The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)

Based on the 1963 John le Carré novel of the same name 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' was directed by Martin Ritt ('Hud', 'Norma Rae') and stars Richard Burton, Clair Bloom, and Oskar Warner. In stark contrast to the 'James Bond' films, 'Danger Man' TV show and other spy based programing of the time 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' is well, stark. It's gray, depressing, and understated, filmed appropriately in black and white near the end of the era where that was commercially viable. This movie does not glamorize spydom at all, written by a former British intelligence officer it tells the story of a British agent (Burton, a perfect part for him, his face says it all) assigned to pretend to defect to the other side so as to feed the communists false information and throw them off the trail of a real double agent behind the iron curtain. Someone Burton's character loves gets accidently caught up in things raising the stakes. At times too slow and too moody, there is not much to break up the 'blah' of things. Works better perhaps as individual scenes then a complete film but what works works very well. ***