Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

MrOllie If you enjoy bleak British spy films made in the 1960's then this movie will be right up your street, as they don't come any bleaker than this one. James Mason stars as Dobbs a British Intelligence Agent who is investigating the apparent suicide of a Civil Servant with whom he had spoken with only the day before. The bleakness begins from the very start of the film when Dobbs, in the pouring rain, goes to see the civil servant's wife who is played by Simone Signoret. As the investigation proceeds we also witness the marriage situation of Dobbs (sadly not a happy one). Harry Andrews plays a retired police Inspector who is helping Dobbs with his enquiries and their investigations take them to some rather grim areas. We also encounter a very seedy character called Scarr played by comic actor Roy Kinnear. Lynn Redgrave briefly appears in this film as a member of a drama group. It was about the same time that Mason and Redgrave also starred together in Georgy Girl - a much different film. Overall, I thought it a very good drama with the bleakness adding to the atmosphere of the movie.

movie-viking Good to great actors...but...YAWN~ I had DVR-d this and wound it back to try & get "into" the story...i.e. get hooked enough to WANT to finish it! The dreary late 1960s movie . where ALL is doubted and ALL the world is just one sour lemon...means that you get the jazzy music whenever Mason's character will have that dreary "I love you, wife, but why are you sleeping with everyone" talk.And no one really believes in anything...Mason and another great actor Maximillian Schell - long for the good old days of World War 2 when the issues (i.e. the "good vs bad") seemed clear...So why should we care if someone is spying on someone else??? If you're gonna do nihilism---make it INTERESTING---not dreary!Deleted it without bothering to rewind & review the ending. I just didn't care!!!(And I liked some other Sidney Lumet films...as well as many of these actors....But this one's a dud!)

ccbc First of all, I liked this movie. I could watch it several more times but there are some irritating things about it. Anyway, this is one of the essential LeCarre spy movies. It is unfortunate that the studio renamed Smiley as Dobbs, but James Mason plays George Smiley, and does so very well. Smiley/Dobbs is a cuckold because his wife just can't help it. This is not very well played out in this film which hints at, oh, impotence and nymphomania (does that still mean anything?). The point, for LeCarre, was that Smiley's betrayed love is a metaphor for the political betrayal that is his stock in trade. Who better to discover a traitor than the betrayed man? The plot is genius: a cabinet minister dies, possibly a suicide, after Smiley/Dobbs interrogates him about possible Communist connections. Smiley/Dobbs thinks there is something more to this; he thinks it might be murder. Assisted by a superannuated cop, he seeks the truth, and finds it. All this is well-done: a good story, good acting, good photography, etc. But! The soundtrack is often terribly inappropriate. Lumet must have known this and at one point the soundtrack ends with a phono needle being scratched across vinyl -- the one truly cool moment in the use of the music. And sometimes the editing is wretched: choppy, major speeches interrupted with meaningless shots -- I don't know who to blame for this except Lumet. Still, with all its flaws, a movie worth watching, especially if you are interested in Cold War spy thrillers.

mar9tin Made from John le Carre's first novel Call for the Dead, somewhat altered, it has an annoying Bossa Nova sound track and Harriet Andersson as an unconvincing spouse, not in the novel, which like Astrid Gilberto seems extraneous, both designed to sex it up ala the contemporaneous A Man and a Woman. Mason, called Dobbs, instead of Smiley here, seems uncomfortable with it all, not to mention too old for her. It is otherwise an excellent example of the British noir film. The cinematography is very good also. I am at a loss to understand the reference to Marlene Dietrich, unless it is an allusion to homosexuality, but it makes 10 lines here.