Exactly! This is for thinking adults. Everything else is hormone candy -- adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin. But in this quiet scene there's more testosterone than any of them.
The bit where the camera comes over his shoulder as he says 'sometimes we have to do wicked things...' then the little sideways tilt of the head as he says 'very wicked things!' and a wee smile just to show that he doesn't ENTIRELY disapprove. Brilliant!
Burton was not seen very well by Hollywood jetset in that period. What a shame! Today everyone can win an Oscar, certainly actors today can't act like Burton could do... What happened to Hollywood Royalty? (Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor ...)
What a beautiful sentence you have written, well, three years ago now. It captures the tone of the speech of the character speaking to Burton in this clip.
possibly the finest all-round film i've ever seen. couldn't fault acting, plot, production value - anything. i thought werrner's performance was the standout amongst a marvelous cast. impressive stuff!
This scene with Cyril Cusack as 'Control', one of his two brief scenes in the film, is brilliant as he muses about what must be done in response to the ruthless actions of the Soviet espionage establishment and its operatives. John le Carre stated in an interview he regarded Cusack's performance the best of any in the film.
Yeah, JLC says that Cusack was a real Irishman who hated English so much that he enjoyed to play the role of a ruthless chief of the English intelligence
@@marieadams3720 Loved him in that... and don't forget the 1984 version of Nineteen Eighty Four... BTW... he was also the taxi driver / German Spy in The Man Who Never Was
@ L P. Spare us the plastic paddy Drivel. Cyril Cusack spent almost his entire working life in England .h I knew him and the motion that he " hated " the Engish is a projection of your little 2 brain cell mind !
The words of Control, in this pivotal scene, were the axis, the backbone for the entire film: "Our methods can't afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition."
It's the almost glossed-over details in this scene that actually lay the groundwork for the entire plot, and if you don't pay attention you may not get the connection afterward. Control's off-hand offer to Leamas about an opening in the banking section, what seems like rambling comments about east versus west that mentions Mundt's undercover visit to England in '59, and Leamas' response that he was in Berlin at the time. All the pieces that Control was putting in place and using Leamas to implement, most of which even Leamas himself didn't know. Control may have seemed like a meek mild-mannered British gentleman, but he really was a cold-blooded tactician who saw to it that people were killed when needed.
When he offered the banking job, it was to see if Lemas still had the desire to be operational. The conversation about munz was laying the seeds of the operation and reminding him that they are in a conflict.
@@mickymac6571 I don't think Control had to remind Leamas that they are in a conflict, Leamas had just witnessed the murder of Riemick under his watch and knew all too well that his job was all about the conflict between East and West. As for laying the seeds of the operation, those seeds had been laid years before when Mundt had been in England, murdered someone while he was there, and been captured and turned by British Intelligence. The last piece of the puzzle that Control was assembling was to put Leamas in banking, which served 2 purposes: 1, to provide the credible story about having to make foreign deposits for undercover agents (Mundt being one of them), so that Leamas was in fact telling Fiedler the truth about what he had been doing, and 2, to provide the supposed reason for Leamas leaving British Intelligence, having gone from an agent handler to a washed-up paper pusher, disillusioned and bitter, ready to even consider the idea of making some money as a traitor. Leamas was given just enough information to believe he was doing his part to get Mundt killed, but not enough to know what the real plan was.
The slow fade out is the perfect ending to the briefing. It adds power to the scene and gives the first time viewer the feeling that something sinister and dark is coming. Of course the repeat viewer knows something sinister and dark is coming. Control is perfect in calculating the plot that will set the hook in the jaw of Leamas.
@ 02:33 Cusack : And how do you feel about him? Burton - Feel? Cusack : yes Burton - He's a bastard. Cusack : Quite. what understated chilling, casual dialogue depicting the buildup for a political assassination.
Beautifully done. Well directed, photographed, excellent acting. Cusack is just masterly. He really plays the subtext well. Not too knowingly so as to tip off Leamas as to what he is really up to.
Exactly! When the devastating outcome for Leamas is revealed, I wondered if he had regretted not taking the desk job that Control offered him. He didn't.
Well, if one reads the BOOKS of James Bond he/she would find the same vibe, very far from the luxury and vanity of the popular movies (but from the ones with Daniel Craig "the Great", very close to the original tormented character of Jan Fleming, despite the conspicuos unavoidable concessions to the rules of the film industry)
@@peterashford7855 Yes, I’d agree with you. I think many people are able to act well. But some are able to become their characters. Still fewer have a personality which projects in all directions. Richard B was such a man for whom too few screen roles offered the challenged needed for his talent.
