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Synopsis
British intelligence officer is sent to investigate an anonymous letter sent to the foreign secretary accusing a key officer of communist affiliation. When the officer commits suicide, the investigator suspects murder and presses his inquiry. The culprit is finally exposed in a surprise climax.
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59 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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.
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"The Deadly Affair"?
Curious name changes aside, this is one of Sidney Lumet's rare duds. Le Carre is a truly great novelist, certainly the greatest ever of his genre. Read more
Published 3 months ago by B. Reed
Copy to hard drive
This is an excellent film but it is also the only one out of nearly 700 that I cannot copy on to my external hard drive with clone DVD 5. Read more
Published 3 months ago by mrkeithfhomeyard
Soundtracks on this DVD
For foreign buyers: Apart from English there is a French, German, Italian and Spanish Soundtrack on the DVD. Subtitels listed in product description. Read more
Published 4 months ago by DGP
Good film from the period but not great Smiley
I was curious to see how this Le Carre effort would make it into film as being an early adaptation. (I tend to find I prefer radio play adaptations as something of the darkness and... Read more
Published 7 months ago by G. Gavigan
One of the 60s best spy films
This was one of my favourite cinema outings in the 60s (The Ipcress File, Quatermass and the Pit, Zulu, Hammer films, etc). Read more
Published 9 months ago by DH Dixon
Rather dry but not without interest
John Le Carre was the anti-Ian Fleming. His spy novels (and the films made from them) detail the dull meticulousness of espionage rather than the fanciful excitement of Fleming's... Read more
Published 16 months ago by The CinemaScope Cat
the not so deadly affair
I was a bit dissapointed with this movie. I have long been a fan of Le Carre, both his books and their adaptions. Thats the reason why I got this DVD. Read more
Published 18 months ago by bobbaer
Spy film, john le carre novel
The Deadly Affair is the film version of the first novel by John Le Carre, Call for the Dead. James Mason plays Charles Dobbs, George Smiley in the novel. Read more
Published 22 months ago by J. Clayton
Dreadful
This is dreadful - i cant believe people are giving this 4 star+ reviews. I feel completely cheated. I never review anything but this is so bad ive got to moan. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Dr. Neil Paul
Adequate British spy thriller from the sixties
This movie (based on a novel by John le Carré) has the comfortable feel of the sixties in Britain to it. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2009 by Mc De Jong
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