The Looking Glass War (1970) User Reviews

Pawn in a War Game

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 20 November 2014]

During the Cold War, the British Intelligence receives a blurred photograph from East Germany taken from Hamburg and Director LeClerc (Ralph Richardson) believes that they are missiles. Their agent Taylor King (Timothy West), who receives a film that might clarify the detail from a pilot in Finland, is found dead on the road and the police believe that he was accidentally killed in a hit-and-run. LeClerc meets the Polish defector Fred Leiser (Christopher Jones), who jumped overboard from a ship expecting to have asylum and stay with his British girlfriend (Susan George) that is pregnant, and decides to recruit him to cross the border and spy the Eat German facility to check the missiles. In return, he would have salary, insurance and political asylum. Leiser is trained by the agent and family man John Avery (Anthony Hopkins) and soon he finds that his girlfriend has had an abortion. When Leiser crosses the border, he stumbles with the local Anna (Pia Degermark) and they stay together in the beginning of a dangerous journey where he is just a pawn in a war game.

"The Looking Glass War" is a dated thriller with a disappointing story. The characters are poorly developed and it is hard to understand the motivation of Leiser in his assignment after discovering that his girlfriend had forced an abortion. He is neither British nor an idealistic man to risk his life in a suicidal mission. Actually it is difficult to understand who he is since he is capable to kill two men in cold blood, slap the face of his girlfriend and let Anna with him knowing that his mission is compromised. The betrayal of LeClerc is the great plot point in the story but also difficult to understand why he plots all operation apparently to justify his agency and get rid off a defector. In the end, there is no consequence receiving or not the message from Leiser. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Flawed, but not without interest

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 11 November 2019]

THE LOOKING GLASS WAR is another middling adaptation of a John Le Carre novel, saddled with a rather dullish and uninteresting lead actor in the shape of Christopher Jones, one of those one-hit wonders who sank without trace soon afterwards. I don't mean to be uncharitable, but he's the kind of guy picked for looks rather than charisma. The flagging pacing isn't help by at least two unwanted and unnecessary romantic sub-plots, with the bedroom romping with a young Susan George particularly uninspiring. On the plus side, the elder character actors in the cast put in assured performances, and once the action shifts across the iron curtain the suspense level improves dramatically, building to a strong climax.

Through the Looking Glass.

[brogmiller · 5/10 · 13 March 2021]

Although undeniably the weakest of the three John Le Carre novels to be filmed during the 1960's this is not quite as bad some would have us believe. It proved to be one of only two features to be directed by Frank R. Pierson, the other being the third version of 'A Star is Born'. The latter film at least made money despite a critical drubbing whereas this one failed on both counts.

There are some redeeming features here, notably the cinematography of Austin Dempster and first class performances from Ralph Richardson, Paul Rogers, Robert Urquart and Anthony Hopkins who is slowly moving up the ranks. Hopkins freely admitted that his ambition was to be an international film star and in time would certainly be granted his wish!

The weak link is Christopher Jones whose rather quirky personality at first appeals but then becomes rather tiresome. He is working through his James Dean complex here and in the role of a Pole is not very well dubbed. He was to be even more miscast in 'Ryan's Daughter' which proved to be another nail in his coffin. Also disappointing is Pia Degermark as the love interest. Having shone in 'Elvira Madigan' she is rather bland here and despite her off-screen relationship with Jones there is precious little chemistry.

Even by the author's standards the material is pretty bleak and Mister Pierson alas is not in the same league as Messrs. Ritt and Lumet.

Where it does succeed admirably is in depicting the soul-destroying and morally ambiguous nature of the Espionage business where human beings are nothing if not expendable.

"War is hell, Mr. Thornhill. Even when it's a Cold one"!

26/04/2021: Congrats to Mr. Hopkins on his well-deserved Academy Award.

An interesting spy film very much of its time, with stars very much of their time.