Amazing!!!! First, he stares at Burton unblinkingly over his cup. Then he's lost in a Wistful Reverie as his eyes become unfocused and his past and future flashes through his mind.
@@dipendramudbhari7184 Can't help you there. All I can tell you is, humans being what they are, you will have an unending need for food. The best thing we as a people can do is to get off of Mother Earth and spread among the stars.
@@atakd He's been awarded the Goethe Medal by Germany, the Olaf Palme Prize by Sweden, the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America, but snubbed by his own country. Go figure.
In the Bond movies the M character was almost always portrayed as a gentle, paternal guy (the Judi Dench iteration notwithstanding) yet in the film we get a far more cold, ruthless and manipulative type. That seems more realistic - one doesn’t become the leader of the circus by being warm and cuddly.
The guy who is his boss played the gunsmith in "The Day of the Jackal". The first film version. The best version. Here he mentions "metal fatigue" which is ironic that he played a character later that worked with metal and gunsmithing...yes...enough to stop your day with this information...
I wonder if it was Cyrus' idea to include the " yes" in this scene and his later scene. He is so so good. Yes. He had two scenes in this movie, two in "Day of the Jackel." 10-11 minutes total. Yet I thought even as a kid that this guy is really good at what he does. Yes.
@@amcname494 John le Carre stated in an interview he regarded Cyril Cusack's performance the best of any in the film. Here are excerpts from that interview: ua-cam.com/video/xXGAqE5odXg/v-deo.html
@@newjeffersonian6456 We are taught how to do it in certain schools in England. The key is always to feign an air of 'effortless superiority', though, of course, some people exude this quality quite naturally. In any case, whether innate or performed, sanguinity and clipped taciturnity are required in order to create the very best thinly disguised insults which are then able to proceed from one's lips as if some linguistic magic has been wrought on one's tongue.
One of the few films made from a good book that is as good or even better than the book. Every performance in the picture is just right on. Cusack here is neatly understated. And later, Oskar Werner is excellent. Generally, Burton wasted his talent , but this was a fine performance in a really good picture. IMO, its woefully underrated. Might be the best spy movie ever made.
I wouldn't say 'wasted talent', rather 'overlooked'. One of my favorite movies that he's a main character in is The Battle of Sutjeska, a rather hard-to-find film and not heard of much. That film was the first one in which I noticed him. He was excellent playing the part of Communist leader Tito, and his Serbo-Croatian was beautifully pronounced.
Well, Burton certainly did not waste his talent in THIS film. His performance was masterful in every way. I agree with another commentator that Burton should have gotten the Academy Award for his performance in this film. And you are right - TSWCIFTC is one of those rare movies that came from a great book yet did not disappoint in any way. It's the best spy movie ever made, IMHO.
This is were Control gauges Leames hatred for Mundt making him a perfect sacrificial lamb!! Control: How do you feel about him (Mundt) Leamas: Feel...?? Control: Yes. Leamas: He's a bastard! Control: Quite
Gauges yes, very true. I watched this film a few times, and after watching this scene again, in isolation I agree. He asks him first if he wants to stay out in the cold - take a desk job - to see if he's capable of desisting from the task which he isn't - he gauges the man (Leamas) tests him in every way psychologically. That's what this scene between Leamas and control is, psychological testing directed towards Leamas to see if he's capable of being used and he is easily used by control very quickly after this scene. Leamas can't accept at the tribunal scene that Mundt could be London's man, because as he says "If Mundt were london's man I would have known about it, I was a Berlin station head, if he were London's man I would have known about it" but he's caught by Control from the very beginning in this scene...
Leamas is the perfect pawn. Control pretends to give him an out knowing he is bent on revenge and loyal to the agents he has lost. Control is incredibly ruthless here to a degree that only becomes evident at the end. It is instructive to go back and watch these early scenes to appreciate just how ruthless and cunning the Brits are in sacrificing their own for a “higher cause” LeCarre is a genius, but it can only be truly appreciated upon repeated viewings and readings of the movie and novel. Layers upon layers of subtlety..
