Times A'Changin Series: The Spy Who Came in from The Cold

Showings

Main Theater Sun, Mar 8, 2020 5:00 PM
INFORMATION
Rating:Unrated
Run Time:1hr 52min
Release Year:1965
Genre:Drama
Category:Film
CAST/CREW
Cast:Richard Burton
Claire Bloom
Sam Wanamaker
Director:Martin Ritt

Description

A limited Dreamland Film Series:

The Times They Were A'Changin: Understanding 60's Culture Through Film
with an introduction and post-screening discussion led by Charley Walters

Sunday, March 1st: DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
Sunday, March 8th: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965)
Sunday, March 15th: THE SWIMMER (1968)
Sunday, March 22nd: MEDIUM COOL (1969)
Sunday, March 29th: EASY RIDER (1969)

Based on the novel by John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold stars Richard Burton as a dispirited, end-of-tether British secret agent. He comes in from "the cold" (meaning he is pulled out of field operations) to act as a undercover man behind the Iron Curtain. To make his staged defection seem genuine, Burton goes on an alcoholic toot and is imprisoned and publicly humiliated. Once he has been accepted into East German espionage circles, Burton discovers that what he thought was his mission was a mere subterfuge--and that he's been set up as a pawn for an entirely different operation. Though Ireland and England "stand in" for East Berlin, Spy Who Came In From the Cold has the air of authenticity throughout, thanks in great part to the bleak black and white photography by Oswald Morris. The film was condemned as incomprehensible by those filmgoers accustomed to the simplistic melodramatics of James Bond; seen today, the double-crosses and double-double crosses seem all too clear and credible.