[Poseidon-3 · 27 December 2006]

A film very nearly forgotten today, though likely to get a small amount of new attention thanks to a recent DVD release, this movie examines the inner workings and frequent futilities of the spy game. Made at a time when the Cold War was active, it concerns the possibility of Soviet missiles being prepared in East Germany. British spies Richardson and Hopkins enlist (through virtual blackmail) the aid of a reckless and half-cocked young Pole (Jones) to sneak into East Germany and find out if reports of the missile are accurate. Jones becomes a reluctant agent, spurred on by the promise of sanctuary with the Brits if he can complete the mission. He is briefly prepped for the trip at Pickles' house where he engages in a bizarre fight with Hopkins that has a very unexpected capper involving another agent. Once on his way, things get off to a rough start when he injures himself right off the bat and then is forced to kill an East German guard mere moments after entering the country! A series of further misadventures continues, marked by his acquaintances with a shady truck driver (Robbins), a vicious dog and a lovely local girl (Degermark) who is travelling with a young boy. Meanwhile, Hopkins struggles with the ethics of his profession as his frustrated wife Massey starts to unravel emotionally. Richardson gives an assured, authoritative performance, demonstrating the stiff upper lip required for his role. Hopkins, in a very early role (though he got a late start in films to begin with) is interesting to watch. It's a somewhat uneven performance, but is reasonably arresting. He has himself stated that it wasn't until the mid-80's that he tapped in to what he considers his greatest acting tools, but he's certainly not bad here. George appears to decent effect as Jones' pregnant girlfriend and the reason he wants to avoid deportation. Degermark, most famous for her role in the international hit "Elvira Madigan", is a compelling figure. She's startlingly pretty and appealing. Sadly, her life would unspool dramatically soon after this and would never rebound completely. Similarly, Jones (who began an affair with Degermark during this film) would soon find himself out of the business and living a life of occasional drug-fueled obscurity for quite some time, making one more appearance a decade and a half after his last major film. A flash in the pan if ever there was one, he made a big splash with "Wild in the Streets" and "Three in the Attic", but then had his voice dubbed in this film and the subsequent "Ryan's Daughter", thus dooming him to a reputation of inferior performances. With his film career in stasis and facing some personal demons, he was done in the industry, perhaps of his own choosing. Here, he is wildly inconsistent. One minute he's fiercely animated in his signature James Dean way. The next he's practically comatose, barely registering behind tinted glasses. It's not necessarily a good performance, but he was intriguing enough a persona that, in any case, he's interesting to witness. The dubbing of his voice is well-handled and those not familiar with the actor would be hard-pressed to realize it. The director, clearly in tune with Jones' sex appeal, doesn't let him put a shirt on until 20 minutes into the film and often removes it some more after that! The film itself is rather austere and detached, but not without its moments of vivid incident. It's also stylishly shot with inventive camera work and use of reflective surfaces. There are also a couple of very quirky moments such as a scene involving chalk in the rain. Sure to be slow-going for a modern audience, it nonetheless remains of interest to fans of Hopkins, Jones and Degermark, the latter two having fallen off the radar soon after this, though they did make a little-known Italian together.

"we didn't really know him at all; a bit like a waiter in your club..."

[Brucey_D · 6/10 · 1 May 2019]

Made in 1969 this adaptation of a Le Carré novel isn't faithful to every element of the original book, and is heavily influenced by other contemporary films.

This means it isn't quite as uniformly bleak as many other Le Carré adaptations but depending on how you take it, it is perhaps hard to really believe in or sympathise with any of the characters. This is despite some pretty good performances by some of the lead actors.

What is perhaps missing is the clever editing, taut direction and sheer screen presence that (say) Michael Caine brings to the Harry Palmer movies (even though the plots of those are not exactly uniformly brilliant) or Richard Burton brings to "the spy who came in from the cold". Those movies stand head and shoulders above this.

Technically this film is well-photographed and the dubbing is well done too; however it is perhaps understandable if the pace of the film wanders, given that it looks a lot like they decided to shoehorn various sequences into the plot purely for stylistic reasons.

Some of the criticisms in the other reviews here are spot on and others are (IMHO) thoroughly misplaced; no spoilers here so you will have to work out which for yourself. I guess it is a bit of a curate's egg, this; "good in parts". Therefore if you approach it with suitable expectations you will probably find enough things about this movie to like to make it worth watching.