Cusak was brilliant in this film but so were the rest of the cast. It's very rare when a film is better than the book but in this case, everything is perfect. Burton never made anything as good despite a long and varied career. Anyone who visited the Eastern zone during the period will know the bleak atmosphere that is so cleverly captured in this film. It makes all other spy pictures look amateurish.
Burton helps lots of people wait everyday. He looks like a wounded animal, ready to snarl at the prospect of banking or worse. He shrugs off his pain when he hears "what I have in mind is a little out of the ordinary" then he comes to life.
Leamass has stitched himself up like a kipper the moment he says "I was in Berlin" and "he's a bastard". Controls response - "quite" - tells us that he is plotting Leamass downfall although we and Leamass only become aware that this was the case at the end of the film.
A leap too far, I'd argue. Control is an old master and used to 'using' his agents. His agents too, and in particular, Leamas, are professionals and know the game. In the final scene, Leamas was over and clear of the wall and was shot only because he went back for the girl. I can only assume that her killing was simply an expediency to protect Mundt.
@@jvincent6548 I agree on your last point. Control couldn't trust Leamas to not reveal the double cross to Nan and she probably would've have revealed it to the East Germans even if she hadn't. To be fair, Control did promise Leamas before he "defected", he wouldn't keep a file on her when this saga was all over. Only on the wall, did Leamas figure out what that meant.
David John Moore Cornwell, alias John le Carré, died. Undoubtedly, he ascended to the discreet Valhalla of the spies, perhaps on the 5th floor of the mythical Circus. RIP Mr. le Carré. And thank you.
Oscar Werner is one of my all time fav actors. But I don't know about him stealing the film from Burton. Think about Burton's incredible scene before he gets sent to prison... where he goes into the small grocery store. Or one of the greatest speeches in film... to Clair Bloom (who is always incredible) in the car about the nature of spies. There are just so many powerful moments and performances in this film. Certainly, one of the best films of the 1960s... and that's saying a lot.
+kabardinka1 The opening sequence when the agent Burton is waiting for is shot in the no man's land between the checkpoints is particularly realistic. I crossed thatstretch
+kabardinka1 The opening sequence when the agent Burton is waiting for is shot in no man's land between the checkpoints is particularly realistic. I crossed that stretch a number of times and that's just how it was.
Witness a Welshman and an Irishman so quietly pull the rug out from beneath the other. In contrast Werner was over the top, but his true gift was always making it look like he was tired of it all. His fluency in English was exceptional.
WTF? Stole? Nobody stole this movie from Burton. Rarely does an actor dominate a role so thoroughly that when I read the novel his performance is based on, I see that actor in my mind's eye when reading it. But for me, Burton will always be Leamas, the tragic, the heroic. I don't care whatever else about this movie is good. Without Burton's performance in the starring role, nobody'd even remember it today. Or would have even a year after it played the theaters. He's that good.
I loved the boom I had no idea they made this into a film I MUST find this!!! If there's a chance in Hell of seeing Leamas journey with my eyes I'm leaping on that chance. Just from this I can tell they had a vision for the telling that camera work is great
This movie could have been an early James Bond precursor but it wasn't to be but Richard Burton should have won an oscar for portraying a spy character in this movie, released in 1965 and recorded in the same year. I do have a copy of this movie on DVD, made in Black and White and surprisingly recorded in stereo, would be fantastic if the movie, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold was colorized in colour with high quality sound and picture also in H.D, 1080p and 4k. Instead of Standard High definition, black and white and in mono. 🎬🎧🎼
That's what you get when you use actors who have spent years in Rep theatre learning their craft...! Before appearing on screen... Nowadays it's straight from Stage school to film . And it shows..!!
Richard Burton and Rod Steiger should've won the Oscar in a tie. Lee Marvin won for "Cat Ballou"! He was a great actor himself but I don't know what the hell they were thinking?
1:58 Occasionally... we have to do wicked things. Wicked things indeed. Probably that was Control's way of letting out a little hint of what was going to happen.
