Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Criterion Collection
by Martin Ritt
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Claire Bloom, Richard BurtonDirector: Martin Ritt
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion Collection
Movie Reviews of Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: The Wisdom of Crocodiles
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not what spy films were like before James Bond. To my knowledge, all other spy films before and after this one, come under the heading of: serious adventure or silly adventure, more or less. Although it is quite serious, I would not call this an action/adventure film. I suspect that this is the first film of it's kind to introduce the concept of the soul-shrinking effect of extreme expedience, inherent in such activities. I have seen this theme highlighted in subsequent films, including a recent one, "The Good Shepherd". I'm not saying that other films that have employed this theme are dominated by it, as with this film. Even the title of this film implies the theme. And when the lead character can no longer cope with his meaningless, reptilian existence, the system swallows him up for the sake of expedience as well. This film could have been called "The Wisdom of Crocodiles".... I came away very impressed, seeing a brilliant and unique film of that era, that holds up very well.
Summary of Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Criterion Collection
John Le Carr?'s acclaimed bestselling novel, about a Cold War spy on one final, dangerous mission, is every bit as precise and ruthless onscreen in this adaptation directed by Martin Ritt. Richard Burton delivers one of his career-defining performances as Alec Leamas, whose hesitant but deeply felt relationship with a beautiful librarian (Claire Bloom) puts what he hopes will be his last assignment, in East Germany, in jeopardy. An intelligent, hard-edged, and even tragic thriller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is etched with realism and suffused with genuine political and personal anxiety.Info
Directed by Martin Ritt (Hud, Sounder, Norma Rae)
Starring Richard Burton (Becket, Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Equus)
Starring Claire Bloom (Limelight, Richard III, Crimes and Misdemeanors)
From the novel by John Le Carr? (The Russia House, The Tailor of Panama, The Constant Gardener)
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New interviews with author John Le Carr? and cinematographer Oswald Morris
The Secret Center: John Le Carr? (2000), a BBC documentary on the author s extraordinary life and work
Acting in the '60s: Richard Burton, a 1967 interview with the BBC s Kenneth Tynan examining the actor's performances
and accomplishments
Gallery of set designs
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic
Michael Sragow and a reprinted interview with Ritt
John le Carre's classic spy yarn gets a suitably brisk, unromanticized telling in this quintessential Cold War movie. A British agent (Richard Burton) sets up an elaborate cover story for being lured into defecting to the Communists, but he hardly needs to manufacture his disgust and cynicism over spying. The grim business of point-counterpoint espionage has rarely been depicted with less glamour; Burton's great climactic speech on the subject is the definitive take on sinking to the level of the enemy. Claire Bloom is an offbeat love interest, and a bearded Oskar Werner is an East German investigator on Burton's case (the pecking order in the Communist spy hierarchy is a source of black humor). Director Martin Ritt extends his unvarnished approach to the movie's stripped-down look, which means that Richard Burton is constantly in a harsh, unflattering light. He looks terrible, but it's in the service of a fine performance. --Robert Horton
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