Overall this film probably isn't as bad as the knockers would lead you to suppose and nor is it as good as the 'ten' folk make out either. It is certainly an interesting period piece but it is also a little more than that too, so it gets 6/10 from me.

Disappointing adaptation of a good book

[Marlburian · 6/10 · 8 November 2017]

A disappointing adaptation of a good book, with a key aspect of the latter (inter-departmental rivalry) being omitted. I located an on-line copy after the usual frustrations of working through links to Youtube that led to short clips, paid subscription copies and so on.

With several jumps in the plot, I did wonder if the version I saw had been hacked around, but it was the 108 minutes stated here on IMDb. Christopher Jones was unconvincing and uninspiring as Leiser, his fight with Avery a prolonged interpolation and his scrabbling around to get under the wire in the dark protracted. And how lucky he was to come across an attractive girl and child (what happened to him?) in the middle of nowhere - and to bump into her again in a cafe.

The best things were the wide, open European spaces and Anthony Hopkins' acting

What is going on?

[Mac-148 · 1/10 · 6 June 2016]

The book is about shades of gray, about lost childhood, about impotent British institutions, about deception, loneliness, love, frailty and betrayal. It is about harking back to World War Two and old men looking in the mirror at themselves 20 years earlier. Or through the looking glass where everything verges on madness. The movie fails on every count. Cold and wet East Germany is dressed up as sunny California and the desperate, ill-judged and futile attempts of the spy, a complicated, working-class Pole, and his feeble, old handlers, are presented as some sort of hippie road trip for a James Dean look-alike. If ever a movie needed to stick to the text and, like "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", use the starkest and bleakest cinematography, this was it.

Flawed but very interesting interpretation of the novel, worth seeing

[PaulusLoZebra · 6/10 · 13 October 2022]

Frank Pierson made a very ambitious bet when he wrote the screenplay and directed the film version of John Le Carré's The Looking Glass War. I admire that ambition, but he only partially succeeded. The novel is a bitter, dark and gritty tale, with lots of satire, of old spymasters reliving their past glories. For that reason they are not up to the job of managing a modern and "Cold" War. Instead of "simply" telling that great and worthy story, Pierson seems to have been inspired by the Swinging 60's, with counterculture movements and young people everywhere pushing back against previous generations, to make an even bigger and more flamboyant statement of generational angst than Le Carré intended. This might have worked if executed well, but a few mistakes undercut him. He chose two beautiful, quirky, fast-rising stars, Christopher Jones and Pia Degermark as the leads. Jones' recruitment scenes were not believable, and neither was Degermark's two deus ex machina moments of entering the spy's life. But they were very nice to watch, and the very good cinematography helped, too. A few other turn-offs, for me were several tedious segments when I thought Pierson was channelling Michelangelo Antonioni, location shots that do not look like anyplace I've ever seen in Germany, as well an overly abrupt ending. In the end Pierson seems to have abandoned Le Carré's biting satire, and he jumbled the shift to generational angst.

70s Garbage And Waste Of Time

[johnseegers · 3/10 · 10 October 2022]

Since this seems to have just popped up on Amazon Prime 10/2022 I thought I'd save you an 1:48. How you can screw up a LeCarre story is beyond me. This appears to be nothing much more than a showcase to promote the meteor career of Jones. Actually a pretty great cast with some 70s uber babes but ultimately you get filler shots, time sucking montages, weird 70s camera work, and no real spy story. Plenty of footage of Jones with his shirt off, Jones looking into the camera, Jones walking in tight jeans. In the end you feel like it was all a wasted effort and a missed opportunity. Skip it and rewatch the original Tinker Tailor BBC series instead.

Seven Years Bad Luck

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 1 December 2020]

A uniformed boarder guard actually says "Your papers please!" in this drab adaptation of John Le Carre's novel (with Bergmanesque visuals from cameraman Austin Dempster).

First-time director Frank R. Pierson had recently received two Oscar nominations as a scriptwriter when Columbia gambled upon his ability to direct a feature film. Columbia lost, it went out on the graveyard shift in February and Pierson went back to TV for several more years.

