Product Review

The acclaimed, best-selling novel by John le Carré (The Tailor of Panama), about a Cold War spy on one final dangerous mission in East Germany, is transmuted by director Martin Ritt (Hud) into a film every bit as precise and ruthless as the book. Richard Burton (Becket) is superb as Alec Leamas, whose relationship with a beautiful librarian, played by Claire Bloom (Richard III), puts his assignment in jeopardy. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a hard-edged and tragic thriller, suffused with the political and social consciousness that defined Ritt’s career.