The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

John le Carré (novel)
Paul Dehn (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

BRACE YOURSELF FOR GREATNESS

Plot:

British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the cold war during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Cold War | Communist | Grocer | Berlin Wall

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Alec Leamas
Claire Bloom	...	Nan Perry
Oskar Werner	...	Fiedler
Sam Wanamaker	...	Peters
George Voskovec	...	East German Defense Attorney
Rupert Davies	...	George Smiley
Cyril Cusack	...	Control
Peter van Eyck	...	Hans-Dieter Mundt (as Peter Van Eyck)
Michael Hordern	...	Ashe
Robert Hardy	...	Dick Carlton
Bernard Lee	...	Patmore
Beatrix Lehmann	...	Tribunal President
Esmond Knight	...	Old Judge
Tom Stern	...	CIA Agent
Niall MacGinnis	...	German Checkpoint Guard
Scott Finch	...	German Guide (as Scot Finch)
Anne Blake	...	Miss Crail
George Mikell	...	German Checkpoint Guard
Richard Marner	...	Vopo Captain
Warren Mitchell	...	Mr. Zanfrello
Steve Plytas	...	East German Judge
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Caldicot	...	Mr. Pitt
Michael Ripper	...	Lofthouse
Graham Armitage	...	Pawson (uncredited)
David Bauer	...	Young Judge (uncredited)
Marianne Deeming	...	Frau Floerdke (uncredited)
Walter Gotell	...	Holten (uncredited)
Edward Harvey	...	Man in the Shop (uncredited)
Katherine Keeton	...	Stripper at the Pussywillow club (uncredited)
Philip Madoc	...	Young German Officer (uncredited)
Henk Molenberg	...	Dutch customs officer (uncredited)
Nancy Nevinson	...	Mrs. Zanfrello (uncredited)
Michael Rittermann	...	Security Officer (uncredited)

Directed by
Martin Ritt

Writing credits
John le Carré		(novel "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold")
Paul Dehn		(screenplay) and
Guy Trosper		(screenplay)

Produced by
Martin Ritt	....	producer

Original Music by
Sol Kaplan

Cinematography by
Oswald Morris

Film Editing by
Anthony Harvey

Production Design by
Tambi Larsen
Hal Pereira

Art Direction by
Ted Marshall		(as Edward Marshall)

Set Decoration by
Josie MacAvin		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Sophie Devine		(as Motley)

Makeup Department
Eric Allwright	....	makeup artist
George Frost	....	makeup supervisor
Joan Smallwood	....	hair stylist

Production Management
James H. Ware	....	production supervisor (as James Ware)
Wim Lindner	....	production manager: Netherlands (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Colin M. Brewer	....	assistant director (as Colin Brewer)

Art Department
Stan Gale	....	construction manager
Josie MacAvin	....	set dresser
Peter Melrose	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
John Cox	....	sound recordist
Gordon Daniel	....	dubbing editor
John W. Mitchell	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Maurice Gillett	....	supervising electrician
Brian West	....	camera operator
Bob Penn	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Casting Department
Sally Nicholl	....	casting supervisor

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sophie Devine	....	costumes (as Motley)
Barbara Gillett	....	wardrober

Editorial Department
Denis Whitehouse	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Sol Kaplan	....	conductor

Transportation Department
Arthur Dunne	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Angela Martelli	....	continuity
Richard McWhorter	....	assistant to producer

Production Companies

• Salem Films Limited (as A Salem Production)

Distributors

• Paramount British Pictures (1965) (UK) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Paramount-Films (1966) (Finland) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1969) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (????) (Canada) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | Australia:M | Norway:16 | Netherlands:12 | West Germany:12 (f) (cut version) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Canada:PG | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Schiphol, Haarlemmermeer, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Salem Films Limited

Trivia:

Burt Lancaster was originally attached to play Alec Leamas.

Quotes:

Miss Crail: Is your handwriting legible?
Alec Leamas: Except on weekends.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hill Street Blues: The Spy Who Came in from Delgado (#2.10)" (1982)

the Cold War's bleak aesthetic

Back during the Cold War, people actually bought into the bleak misery that was brinkmanship & actors actually took chances, & their agents let them.

Richard Burton is Alec Laemmas, John Le Carre's reluctant spy, whose disillusionment is turned against him to save one last informant: hard to believe that Mr. Burton was then still in the throes of his public romance with Liz Taylor. Grim's the word here: from the opening Checkpoint Charlie Berlin scene to the Dutch shores to the East German countryside--the Cold War's done nobody any favors. Moreover, this harsh treatment of spies & their back-stabbing, double-dealing ways was made just after Ian Fleming's suave James Bond had become a pop movie icon (Bond's "M," Bernard Lee, as a grocer here ["T'get a proper credit, y'need a banker's reference."], gets the crap pummeled outta him by Burton).

Anyway, "Spy" is movie stripped of glamor: everyone gets usurped by people with power. Burton's Laemmas is sent to salvage the good guys' chief informant, a senior GDR official; Claire Bloom's Commie idealist Nancy is called to East Germany under the ruse of cultural exchange, to aid in the hoax. Oscar Werner is mesmerizing ("Were you present for ziss...Sanksgiving?") as the no. 2 man in the Abteilung, on the trail of no. 1, Peter van Eyck, until Laemmas shows up to thwart his plans.

If old cold warriors were only half as conniving as they appear here, whither did they go after the fall of the Soviet Union? Something to which nobody with nanogram of sense has paid much attention.