Both leads were blessed with sullen good looks but not the ability to speak English and soon disappeared. Fortunately they're backed by a fine line-up of British acting talent who are the ones who make the film worth watching. (As in the earlier Le Carre adaptation 'The Deadly Affair' time is devoted to the unhappy home lives of the minders; and again it's not a pretty sight.)

I Really Got Sucked In

[davegering · 5/10 · 11 September 2007]

No, the movie didn't suck me in. I got sucked into watching it by some highly favorable comments. I should have paid more attention to the ratings.

If you want to watch LeCarre, there are much better examples than this. The pacing is completely off in this movie; as soon as something interesting starts, it is truncated for irrelevant meanderings. Apparently the director wanted to make this a "mood piece" rather than an action movie, and as a result, it never develops any momentum or suspense.

On balance, this is just a somewhat disappointing period piece. Watchable, but nothing more.

One of the better espionage films of the era

[kate2000 · 10/10 · 17 April 2001]

I am amazed that so many reviewers panned this film when TLGW came out.

While this film is very bleak, so was The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. TSWCIFTC had none of the whimsical touches that distinguish TLGW, and lacked the gritty underbelly that makes TLGW so much more believable, if even less romantic and reassuring.

While TSWCIFTC is more of an intellectual overview of The Game (until its dismal conclusion), TLGW spares no one.

Christopher Jones is excellent as the charming but unbalanced ne'er-do-well, who is exactly what British Intelligence needs.

Anthony Hopkins is so good, you'll forget Hannibal Lecter.

The entire ensemble cast is superb, with supporting players able to convey fully realized characters with only a few lines in most cases. The few characters who are not fleshed out seem to come from out of nowhere, as does Jones' character, echoing the mood of a man lost in a country he does not know - first England, then East Germany.

I particularly liked the fact that the film made England the dark, enclosed, maze of liars and opportunists, while E. Germany was shown alternately as open, pristine land and the property of deceptive invaders (the mirrors of the British). In addition, the film bluntly and confidently attempts to dissect patriots and their imitators: a rarity in 1970.

This film is not strictly an entertainment, but there are some fine, light moments between the characters played by Jones, Hopkins, Pickles and Richardson.

The Looking Glass War is a fascinating film, a tribute to an era and an author.

Not a bad film!

[MrOllie · 6/10 · 3 May 2012]

Most of the reviews I have given are of films that I saw at the cinema upon its release and have then recently watched again. However, THE LOOKING GLASS WAR is a movie that I never got around to watching at the pictures, therefore, I decided to shell out 3 pounds and buy the DVD. I must say that I am glad I did as I quite enjoyed it. A young Christopher Jones plays a Polish seaman who is recruited by British Intelligence to go into East Germany to check out some missiles in return for being given leave to stay in the UK. The acting was better than I thought it would be and the storyline was OK. I liked the jazzy soundtrack as well. Not a bad film at all and worth the 3 quid I paid.

Not good enough

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 5/10 · 11 March 2014]

The Cold War era was highly resourceful with fictional (sometimes real) material, books and movies on espionage, ranging from cheap or fun entertainment to complicated and intricate plots full of suspense. John Le Carré is a master of the latter, at least when it comes to writing novels, and usually they turn into great movies, let us not forget the recent "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", not only a resurrection of the genre but it also was a complete modernization in style, treatment and editing without losing the looks and the good old charm of the 1960's and 1970's productions (and I can't wait for Alfredson/Oldman re-team in "Smiley's People", though they're jumping my favorite from Karla Trilogy "The Honourable Schoolboy" because it's just too long and too complex to be filmed, and not even BBC produced it as a miniseries during the Alec Guinness era as Smiley). So, "The Looking Glass War" broke my heart because it's unlike anything Le Carré made; first time director Frank Pierson didn't make a good adaptation, it's an oversimplification of what could be a good story if elements were preserved and I couldn't care for the characters, too simple and badly written.

And they couldn't get a more clichéd story: the British intelligence discovers that the Soviet Union is relocating some missiles, and in order to ruin their plans the command decide to send a spy from one German to another to mess with everything. The chosen one is the mysterious Leiser (Christopher Jones, dubbed here by another actor, who sounds exactly like James Dean), not a traditional secret agent, he's simply a dangerous German type they got out of prison. In trade for his cooperation, he's gonna be able to help his pregnant girlfriend, now protected by the MI6, Circus or whatever.

