"Hallmark Hall of Fame" Pack of Lies (1987)

Director:

Anthony Page

Writers:

Hugh Whitemore (play)
Hugh Whitemore (teleplay)

TV Series:

"Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1951)

Original Air Date:

26 April 1987 (Season 36, Episode 3)

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Spying | Cold War | Neighbor | Based On Play

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Ellen Burstyn	...	Barbara Jackson
Teri Garr	...	Helen Schaefer
Sammi Davis	...	Julie Jackson
Ronald Hines	...	Bob Jackson
Clive Swift	...	Ellis
Daniel Benzali	...	Peter Schaefer
Alan Bates	...	Stewart
Peter Schofield	...	Powell
David Corti	...	Malcolm
Margot Leicester	...	Thelma
Jackie Downey	...	Sally
Peter Hughes	...	Club Manager
Bruce Morrison	...	Club Waiter
Tim Barker	...	Telephone Man
Alan Renwick	...	Vegetable Truck Man

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Pack of Lies" opened at the Royale Theater in New York on February 11, 1985 and ran for 120 performances. Rosemary Harris was nominated for the 1983 Tony Award for Actress in a Drama for "A Pack of Lies." Hugh Whitemore wrote the stage play and the teleplay for the filmed production.

How Deceit and Guilt Can Kill

"Pack of Lies" is a very interesting drama which is aptly named. MI5 agents, led by Alan Bates as "Stuart," skillfully manipulate a well-intentioned British family into believing that they are merely police on a routine investigation who need to use their home in the London suburbs "just for the weekend" in order to surveil a suspect who has been tracked into their neighborhood. As it becomes clearer what is really going on and what is at stake, the agents practically take over the house, the British couple are encouraged to lie to their teenage daughter about the unseemly details they have learned, and then the husband must lie to his increasingly distraught wife in order to spare her the trauma of the final ugly truth. Everyone must deceive the family's friendly neighbors by pretending that nothing at all is amiss, for it turns out that they are Soviet spies who have been lying their heads off to maintain their cover. In the end, as British agents close in for the inevitable arrest, Ellen Burstyn, as Barb, is subsumed in guilt, completely torn between her loyalty to her best friend, Helen (Teri Garr), while at the same time feeling totally gullible and cruelly betrayed by her. This is a great TV movie with excellent performances all around, but especially from Alan Bates, Teri Garr, and Ellen Burstyn. In fact, the latter is so convincing in her interpretation that at certain key moments it almost defies description.

The interesting thing, of course, is that this effective movie is based on a true story, as was pointed out in another's comments. "Helen and Peter" seemed so affable and caring but were in fact part of the infamous atomic spy ring that gathered American nuclear secrets after WWII and transmitted them to the Soviets. They escaped the US when the Rosenbergs and others were arrested, only to surface in London some time later under assumed names.