Nonureva Really Surprised!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

chaswe-28402 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.

SnoopyStyle Charles Dobbs (James Mason) investigates a typed letter accusing Samuel Fennan of the foreign office of his communist past. Dobbs' personal life is completely dysfunctional with his wife (Harriet Andersson) openly cheating on him. Dobbs is doing a security check on Fennan who seems to be amiable and claims to be young at the time. Then Dobbs is told he committed suicide. When everybody wants to leave it simply as a suicide, Dobbs continues to investigate. He interviews the wife Elsa Fennan (Simone Signoret) and things don't add up. An old friend Dieter Frey (Maximilian Schell) returns to town and his wife is cheating with him. Retired Inspector Mendel (Harry Andrews) helps with the investigation.It's a murky spy thriller from a John le Carré novel. It's slow and moody. Director Sidney Lumet does a reasonable job. It's not particularly tense. Even the action isn't that exciting. Dobbs is a pathetic character in his personal life. James Mason plays the personification of the British stiff upper lip. The mystery moves fairly slowly. It's not completely compelling to me. There are long sections of bland scenes like the play rehearsal. I think that may have been a bit British humor that I don't get.

travis_iii Many decent films in the 60s must have been greatly diminished by an over-bearing and inappropriate jazz score (here Quincy Jones) but this is the most egregious example I've encountered. It adds almost nothing to the film and usually just swamps it in annoying air-headed and un-nuanced musak-jazz. At the time is was undoubtedly thought to be the height of nouvelle vague cool.The grating soundtrack aside, almost everything else in The Deadly Affair is first class. Some very good character performances - special mention to Harry Andrews and Simone Signoret - good script and dialogue, good cinematography, atmospheric London locations and good plot pace all make this a thoroughly enjoyable film.Largely a detective story, The Deadly Affair is most notable for an early appearance of the character Charles Dobbs/George Smiley and his unfaithful wife Anne. Here he is ably played by James Mason but the modern viewer can't help but make unfavourable comparisons to the 70's TV portrayal by Alec Guiness - it's unfair but inevitable. This is very much a prototype Smiley, not yet fully formed as calculating spy-master. Mason plays the wounded and cuckolded older husband well, but in this early Le Carre story the character doesn't have the quiet controlling menace of the later Smiley. Mason is still good, though the love-triangle is the worst realised element of the film - it's not helped by a miscast Harriet Andersson as Anne Dobbs.Some great moments, some real suspense and some fine acting - shame about that irritating score!

jotix100 The meeting at a London park triggers the death of Samuel Fennan, a man being accused of being a communist spy. Charles Dobbs, had interviewed the man and based on his talk with Fennan, he cleared him from the charge. Fennan had confessed of his sympathies for the party in his youth, but he has lived to regret it. Dobbs, is shocked when he learns about Fennan's death, which appears to be a suicide. Dobbs is a long suffering man. His wife Ann, has had a long history of deceiving him. As he prepares to go to talk to his boss, Ann comes home from a night on the town. Charles Dobbs feels betrayed, but he is in love with Ann, in spite of her deceit. To add to his problems, the unexpected arrival of Dieter Frey, whose friendship Dobbs has enjoyed, sends him a message about his sudden appearance, which he ties to being involved with Ann.Dobbs realizes the mysterious death of Fennan is not what is made out to be. When he notices a car tailing his every move, Dobbs realize there was foul play in Fennan's demise. Visiting Elsa Fennan, complicates things for Dobbs. He finds a cold woman, a Jewish survivor of the camps, gives him a new angle to explore. With the help of police inspector Mendel, Dobbs sets out to investigate on his own account. The duo gets lucky in getting help from a disgruntled employee of a Home Office officer, who is key to getting to the bottom of the problem.An interesting thriller directed by Sidney Lumet. Based on a John LeCarre spy novel, the adaptation for the screen was entrusted to Paul Dehn. This film was a rarity for Mr. Lumet, who worked mainly in New York. Mr. Lumet takes the action to places where few tourists venture when exploring London. This is more of a cerebral account of the investigation. Mr. Lumet injects some laughs when he takes us to a rehearsal of "Macbeth" at a small theater. Then, he sets the pivotal scene where the mystery is solved by taking us to the Aldwich theater, the home of the Royal Shakespeare company during those years. James Mason makes a wonderful Dobbs, holding the viewer's interest throughout the film. The cast is wonderful. Harry Andrews is seen as Inspector Mendel, in a fine performance. Simone Signoret's Elsa is dignified in a quiet way. Maximilian Schell shows up as Dieter, a man whose friendship had to be questioned by Dobbs. Harriet Andersson, the Swedish star of many of Igmar Bergman's films plays the deceiving Ann. The supporting English cast does a fine job for the director.Freddy Young captures those out of the way places in London. Quincy Jones was the man responsible for the musical score. Not often seen these days, "The Deadly Affair" is a fine thriller that will delight fans of Mr. Lumet and John LeCarre's.