The movie is one of those ultra-serious spy thrillers that were made, and probably watched, as an antidote for Bond fever that was sweeping the world in the '60s with the release of "Doctor No". I had heard that "The Ipcress File", with Michael Caine, was the anti-Bond, and perhaps it is, in the sense that Harry Palmer and James Bond are opposite sides of the same coin. "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" can hardly be mentioned in the same sentence as either.
For starters, it is shot in black and white, making everything look stark and cold. Michael Caine could easily have played James Bond, but Richard Burton looks like someone who wouldn't waste his time with rubbish like that. He is utterly believable as a real-world spy, as are his colleagues. This is a deadly serious job, and it's no place for heroics, nor levity.
But what is the movie actually about? It has a typically confusing plot. Burton is a British spy somehow involved in tension between East and West Berlin. He becomes a double agent by attempting to win the trust of Communists - I believe - and ends up on trial by one side or the other. I wasn't sure.
It's hard not to appreciate a movie as well made and well acted as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". And it's hard not to appreciate an attempt to make something that flies in the face of the trends of the time. But for a thriller, "Spy" has next to no thrills, perhaps owing to a plot that is hard to understand.
For starters, it is shot in black and white, making everything look stark and cold. Michael Caine could easily have played James Bond, but Richard Burton looks like someone who wouldn't waste his time with rubbish like that. He is utterly believable as a real-world spy, as are his colleagues. This is a deadly serious job, and it's no place for heroics, nor levity.
But what is the movie actually about? It has a typically confusing plot. Burton is a British spy somehow involved in tension between East and West Berlin. He becomes a double agent by attempting to win the trust of Communists - I believe - and ends up on trial by one side or the other. I wasn't sure.
It's hard not to appreciate a movie as well made and well acted as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". And it's hard not to appreciate an attempt to make something that flies in the face of the trends of the time. But for a thriller, "Spy" has next to no thrills, perhaps owing to a plot that is hard to understand.