Cusack is just brilliant in this movie. In this scene, he is so "in control" of the conversation. Just moving Burton around like a pawn. He knows exactly where he wants to go. And Cusack also gives you that feeling that control is a very amoral man. In his second scene, Cusack removes all doubt about control's nature. He is going to get someone killed, just not the man we thought. And he really doesn't care who else gets killed. He lets Burton know in an off-hand way that his girlfriend is on their radar. She has become a liability. She is not going to make it. In his two scenes, Cusack does so much for this movie. All the actions that take place right to the end are the result of Control's cold blooded "methods." You buy into Burton's Leamas defecting and running off to east Berlin, all the manipulations, all because you believe in Cusack as Control. If you don't believe in Control's cunning, his ruthlessness, the rest of the movie would just not work as well. "It's like metal fatigue" Brilliant., And while we are talking about Cusack, he also had two small scenes as "the gunsmith" in another great movie, "Day of the Jackal." Cusack plays the Gunsmith as the consummate professional and you buy right into it. "Will the gentleman be moving? Will you be going for a head shot or a chest shot?" "In that case, you should have explosive bullets." Wow, of course I should have explosive bullets.Why didn't I think of that. I'm so glad I came to you. Every freelancer and government "contractor" recommends you. Yup, Cusack was brilliant.
This is in my personal top ten. To get into this list - a personal list - a film must be able to be watched and watched again irrespective of the interval between. Another criteria I set is that the film must possess the ability to reveal more of itself with each viewing. Another in my top ten - though in a completely different genre - is MAster and Commander.
I watched this last week after a holiday in Berlin supercool film ridiculously brilliant acting by richard no Oscar what a travesty ,an berlin what a cool city,,,,
It would have been wonderful to get a couple of minutes dialogue before this … “and this new girl , she never warms the pot . She’s called Patrice , imagine …”
@Mr Spoon can't quite understand why people hate the English. The government was not perfect but was just. The British had good administration. Then again I'm biased as the descendant of British loyalists who moved to Nova Scotia and then back to the USA to get a job. Mind you the family moving back to the USA was over 100 years after first leaving the USA and in the 1880-1890s there really was no minding if the King's subjects moved back and forth across the border.
SNP drivel !! Only brain dead morons " hate " other entire nations. Though , on balance , I " brain dead " just about describes the average SNP supporter.
He did no such thing. It's a fine film in every respect, but the story's about Leamas, and no actor could have played Leamas the way Burton did. Which is to say brilliantly, and devastatingly. I'd rank this performance against that of any actor, in any movie, from any time period. In fact the only performance I can think of that even comes close is Alec Guinness as Smiley, in that BBC production of (yep!) another magnificent film based on a David Cornwell novel.
“Tired agents sometimes need pruning….” Alec was set up to die in order to protect Mundt, who’d been turned and was in danger of being exposed by Fiedler.
You basically are giving up your life as a free man when you take this path as a double agent. You can only do this without having any background or family. I can only imagine the backbone an individual would have within their mind and their soul. I salute these people who mostly gave up on any kind of life one would consider normal.
The film portrays how Leamas has a character flaw of accepting what he is told. When control tells him about the story of why they do wicked things, he is communicating gibberish. No intelligence is really communicated. He philosophizes his actions and expects Leamas to accept what he is told. If I were a spy I would have retired then and there because I would not allow myself to be manipulated with useless info.
Control has a sideline in custom made sniper rifles. For the right people of course. It's a wicked world, our methods can't be less wicked than theirs. Can they?🕳️
I just watched a bunch of trailers for upcoming films in 2023. Then I watched this. The contrast............
Exactly! This is for thinking adults. Everything else is hormone candy -- adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin. But in this quiet scene there's more testosterone than any of them.
You took the words out of my mouth. Exactly
It’s tiresomely true. I’m reluctantly optimistic there’s a new and fettered audience that remains hungry for works of such inimitable magnitude.
The bit where the camera comes over his shoulder as he says 'sometimes we have to do wicked things...' then the little sideways tilt of the head as he says 'very wicked things!' and a wee smile just to show that he doesn't ENTIRELY disapprove. Brilliant!
“He’s a bastard.”
“Quite.”
Genius.
Yet another film that Mr. Burton should have won an Oscar for. This is a classic Spy yarn if there ever was one.
Burton was not seen very well by Hollywood jetset in that period. What a shame! Today everyone can win an Oscar, certainly actors today can't act like Burton could do... What happened to Hollywood Royalty? (Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor ...)
I'm afraid they died, often prematurely.
It's a wicked world.
Very wicked indeed.
Its the classic of all spy films, the weariness, the drabness, the tired intensity of Burton.
perfectly said.👍
Many critics felt this was Burton's best role. The betrayal was breathtaking. In the end Burton, as Alec Leamus, made the less painful choice.
