The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

After yet another cold war informant is executed, a British operative (Richard Burton) goes on one last mission. He offers carefully crafted information for sale to the East that will incriminate his adversary. Not everything goes to plan.

First Richard Burton film, like, ever. Haven’t seen his sometimes wife for the blog yet and I expected to get a two for one with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, still on my DVR. Burton wanted Taylor to play his love interest but Claire Bloom was cast instead.

Slow, plodding, and dreary, the story is surprisingly engaging. Burton played a borderline drunk, which must have been quite a stretch for him, what with him being a roaring drunk. Filming would occasionally be interrupted by his and Taylor’s drunken behavior. The character’s age was changed from 50 to 39, Burton’s age at the time, but he looked every bit of 50, and more. He would die at fifty eight.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a compelling if confounding story. Its tone is quite different from most movies of the day and the viewer is tossed in many directions. Also, Burton barely emoted at all. It will stand up to a second viewing. I still have one puzzle about the ending to solve. AMRU 4.

“Fiedler's a Jew, of course, and Mundt's quite the other thing.”