you think spies are?..." monologue that perhaps sums up what a spy really is. Un-glorified, un-romanticized and realistic. The script by Guy Trosper and Paul Dehn is completely without fat, and is as sleek and to the point as a spy film can be. Martin Ritt's direction is done in a way that leads to many false assumptions, before finally establishing motive, drive, etc for each of the characters. Perhaps my favorite of the film was Oswald Morris's camera work. Intense close ups of Richard Burton reminded me of Kubrick, as did the slow, creeping shots that would adeptly yet subtly reveal what's truly in the frame. Some of the quick zoom-out shots that would also reveal completely the contents of the shot could easily have served as an influence not only for Kubrick (who was at the time working, yet not nearly as famous as he would become) as well as for one of my favorite directors, Costa Gavras. Absolutely smashing film that totally threw me off, as I was expecting something more along the lines of Three Days of The Condor, or films of the like. Check this out if you haven't already.
The reason I offer such extravagant praise, is that in this film many of the elements of typical, Bondish spy films are completely absent. It's an intelligent spy film that relies on an utterly compelling and enticing if not at some points confusing characters that unfold like an orange throughout the course of the film. Richard Burton gives an excellent performance that reaches its climax by way of his "What the Hell do you think spies are?..." monologue that perhaps sums up what a spy really is. Un-glorified, un-romanticized and realistic. The script by Guy Trosper and Paul Dehn is completely without fat, and is as sleek and to the point as a spy film can be. Martin Ritt's direction is done in a way that leads to many false assumptions, before finally establishing motive, drive, etc for each of the characters. Perhaps my favorite of the film was Oswald Morris's camera work. Intense close ups of Richard Burton reminded me of Kubrick, as did the slow, creeping shots that would adeptly yet subtly reveal what's truly in the frame. Some of the quick zoom-out shots that would also reveal completely the contents of the shot could easily have served as an influence not only for Kubrick (who was at the time working, yet not nearly as famous as he would become) as well as for one of my favorite directors, Costa Gavras. Absolutely smashing film that totally threw me off, as I was expecting something more along the lines of Three Days of The Condor, or films of the like. Check this out if you haven't already.
