IMDb plot summary: A British agent sets out to uncover the hidden facts behind a British government employee's suicide.
Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring James Mason, Maximilian Schell, Simone Signoret, and Harriet Andersson.
The Deadly Affair stars James Mason as a British intelligence worker who is assigned to investigate a co-worker accused of Communism. He is satisfied and intends to clear him, but that evening the man supposedly commits suicide. Mason is baffled by this and sets out to determine whether it was suicide or something more sinister. This was based on a John Le Carre novel, and, like most Le Carre adaptations, I find it understated and dull. Even the action sequences are filmed in a very low-key, nothing-to-see-here manner, full of bureaucracy. While this is what makes Le Carre's work appealing to a lot of readers and watchers, it does nothing for me, and I had to work hard to keep caring about the mystery. Where the film does succeed for me is in the more personal side stories -- Mason's wife is perpetually cheating on him, and working through the difficulties of that relationship sustained my interest in the story more than any of the spy stuff. That "spy stuff" is, in fact, pretty good, it just doesn't interest me that much. If it interests you, this is probably a lesser-known one worth checking out!
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Deadly Affair < Hustle & Flow
The Deadly Affair > Our Idiot Brother
The Deadly Affair < Dark City
The Deadly Affair < Sweet and Lowdown
The Deadly Affair > Kill List
The Deadly Affair > The Amazing Spider-Man
The Deadly Affair < Rio Bravo
The Deadly Affair > Captain America: Civil War
The Deadly Affair < Lovelace
The Deadly Affair > Luther
The Deadly Affair > The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Final spot: #2435 out of 3491, or 30%.
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