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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Based on a true story, 28 December 2005 Author: floridacracker from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The story of "Pack of Lies" relates to husband and wife Bill and Ruth Search, and their daughter Gay (who is now a well-known TV and newspaper journalist in the UK). The Searches lived across the road from Peter and Helen Kroger, who had rented a bungalow at 45 Cranley Drive in Ruislip, England.When they were arrested in January 1961, it was revealed that the Krogers weren't who they appeared to be - they were actually Morris and Lona Cohen, a pair of spies, who worked with fellow spy Gordon Lonsdale in the 1950's and 1960s, photographing and encoding as microdots various pieces of material which they then sent to their colleagues in Russia."Pack of Lies" is the story of the tragic effect that Soviet spy Lona Cohen had on an innocent lady who thought she'd found a friend.
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: A great piece of work by all involved, 27 April 1999 Author: Jim Madden from New York, USA
I saw this film when it was first presented on network TV sponsored by Hallmark Hall of Fame.What we see is a beautifully made film about, Love, friendship and deceit. The movie is set in the early sixties and is about the lives of basically two families are have become close over the years.Ellen Burstyn gives an outstanding performance as a British homemaker who spends her days happily performing the tasks of her simple life while enjoying a close friendship with the neighbor across the street played by Teri Garr. We watch as both families happily intermingle and enjoy their lives until one day a British agent appears at the door of Burstyn explaining that they are looking for a spy who seemed to be operating in their neighborhood and soon after the agents set up a surveilance from the house. From this point on in the movie we experience the drama of a family trying to hide thier fears. We see Burstyn on the brink of a breakdown knowing in her heart that she was deceived by the only true friend she had. We see even before she does that the Garr charecter and her husband are not what they appear to be making the the final realization of Burstyn that mush more heartbreaking...I taped this film back in 1987 and have watched it often and it still has a profound effect on me......
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Sits in the past, where lies were not a given, 16 April 2003 Author: RomeoLeopardi from Australia
This is a study of deceptions, small and large and their impact on people. Ellen Burstyn's character has little self confidence and no self assertion. She is a wife and mother totally emersed in the home and family. She is drawn out of her shell by her neighbour, Terri Garr, who encourages her to take some steps outside her small world, to draw and take classes. She is a friend. This is set in the fifties.If this was set in the last twenty years the natural questions Ellen's character would ask herself is "why does this neighbour care? What does she want? What is in it for her?' If Ellen were in a work environment the pervasive politics, dissembling, lies and deceptions would be expected, even if the motives were unclear. The latter behaviour appears to us more Darwinian and animalistic and natural, whereas the former, "fifties" trust and closeness, doing things for each other appears dreamlike.A movie to watch and rewatch.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Lies & Deception, 24 January 2003 Author: jaybabb (jaybabb@clearwire.net) from Lewiston, Idaho
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** This movie is about two Families who are close friends and they do everything together. They go to art class, shopping and they visit each other. They have such a bond with each other, they're lives are wrapped up in this friendship--there's nothing that can break up this friendship.......or is there??????Underneath the apparent innocence of Helen(Terri Garr)and her husband Peter is a dirty secret-they are both Russian spies. One day, a British agent named Stewart(Alan Bates)pays them a visit. He tells them that they are looking for a man who has been seen in the neighborhood by the name of Powell. Stewart Asks them to corporate with them-so he can keep an eye on the neighborhood from their upstairs bedroom window. If that was all there was to it-then it's not too bad....but it goes from bad to worse.When Powell is seen leaving Helen & Peter's, the chain of events that follows is the beginning of a fall-from which there was no getting up from. Barbara(Ellen Burstyn) and her husband are asked by British agents to allow them to spy on Helen & peter-24 hours a day. A 24 hour watch as they call it. And of course, they had to maintain secrecy. This means a pack of lies-not only on the part of Helen & Peter-but Barbara had to lie too-to maintain secrecy. They could not under any circistances let Helen & Peter know what is going on.I know how easy it is to feel for Barbara & her husband, after all they were lied to & been betrayed by their best friends. There's another issue here-that is national security. Helen & Peter are guilty of passing classified information to the Russians-this constitutes espionage-and It is against the law. And it's very dangerous. They violated the law-so they go to prison.It's a shame, isn't? to have best friends-who are spies?
