The Deadly Affair 1966

Sidney Lumet's The Deadly Affair comes out of the same tradition (and from the same source-author) as Martin Ritt's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold -- and it manages to be just as grim and absorbing, even amid the beautiful color cinematography of Freddy Young, who still manages to make London look drab and threatening. James Mason gives a beautifully understated performance as an intelligence agent who finds himself caught amid a bureaucratic maze that may be shielding an intelligence disaster -- one that may be a lot closer to home on two different fronts than he would like to admit. He gets great support from a cast that is more than first rate from top to bottom. The plot may be a little more complicated than devotees of 1960's espionage films are accustomed to seeing, but that's the way with John LeCarre's stories -- this one is a little simpler than The Spy Who Came In From The Cold but also very viscerally compelling, and overall this is about as good an espionage/mystery thriller as came out of anywhere in the decade in which it was made, and even mansges to work in some much-needed and welcomed moments of sardonic humor, amid its seriousness -- a difference that might make it preferable to much of its competition of the era, including Ritt's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

Production Credits:

Director - Sidney Lumet

Screenplay - Paul Dehn

Source Material (from novel) - John LeCarre

Producer - Sidney Lumet



Director of Photography - Frederick A. Young

Music - Quincy Jones

Editor - Thelma Connell

Art Direction - John Howell

Costume Design - Cynthia Tingey

Set Decorator - Pamela Cornell

Cast:

James Mason - Charles Dobbs

Simone Signoret - Elsa Fennan

Maximilian Schell - Dieter Fray

Harriet Andersson - Ann Dobbs

Harry Andrews - Inspector Mendel

Kenneth Haig - Bill Appleby

Roy Kinnear - Adam Scarr

Max Adrian - Adviser

Lynn Redgrave - Virgin

Robert Flemyng - Samuel Fennan

Corin Redgrave - Director

Les White - Harek

Kenneth Ives - Stagehand

John Dimech - Waiter

Julian Sherrier - Waiter

Dennis Shaw - Landlord

Sheraton Blount - Eunice Scarr

David Warner - King Edward

Michael Bryant - Gaveston

Stanley Lebor - Lancaster

Paul Hardwick - Young Mortimer

Charles Kay - Lightborn

Timothy West - Matrevis

Jonathan Wales - Gurney

William Dysart - Noble

Murray Brown - Noble

Paul Starr - Noble

Peter Harrison - Noble

David Quilter - Noble

Terence Sewards - Noble

Roger Jones - Noble

Patra Markham - Daughter at Theatre

Maria Charles - Blonde

Amanda Walker - Brunette

Janet Hargreaves - Ticket Clerk

Michael Brennan - Barman

Richard Steele - Businessman

Gertan Klauber - Businessman

Margaret Lacey - Mrs Bird

Judy Keirn - Stewardess

June Murphy - 1st Witch

Frank Williams - 2nd Witch

Rosemary Lord - 3rd Witch

Leslie Sands