Lieser's protégé, trainer and mentor in this mission is John Avery (Anthony Hopkins, the best thing in this movie), a man who is fully committed with his job and tasks, eventually sacrificing his quiet family life. After some strangeness between both men, they finally agree with each other and now Avery might be the only person capable of protecting Lieser if anything goes wrong. And off the young man goes to Germany in risky situations.

What bothered me wasn't the lack of surprises due to its awfully clichéd proposition and engineering of situations; the problem lies in the characters, completely one dimensional, unlikeable and lacking in real reasoning for their motivations or they're reduced to one basic premise - to defeat the Soviet villains; Lieser, the anti-hero is just a hard-faced killing machine who doesn't generate any kind of sympathy from the audience. It's really difficult to understand why he's going to this suicide mission - the reason I wrote above isn't one of them as evidenced when he slaps his girlfriend during a simple conversation. Worst of all, he has zero charisma, his thick accent complicates things even more, only saves that the man is a real hunky.

Though I haven't read the novel, I know that veteran spy George Smiley (Le Carré's most famous creation) is in it, very briefly. I don't know how important he is in the story but we could use his brilliancy and wisdom in this movie, he's always interesting despite the melancholia and his whispered speech manner. But then again, nothing could have saved this movie: the pace is wrong; the foggy and mysterious sceneries from classics like "The Man Who Came In From the Cold" are changed to colorful prairies and beaches, exuberant but very misplaced; and here's a story about almost nothing. In the end, it's all about betrayal and getting rid off an unpleasant person to a dead mission. So what? There's no resonance in that, there's no profoundity in that. It's useless. It feels like Mr. Pierson wanted to give us an ordinary and poor view to the meticulous and intriguing world of Le Carré. Result: weak movie with enjoyable parts. 5/10

By All Means Avoid,

[eldontyrrell · 15 October 2011]

I cannot believe I am driven to comment but I feel the need to warn others who may simply assume, as did I, that any film adapted from a le Carre cold war novel would be worth seeing.

If, as it has been said, le Carre wasn't happy with the Richard Burton adaptation of "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", then I can't imagine he knew that this particular film was even *made* -- for he would have gone berserk.

Unless you wish to utterly waste ninety minutes of your life, steer completely clear of this horrifically tedious, disjointed, pointless, nearly unwatchable film.

A tad disappointment...but a fairly good film otherwise

[sanddragon939 · 7/10 · 19 October 2011]

'The Spy who Came in from the Cold', and the TV adaptation of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' led me to have high expectations of any John Le Carre adaptation...sadly, 'The Looking Glass War' falls short of those expectations.

The basic essence of the novel's plot is preserved-an obscure intelligence unit called 'the Department' training and sending a Pole to East Germany. What the film fails to capture however are the inner psychological and emotional conflicts of the characters, especially those of the reluctant 'spymaster with scruples' Avery, and the manipulated agent Laiser. Part of the reason for this is the complete reinvention of Laiser's character. He goes from being an intensely loyal former agent from the Department's glory days in WW2 and a naturalised British citizen, to being an ill-tempered Polish drifter who really has scant motivation for taking up the job to begin with. Avery for his part, is hardly developed as a character, which makes his sudden reservations about the scheme in the end somewhat difficult to comprehend.

If there is one plus point about the film, its that it spends a lot more time on Laiser's actual infiltration into East Germany, which actually forms a VERY small segment of the novel. However, Laiser's character being completely changed as it was, his brief relationship with the German girl becomes more like a run-of-the-mill romance of a spy story, as opposed to what it was in the novel-the last attempt of a betrayed agent to find human comfort before his inevitable capture...

On the whole, its not a bad film. Even the bad parts are entertaining at times. But it certainly DOES NOT live up to the standards of other Le Carre adaptations.

