We’re going back to mid-1960s Europe for this installment of MOVIES YA MIGHTA MISSED MONDAY. The Cold War is in full freeze, and an ugly new concrete wall cuts Berlin, Germany in two. An East German political officer secretly working for British Intelligence is shot and killed while trying to escape across the Wall to the West. He’s their last and best hope for information from the secretive regime. A plot is hatched to send burned-out operative Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) to the other side, in a long-shot throw at taking down the head of East German Intelligence, scary ex-Nazi Hans-Dieter Mundt (Peter van Eyck). But Mundt’s a powerful adversary, and under him is a very smart and ambitious young operative, Fiedler (Oskar Werner) who seems to know what Leamas is up to from the start. This is the film adaptation of the classic John Le Carre espionage thriller THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. It’s everything you’d want in this genre – high stakes, ingeniously plotted, and well-paced, with an excellent twist at the end. Burton is as well-cast as you could get as the tired, demoralized Leamas, while a solid supporting cast fills their roles memorably. This is the spy game portrayed gritty, dark, and realistic. Flashy, cool James Bond it ain’t, and it’s very much the better for it. https://youtube/watch?v=_khnbwEwNv4
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:44:48 +0000
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