John le Carré’s spy novels have oftenbeen adapted for the screen, despite lacking the high-tech gadgetry and bombast ofIan Fleming’s James Bond series. Instead, le Carré relies upon good old-fashioned intrigue and espionage, as well as a healthy dose of cynicism, which is especially true ofThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the first of his books to be turned into a movie. Released at the height ofthe Cold War, it takes a grim view of our intelligence agencies, ostensibly created to keep us safe, yet not above sacrificing individuals for the sake of the “common good.” As civil liberties are slowly eroded in the name of national security,what was true in 1965is just as true today.
‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ Interrogates the Fight Against Communism
Richard Burtonplays Alec Leamus, a longtime MI6 agent who’s forced into early retirement after a mission goes wrong. Embittered and drunken, he takes a job at a library, where he romances a shy co-worker and member of the British Communist Party, Nan Perry (Claire Bloom). He catches the eyes of East German intelligence agents, who think he might be a potential defector, and before long he makes contact with a German handler, Fielder (Oskar Werner). Leamus' fall from grace is all part of a carefully constructed plot against Fielder’s supervisor, Mundt (Peter van Eyck), who he hopes to discredit within the East German Intelligence Service by making it seem as though he’s selling information to British Intelligence. Yet as Leamus soon learns, he’s just a patsy in a much larger scheme, one that views him — and Miss Perry — as expendable.
The Spy Who Came in from the Coldwas directed byMartin Ritt, an apprentice toElia Kazanwhose association with the Group Theatercaused him to become ensnared by the Hollywood Red Scare. His promising career as a television director was stymiedby the blacklist, and he worked in theater for a number of years before directing his first film,Edge of the City.Released in 1957, when Ritt was 43 years old, it touches upon many themes that would resonate throughout his career: the power of unions, the ills of racial prejudice, the struggle of the individual against society. His best movies —Hud,Sounder, andNorma Raeamong them — are tinged with social consciousness and moral righteousness. It’s little wonder he would be drawn to le Carré’s novel, given it appeals to so many of his personal sensibilities, not to mention relating to a particularly painful chapter of his own life. Rather than turn it into a political diatribe, Ritt allows the message to speak for itself, creatinga dark, gloomy thrillerhighlighted by stark black-and-white cinematography.
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‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ Is Just as Good Today as It Was in 1965
The dramatic centerpiece ofThe Spy Who Came in from the Coldisan extended courtroom sequence, where Leamus and Fielderaccuse Mundt of espionage, only to have the tables turned on them when Miss Perry is brought in to testify about her relationship with Leamus. Perry has been ensnared in this plot for no better reason than her love for Leamus, who wants to protect her yet detests her naïveté. When Leamus learns that he himself has been duped by his own government, he is enraged, but then again,it’s all part of the job. “What the hell do you think spies are?,” he snarls at Perry when she questions how he could destroy a man’s life for the sake of national security. It’s not until it’s too late that Leamus learns the true cost that comes withthe profession he has devoted his life to.
Is the life of one person worth more than the fight for safety and security?During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a boogeyman so terrifying that it had to be defeated, no matter what. The same was true in the years after 9/11, when the global War on Terror led to the suspension of constitutional rights. And so on and so forth. This was the struggle that le Carré explored throughout his career, fromTinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpytoThe Constant GardenertoA Most Wanted Man, all of which were turned into movies. Yet it’s never been as frighteningly examined as it was inThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold, both as a novel and as a film.