Great film to Enjoy

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 5 February 2007]

This is a film that I had seemed to overlook and was very glad to have found a copy. The story is written by John Le Carre, who has written many espionage books and in this picture, Leiser,(Christopher Jones) plays the role of a Polish defector promised political asylum in England. However, he has to go back behind the Iron Curtain to investigate the possibilities that East Germany is building a rocket in violation of a disarmament pack. Leiser visits a girl friend, Susan, (Susan George),"Straw Dogs", who is having his child and then all of a sudden finds out things about what she has been doing and splits up the relationship. Leiser soon meets up with another gal, Pia Degermark who he falls in love, and is happy that she also has a very young son to make for a very happy marriage. They both decide to flee from all the espionage Leiser is caught up in and still has to deal with expert ruthless old men who use the both of them as decoys. Great film with great actors, all very young and starting out in their films careers.

Very Disappointing

[ade-stevenson · 2/10 · 16 April 2013]

I'm a big fan of Le Carre, and I love the movie versions of 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. This movie is a real disappointment though. It differs significantly from the book in ways that seem pointless. The actor who plays Leiser looks like he's stepped off the set for 'Two Lane Blacktop' and looks frankly ridiculous as a Pole under cover in East Germany. The East Germany scenes themselves look like they were filmed in California (perhaps they were). The changes to the plot actually change a fundamental premise of the book. All in all, this film is not really worth the bother. Head for the book version or the 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' if you've not yet seen it.

an obtuse movie version of a satirical novel

[NewtonFigg · 1/10 · 1 July 2011]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS In the novel, British military intelligence in 1961 was looking for something to justify its existence. Some ambiguous aerial photos suggested the East Germans had constructed a missile site. Instead of sharing this information with... who? (sorry I don't know the other intelligence service. MI6?) the military people, who had not run an operation in years, decided to do what they knew best: send one of their now aged WWII spies with WWII equipment ( a 40 lb. tube radio with different crystals to change transmitting frequencies) into East Germany to verify the existence of the missile installation and radio back his findings. The East Germans were mystified by the strange radio messages until an old sergeant vaguely remembered how English spies had sent out messages 20 years earlier. The poor spy's floundering around created an international incident and the military intelligence people were ordered to pull the plug on the operation. LeCarre's caustic comments on the military intelligence service were swept aside and the movie was made treating all the bumbling as a serious spy story. Ah well. In 1961 the cold war was very serious business.

Consider watching as illustrative of its time...

[wilkinsonalan · 3/10 · 5 August 2016]

Hunted down this movie, as it appears a rare beast. The cast is stellar for a British movie. The main protagonist appears to have been likened to James Dean. He spends much of the film striking louche poses - less angry young man, and more 'hip cat'. He appears miscast in this movie, as he inhabits a different plain to the rest of the cast. The storyline, in retrospect, is quite straight forward. However, it has managed to become inextricably entangled in elongated scenes of travel across the agricultural swathe of the then East Germany. There are also some unnecessary fight scenes that appear neither relevant nor truly aggressive. Conceivably, aspects of this movie are conceived out of homo-erotica? I truly wanted to love this movie. I adore 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' and the BBC Smiley series, but this was to flaccid and languid for my tastes. Something of a shame when one notes the immense cast that was at the director's disposal. If you love Cold War dramas - and Le Carre adaptations, you will, no doubt, want to watch this movie - with much sadness, I have to say - be prepared to be underwhelmed.

An Absolute Gem!

[djb896328 · 10/10 · 5 February 2004]

This is one of those rare film adaptations -- in fact, the rarest -- for here is a film that takes liberties with its source material yet still manages to equal (if not better) the original story by the master of realist spy fiction, John Le Carré.

Masterfully written and directed by Frank Pierson (the current head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and superbly acted from everyone on screen, THE LOOKING GLASS WAR is a timeless classic just waiting to be rediscovered by a generation of film lovers thanks to the modern miracle of DVD. One must -- MUST -- see this film in crisp, clear widescreen format, for Pierson and cinematographer Austin Dempster managed to provide the viewer with some of the most stunning, innovative and emotionally evocative imagery of the period. The musical score by Angela Morley (a.k.a. Wally Stott) has that gorgeous, jazzy summer holiday feel about it, which is just perfect for a gloomy existential spy film!

