GREAT CINEMA ADAPTATIONS: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD

Peter Josyph via Zoom

The word 'spycraft' denotes the actual work of espionage, in which John Le Carré engaged for several years before becoming a master of that other form of spycraft: fashioning the most distinctly original fiction about espionage during the Cold War. About his award-winning second novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which was an international bestseller in 

1963-64, the Telegraph critic John Stock said that it was "assembled with more precision than a Swiss watch." It established Le Carré's reputation as a novelist who was not sugar-coating the often- questionable morality of espionage, nor was he shy of depicting agents such as Alec Leamas—the spy of the title—who, although disillusioned by the demands of the job, had not become too cynical to love. Martin Ritt's 1965 adaptation is one of Ritt's best films, and it features Richard Burton's best performance as Alec Leamas, supported by Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Sam Wanamaker, and Cyril Cusack. Our first session focuses on the themes of the novel; its adaptation by two screenwriters, one of whom was a government assassin; and the difficult challenges facing Richard Burton, for whom the qualities required to play Alec Leamas were elusive and entirely opposite his customary approach. Our second session explores how the genius of great filmmaking—against all odds—produced one of the finest adaptations in cinema history.

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