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48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Call for the Dead,
By
This review is from: The Deadly Affair [1966] [DVD] [2006] (DVD)
The Deadly Affair is one of the better John Le Carre screen adaptations. Based on 'Call For the Dead,' the title's not the only name change: though he's called Charles Dobbs here, James Mason is really George Smiley while Maximilian Schell's character also undergoes a name change from The Spy Who Came In from the Cold because Paramount still owned the character names. Shot in 1966, when Britain seemed to be closed due to bad weather (a look made even grimmer by Freddie Young pre-exposing the film stock to mute the colours), Sidney Lumet's low-key and very small-scale thriller works much successfully on screen than you might expect. Where many LeCarres fail because, as someone once said, they're all plot and no story, this has at its heart a fairly good mystery - why did a cabinet minister commit suicide AFTER being cleared of allegations of spying, and was it suicide or murder?
This is from that period when Mason's screen image was shifting from aggressive and domineering characters to tired and shrunken ones increasingly aware they'd lost all their battles with life and were just trying to get through life as gently and with as few vestiges of decency as they could muster. If it's overshadowed by Alec Guinness's portrayal of Smiley in the two 70s TV series which mixed cold steel with the domestic humiliation, Mason's tendency to show a man trying to keep everything on amiable and civilised terms as far as possible gives a good sense of how he ended up that way. Harry Andrews offers fine support as the retired detective who likes only facts and keeps on nodding off whenever anybody strays into conjecture or theorising and there's even a glimpse of David Warner when he was still a promising young stage actor in the RSC's Edward II, an appropriate setting for one of the film's few acts of violence. It's not without its problems, chief of which is an intrusive Quincy Jones score that feels the need to carpet every scene of domestic betrayal between secret servant James Mason and his unfaithful wife Harriet Andersson with inappropriate lounge music, and you can add Mason to the list of stars who should never be allowed to wear dark glasses, but the quiet strengths easily outweigh them. Sony's DVD is extras free, and doesn't even have a proper menu, but it does boast a fine 1.85:1 widescreen transfer.
46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic of its genre,
By Shane Slade (Sevenoaks, Surrey, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Deadly Affair [1966] [DVD] [2006] (DVD)
The Deadly Affair was made at the height of the British film spy genre. Perhaps because of its understated qualities it does not appear to have acquired a following. However I rate this film very highly. The quality of the acting from the ensemble is brilliant with tightly drawn characters and a great script.The soundtrack is fantastic with music by Quincy Jones (soundtrack now available on CD from Amazon with the soundtrack from the Pawnbroker). The opening sequence has a haunting song from Astrud Gilberto which sets up the film. Great supporting roles from Harry Andrews and Roy Kinnear. I have watched it many times and it is still very fresh and entertaining. A classic.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great film, with great, film-noir, atmosphere.,
By Paulo Roberto Elias (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Deadly Affair [1966] [DVD] [2006] (DVD)
It is somewhat strange that The Deadly Affair never had the right attention from the studio to release it in a better format. The film itself probably passes unnoticed to most viewers, something that is ultimately rather unfair to the novel, script and filmmakers. There is also an outstandingly good soundtrack, from Quincy Jones, while he was still under great influence from bossa nova waves, literally speaking. No surprise that it is due to Astrud Gilberto to sing the main theme, mind you, in Portuguese, whereas in the CD soundtrack this particular rendition is, sadly, unavailable! Great movie, great atmosphere, filled with espionage and suspense.
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