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: How Deceit and Guilt Can Kill, 26 February 2006 Author: writerasfilmcritic from western US
"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.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: You have to trust somebody, 27 December 2006 Author: manuel-pestalozzi from Zurich, Switzerland
The story of this movie is classical Hitchcock stuff. It tells about fear, suspicion, innocence, betrayed trust and delivers a considerable amount of suspense. It is based on real events and is basically a movie about the invasion of privacy and its devastating effects – thanks to the excellent performances of all the actors a rewarding experience, but one that left me feeling sad and uncomfortable.The question of loyalty looms large over the whole situation. So, your neighbors who happen to be your best friends, are suspected of being spies. But those who want you to believe that are very secretive about it, giving away only shreds of information, leaving you more or less in the dark. Is the neighbors' friendship a total fake, merely a tactical gimmick? Are they ignorant about all that is going on and maybe just victims? You can't talk about it with your friends - which basically is what friends are for - you must lie to them, faking the "usual ignorance". No wonder that the concerned family get to the brink of insanity, especially because - as if this were not enough - they have to deal with permanent house-guests who more or less take over the dwelling, spying on the neighborhood for some not really clear reason – creating an all around surreal situation. Remains the question: Whom can you trust? You have to trust somebody.It does this movie great credit that it distributes the pack of lies evenly, not demonizing anybody. There is nothing „bad" about the neighbors who are revealed in the end as hardboiled spies and did what they did because of their political convictions. They are perfectly civil and likable, up to their arrest which comes through as a general defeat for everybody concerned in the immediate surroundings. The effects on the family are truly devastating, and that is hard to take – even if in all probability there wouldn't have been more sensible ways to deal with the situation successfully. So probably they belong to the anonymous victims of the Cold War to whom, as far as I know, nobody ever erected a monument.The only thing I regret about Pack of Lies is the stylistic approach, which is flat and undramatic and makes it almost a documentary in appearance. In my opinion, the surrealistic elements of the story and the moral turmoils the family has to go through would have justified a slightly more "cinematic" approach to the issue. After all, the whole situation is really far from normal. Or so I hope.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: This Film Made Me Angry, 10 August 2006 Author: whpratt1 from United States
This is an excellent film because of great acting skills by all of the actors and especially Ellen Burstyn,(Barbara Jackson),"Down in the Valley",'05 and Teri Garr,(Helen Schaefer),"The Sky Is Falling",'2000. The story takes place in London, England at the home of Barbara Jackson, who lives across the street from her good friend, Helen Schaefer. Helen plays an attractive blonde gal who is full of pep and very outgoing in her personality and tries to liven up her good friend Barbara, by getting her to purchase a sexy nightie for her self and husband and befriends her daughter. One day a complete stranger comes to the home of the Jackson's and disrupts their entire household and causes problems you will never believe could actually happen and I am sure it did in real life situations. I knew that this film was well produced and directed and the acting was outstanding, simply because it made me so Mad at people who would actually let this happen to their family and life without telling them WHERE TO GET OFF ! Enjoy
A very powerful story of friendship and betrayal, 5 April 2009 Author: micoder from United States
I saw this film when it first came out. I just rented it from Netflix after all these years. This story has the same power and gut wrenching scenes that I remembered.Ellen Burstyn and Teri Garr had the talent to make this production exceptional. Alan Bates does well portraying Stewart, a weaselly little master manipulator who works for MI5.This story is close to a documentary of the investigation and arrest of Helen and Peter Kroger. Their best friends and neighbors, Bill and Ruth Search serve as a communications link for the KGB in England.Ruth is manipulated into betraying her best friend of 10 years, Helen. It becomes apparent at the end of the film that Ruth cannot live with what she has done. The film also makes clear that friendship supersedes current politics or at least should.Fortunately for the Searches, they were traded out of prison for an English agent arrested in Russia. Their neighbor Ruth did not fare so well. The Searches served 8 years for espionage. This film is heartbreaking but well done. Don't see this if you like happy endings.
This was based on fact, 8 September 2007 Author: tedtunes from United States
Someone mentioned that the plot of this movie was not very believable - unfortunately, it was based on fact (names changed, etc). The Krogers were an absolute menace and deserved everything they got, along with the rest of their spy ring, and how on earth were they able to flee the US and insinuate themselves into Ruislip?? However, I enjoyed the movie very much, although I missed the first 30 minutes (have now seen the entire thing - excellent movie IMHO). I couldn't understand why Ellen Burstyn's character was so distraught, if I had discovered my 'best ' friend had been lying to me all along I'd have gone right off her! Teri Garr's character despicably blamed her friend for HER deception!!! But then, that's how these fanatical types are, never wiling to assume responsibility for their own actions and always looking to blame the other guy. The setting was very good, very authentic for late fifties/ early sixties suburban London, and the period was captured perfectly.
0 out of 12 people found the following review useful: An oddly old-fashioned and not very good TV movie, 15 June 2003 Author: scotthumphries from Australia
Attracted by Burstyn and Garr, both of whom are actresses I usually enjoy watching, I saw this film recently on the Hallmark channel. I found it stilted and awkwardly old-fashioned, with an improbable plot.It is the 1960s, and an English woman (Burstyn)is coerced by a mysterious government agent (Bates)into assisting him to spy on her neighbour and friend (Garr), who is suspected of having involvement with a Soviet spy ring. Mild tension and inevitable histrionics ensue, before a rather melodramatic and not entirely believable ending (most particularly the awkward voice over in the final frame).The worst thing about the film is the variance of Burstyn's English accent, which comes and goes throughout the film and is discarded entirely in her final scenes. Why didn't they just use an English actress?Garr, as usual, is fine, and this was obviously one of Bates' "rent paying" parts.Not very memorable or believable.
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