Sidney Lumet directed The Deadly Affair, a British spy film based on John le Carré’s first novel, “Call for the Dead,” starring James Mason
Theatrical release poster
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Paramount had acquired the film rights to the Smiley character name when making The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965), a Martin Ritt movie that proved to be very commercially popular.
In 1960s London, Charles Dobbs (James Mason) is a staid MI5 operative investigating Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan (Robert Flemyng), a former Communist who apparently commits suicide.
Dobbs becomes suspicious about the cause of Fennan’s death while visiting Fennan’s widow. When a wake-up call is received at Fennan’s home, his widow Elsa (Simone Signoret) says the call was for her.
Realizing it’s a lie, Dobbs suspects that Elsa, a survivor of extermination camp, have some clues regarding Fennan’s death.
Other government officials want Dobbs to drop the case. However, Dobbs privately links up with retired police inspector Mendel (Harry Andrews) to continue inquiries. In the process, they uncover a network of East European agents, one of whom assaults Dobbs.
Dobbs also discovers that his promiscuous wife Ann (Harriet Andersson) is leaving him to join a former World War II colleague, Dieter Frey (Maximilian Schell).
Dobbs set a trap in order to prove that Elsa is a spy and to uncover her control by arranging a rendezvous in the Aldwych theatre during a performance of Edward II.
Dobbs, colleague Bill Appleby (Kenneth Haigh) and Mendel observe Elsa, and are sickened to see that it is Dieter who sits next to Elsa and is her control. When Dieter and Elsa realize they have been set up, Dieter kills Elsa and slips out of the theatre. Mendel follows Dieter to his hideout and summons Dobbs.
In the final confrontation, Dieter shoots Mendel but he is himself killed bare-handed by Dobbs, who uses the cast on his hand as bludgeon.
In the last scene, Dobbs flies to Zurich where he is met by Ann.
The soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, and the popular bossa nova theme song, “Who Needs Forever,” was performed by Astrud Gilberto.
Cinematographer Freddie Young’s technique of pre-exposing the color film negative to a controlled amount of light (known as “flashing” or “pre-fogging”) in order to create a muted color palette was first used in this film; Lumet called the result “colorless color.”
Though largely faithful to the book, a romantic affair between Ann and Dieter was added, and Mendel’s character is shot at the climax to provoke Dobbs’ brutal beating of Dieter.
Critical Reception
The Deadly Affair received five BAFTA Awards nominations: Best British Film for Lumet, Best British Screenplay for Paul Dehn, Best British Cinematography (Color) for Freddie Young, Best Foreign Actress for Simone Signoret, and Best British Actor for James Mason. However, it did not win any award.
Cast
James Mason as Charles Dobbs
Simone Signoret as Elsa Fennan
Maximilian Schell as Dieter Frey
Harriet Andersson as Ann Dobbs
Harry Andrews as Mendel
Kenneth Haigh as Bill Appleby
Roy Kinnear as Adam Scarr
Max Adrian as Advisor
Lynn Redgrave as Virgin
Robert Flemyng as Samuel Fennan
Leslie Sands as Inspector
Corin Redgrave as Larry
Sheraton Blount as Eunice Scarr (uncredited)
Denis Shaw as Wilf the Barman (uncredited)
David Warner as the actor playing Edward II in the Aldwych Theatre
Credits
Produced, directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Paul Dehn
Cinematography Freddie Young
Edited by Thelma Connell
Music by Quincy Jones
Production company: Sidney Lumet Film Productions
Distributed by British Lion-Columbia (UK); Columbia Pictures (US)
Release dates: Jan 26, 1967 (NYC); Feb 2, 1967 (London-premiere)
April 7, 1967 (UK)
Running time: 115 minutes (UK); 107 minutes (US)
Budget $1.4 million
