One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This was based upon LeCarre's introductory novel for the enigmatic middle aged British spy, George Smiley, who's played brilliantly by James Mason here, with Smiley being given the different name of Dobbs and the title being changed from the book's 'Call For The Dead'. Lumet's taut direction and Freddy Young's evocative muted color cinematography all around London make the most of a story arc which is less intricate and suspenseful than that of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, yet no less rich in characterisation. The entire cast is impeccable with riveting dialogues between Mason and Simone Signoret and then Maximllian Schell, in particular. An extra treat is extensive screen time given to a production of The Royal Shakespeare Company's "Edward II" with uncredited young David Warner as well as Timothy West debuting in a walk on role! Repeated closeups of Warner delivering the Bard's rueful poetry seemed to me an indulgence by the director, but who can blame him? For those who are seriously interested in serious spy dramas, this superb film is not to be missed. It was available from at least two major online stores to own and download for around $10 in 2018.

Keeps you wanting to know what happens next. I'm old enough to be a sucker for these cynical, disillusioned, negative stories, with neither bad nor good guys, just individual flies caught in inextricable webs, born into inescapable circumstances. It's particularly obvious that the people in this movie are not in control of their fates, though Mr and Mrs Dobbs survive. Free will is an illusion. The saddest victim appears to be Mrs Elsa Fennan, and it seems unjust that she has been chosen to suffer the most.The title of this film is curious. What, or whose, affair is being referred to ? Does this title hide multiple meanings ? There seems to be a subtext of deviant sex relationships adding tension to the ostensible spy story. One reviewer suggests that the reason Mrs Dobbs is a nymphomaniac is because Dobbs is impotent. He certainly appears to lack power, although he benefits greatly from the plaster cast covering his hand and arm in the slightly unsatisfactory finale. Roy Kinnear has a very unusual relationship with his little daughter's two mothers. Another suggestion is that there is a gay undercurrent to the story. Why is the pansified adviser called Marlene Dietrich ? Why does the bureaucrat played by Haigh initially call others "darling" ? What was the prior connection between Mason and Schell ? People get murdered fairly easily in this movie. It's definitely deadly The final scene is unsatisfactory since there seems to be no good reason why Schell fails to shoot Mason, when he has the opportunity. He was ready enough to murder Elsa Fennan when he felt it would do him some good. However, his inability to shoot Mason doesn't really spoil the picture, which remains intriguing, all the way. Great use is made of Edward II, and the manner of his elimination, which reportedly involved a red-hot poker.

First of all, I liked this movie. I could watch it several more times but there are some irritating things about it. Anyway, this is one of the essential LeCarre spy movies. It is unfortunate that the studio renamed Smiley as Dobbs, but James Mason plays George Smiley, and does so very well. Smiley/Dobbs is a cuckold because his wife just can't help it. This is not very well played out in this film which hints at, oh, impotence and nymphomania (does that still mean anything?). The point, for LeCarre, was that Smiley's betrayed love is a metaphor for the political betrayal that is his stock in trade. Who better to discover a traitor than the betrayed man? The plot is genius: a cabinet minister dies, possibly a suicide, after Smiley/Dobbs interrogates him about possible Communist connections. Smiley/Dobbs thinks there is something more to this; he thinks it might be murder. Assisted by a superannuated cop, he seeks the truth, and finds it. All this is well-done: a good story, good acting, good photography, etc. But! The soundtrack is often terribly inappropriate. Lumet must have known this and at one point the soundtrack ends with a phono needle being scratched across vinyl -- the one truly cool moment in the use of the music. And sometimes the editing is wretched: choppy, major speeches interrupted with meaningless shots -- I don't know who to blame for this except Lumet. Still, with all its flaws, a movie worth watching, especially if you are interested in Cold War spy thrillers.

Due to one of those internicene cock-ups Paramount 'owned' the name of George Smiley, a character who cropped up in several John Le Carre novels, so here he is renamed Charles Dobbs and portrayed by James Mason (who gets to keep the nymphomaniac wife, Ann the Le Carre created). That epitome of minimalist acting Simone Signoret walks away with the film despite appearing only four times - and in two of those she remains silent) and had she been able to drag the rest of the cast up to her level we'd be talking ten out of ten. As it is the rest of the cast acquit themselves more than admirably making this Cold War thriller well worth revisiting.