Paramount (Salem Films, UK)
In The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Martin Ritt’s superlative Cold War espionage drama, Richard Burton stars as an aging British spy, who is close to the end of his career, when he gets an opportunity to go over the Berlin Wall as a mole.
Grade: A- (**** out of *****)
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Theatrical release poster
Based on John Le Care’s great novel, adapted to the screen by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper, this serious, grim film reflected the end of the Cold War mentality in American ideology and culture.
Spoiler Alert: Last Sequence
The last sequence is particularly grim: Leamas and Nan are given instructions to climb over the Wall to West Germany on an emergency ladder while searchlight is turned away.
Leamas is at the top of the wall pulling Nan up behind him when the searchlight suddenly shines directly on them, alarms sound, and Nan is shot dead by Mundt’s operatives, silencing the only civilian witness to the operation.
Leamas, frozen in shock and horror, is urged by agents on both sides to return to the West. Instead, he begins to climb down towards Nan’s body on the eastern side, where he is also shot and killed.
Ace lenser Oswald Morris, who should have been nominated for an Oscar, contributes striking black-and-white images that at once create and illustrate the bleak ambience.
A follow-up to the 1963 Oscar-winning Hud, starring Paul Newman, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” represents the artistic height of director Martin Ritt’s career.
The excellent cast also includes Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, Sam Whitaker, Cyril Cusack, Michael Hordern, and Bernard Lee, better known then as “M” in the popular James Bond series.
Indeed, the movie coincided with the James Bond film series, which also cashed in on the Cold War, but was done in a very different style and for different purpose.
Oscar Nominations:
Actor: Richard Burton
Art Direction-Set Decoration (b/w): Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, and Edward Marshall; Jose MacAvin
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The winner of the Best Actor Oscar was Lee Marvin for the spoof comedy-Western, “Cat Ballou.” The race in 1965 was particularly competitive, including Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare’s “Othello,” Rod Steiger in the Holocaust drama “The Pawnbroker,” Oskar Werner in “The Ship of Fools.”
The winner of the b/w Art Direction-Set Decoration was “Ship of Fools,” directed by Stanley Kramer.
Cast
Richard Burton as Alec Leamas
Claire Bloom as Nan Perry
Oskar Werner as Fiedler
Sam Wanamaker as Peters
George Voskovec as East German Defence Attorney
Rupert Davies as George Smiley
Cyril Cusack as Control
Peter van Eyck as Hans-Dieter Mundt
Michael Hordern as Ashe
Robert Hardy as Dick Carlton
Bernard Lee as Patmore
Beatrix Lehmann as Tribunal President
Esmond Knight as Old Judge
Richard Burton as Alec Leamas
Claire Bloom as Nan Perry
Oskar Werner as Fiedler
Sam Wanamaker as Peters
George Voskovec as East German Defence Attorney
Rupert Davies as George Smiley
Cyril Cusack as Control
Peter van Eyck as Hans-Dieter Mundt
Michael Hordern as Ashe
Robert Hardy as Dick Carlton
Bernard Lee as Patmore
Beatrix Lehmann as Tribunal President
Esmond Knight as Old Judge
Credits:
Produced, directed by Martin Ritt
Screenplay by Paul Dehn, Guy Trosper, based on The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
Cinematography Oswald Morris
Edited by Anthony Harvey
Music by Sol Kaplan
Production company: Salem Films Limited
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates: Dec 16, 1965 (US), Jan 13, 1966 (UK)
Running time: 112 minutes
Production company: Salem Films Limited
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates: Dec 16, 1965 (US), Jan 13, 1966 (UK)
Running time: 112 minutes
Box office: $7,600,000
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