And as for the principal actors, Christopher Jones in particular, what can one say? Those who know what happened with Jones shortly after this film and his whereabouts today can not help but feel sad whenever watching this film. What a loss to world cinema? Jones left acting right at the cusp of the Great American Renaissance of the 1970s. The question is: What could have been? From the strength of his performance in THE LOOKING GLASS WAR as well as RYAN'S DAUGHTER, we can only painfully imagine. Then, in stark contrast, we have the other lead of the film: a young pre-international fame Anthony Hopkins. And here we see, of course, a superb actor growing with every performance. Fans of his must see this film for two things 1) Hopkins' youthful passion, delivering every line with unadulterated vigor, venomously spitting poison one second before whispering soothing words of solice the very next, and 2) witnessing perhaps the all-time greatest one-on-one, man-on-man, no-holds-barred, knock-down-slap-around fist fights ever captured on celluloid.

But I must end this review by again emphasising that this film is brilliant because it was written that way. Pierson adapted a wonderful novel, kept the important plot elements but discarded and invented his own characterisations, created almost all his own sharp, witty dialogue and yet, still, after all the changes, managed to make a film that was still faithful in spirit to what Le Carré wrote. That's why this film is so good.

Writing is everything!

Pierson's adaptation of THE LOOKING GLASS WAR is a lesson for every student of film to see how great novels can be turned into great films.

Piercing the Iron Curtain

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 7 September 2008]

Knife-wielding seaman Christopher Jones (as Leiser) is recruited, by British spies, to sneak through the Iron Curtain, in Germany; there, he is to confirm suspicions the East German Communist are building missiles. Mr. Jones' mission is, at first, complimented by, but later, compromised by the urge to mate; especially after he encounters delicious Pia Degermark (as Anna). Writer/director Frank Pierson's adaptation of John Le Carré's Cold War novel is, in the end, disappointing; but, it has some strengths.

Shirt-shedding Jones' Polish-French-English dubbing is very well done. Mr. Pierson's direction holds interest. Jones and Ms. Degermark are very beautiful; unfortunately, both would have short-lived starring careers. Another promising young performer, Anthony Hopkins (as Avery), makes a good impression; and, veterans Ralph Richardson and Paul Rogers give the picture some gravitas.

***** The Looking Glass War (1969) Frank Pierson ~ Christopher Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Pia Degermark

The Looking Glass War

[henry8-3 · 4/10 · 2 May 2019]

A past its prime British intelligence agency lead by Ralph Richardson persuade a Polish defector (Jones) to validate photographs of a missile in East Germany.

Fairly slow moving Le Carre adaptation. The agency of yesteryear spies are enjoyable for those expecting a Tinker, Taylor style thriller and engagingly played by Richardson, Hopkins, Urqhurt etc. The film is less effective when Jones is on screen. All very James Dean / rebel without a cause type performance is solid but misplaced here.

Well Cast but Somewhat Tiresome Period Piece

[studejack · 3/10 · 2 September 2009]

Back in 1971 or so, this film showed on t.v. on the old Friday Night at the Movies series, and as a nine- or ten-year-old closeted gay boy I distinctly remember dropping my youthful jaw for the shirtless Christopher Jones in those scenes in the handball court. But seeing the film as a 48-year-old is an entirely different experience. Young Mr. Jones had a nice chest, but he was never a great actor, and the sub-text of Anthony Hopkins's character's resentments is inspired by that tiresome youth-worship that every film of that period was poisoned with: adults are misguided and evil and young people are innocent and good. I didn't buy it then and I certainly don't buy it now. Nevertheless, I think anything Hopkins is featured in is probably worth seeing once, and Ralph Richardson is always enjoyable to watch as well. The less celebrated Paul Rogers is pretty splendid, too. Well cast, but a somewhat worn period piece, is what I think.

Truly awful

[malcolmgsw · 1/10 · 26 June 2019]

There is nothing that merits waching in this film. The agent should be played by an older man,but is played by an incompetent,dubbed,American actor. East Germany is played by Spain. Michael Robbins has a small part. On The Buses is better than this.