What a beautiful sentence you have written, well, three years ago now. It captures the tone of the speech of the character speaking to Burton in this clip.
Burton at his burnt out alcoholic but still coherent best
but also the voice, which of course is what conveys the tiredness
possibly the finest all-round film i've ever seen. couldn't fault acting, plot, production value - anything. i thought werrner's performance was the standout amongst a marvelous cast. impressive stuff!
English stoicism and plain banal speech about such incredibly ruthless things is chilling and oh so brilliant. Kudos!
Done by an Irishman and a Welshman 😂
This scene with Cyril Cusack as 'Control', one of his two brief scenes in the film, is brilliant as he muses about what must be done in response to the ruthless actions of the Soviet espionage establishment and its operatives. John le Carre stated in an interview he regarded Cusack's performance the best of any in the film.
Yeah, JLC says that Cusack was a real Irishman who hated English so much that he enjoyed to play the role of a ruthless chief of the English intelligence
Don't forget Day of the Jackal...
@@marieadams3720 Loved him in that... and don't forget the 1984 version of Nineteen Eighty Four... BTW... he was also the taxi driver / German Spy in The Man Who Never Was
@ L P.
Spare us the plastic paddy Drivel.
Cyril Cusack spent almost his entire working life in England .h
I knew him and the motion that he
" hated " the Engish is a projection of your little 2 brain cell
mind !
And rightly so. Superb actor
Another Brilliant performance by the late great Richard Burton.
+Kymba WhiteLion Yeah but the editing sort of lets it down. Hair style. You can see it. Still, Richard is the boss. Always.
The words of Control, in this pivotal scene, were the axis, the backbone for the entire film: "Our methods can't afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition."
Indeed the first rule of politics
"Our methods can't afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition." In fact they turned out to be even more so.
It's the almost glossed-over details in this scene that actually lay the groundwork for the entire plot, and if you don't pay attention you may not get the connection afterward. Control's off-hand offer to Leamas about an opening in the banking section, what seems like rambling comments about east versus west that mentions Mundt's undercover visit to England in '59, and Leamas' response that he was in Berlin at the time. All the pieces that Control was putting in place and using Leamas to implement, most of which even Leamas himself didn't know. Control may have seemed like a meek mild-mannered British gentleman, but he really was a cold-blooded tactician who saw to it that people were killed when needed.
When he offered the banking job, it was to see if Lemas still had the desire to be operational. The conversation about munz was laying the seeds of the operation and reminding him that they are in a conflict.
@@mickymac6571 I don't think Control had to remind Leamas that they are in a conflict, Leamas had just witnessed the murder of Riemick under his watch and knew all too well that his job was all about the conflict between East and West. As for laying the seeds of the operation, those seeds had been laid years before when Mundt had been in England, murdered someone while he was there, and been captured and turned by British Intelligence. The last piece of the puzzle that Control was assembling was to put Leamas in banking, which served 2 purposes: 1, to provide the credible story about having to make foreign deposits for undercover agents (Mundt being one of them), so that Leamas was in fact telling Fiedler the truth about what he had been doing, and 2, to provide the supposed reason for Leamas leaving British Intelligence, having gone from an agent handler to a washed-up paper pusher, disillusioned and bitter, ready to even consider the idea of making some money as a traitor. Leamas was given just enough information to believe he was doing his part to get Mundt killed, but not enough to know what the real plan was.
Check mate control 🛂
most realistic spy film ever made
Watch the video. Control literally says, "our methods can't afford to be less ruthless than the opposition". His intent isn't hidden.
The real art of speaking.
The slow fade out is the perfect ending to the briefing. It adds power to the scene and gives the first time viewer the feeling that something sinister and dark is coming. Of course the repeat viewer knows something sinister and dark is coming. Control is perfect in calculating the plot that will set the hook in the jaw of Leamas.
One of my favourite parts from 2 of my favourite actors. Love the whole 1984 meet up some years later.
A perfect story; an equally perfect cinematographic adaptation.
@ 02:33 Cusack : And how do you feel about him?
Burton - Feel?
Cusack : yes
Burton - He's a bastard.
Cusack : Quite.
what understated chilling, casual dialogue depicting the buildup for a political assassination.
marksandsparks1 What I have in mind for Mundt is a little out of the ordinary.
Beautifully done. Well directed, photographed, excellent acting.
Cusack is just masterly. He really plays the subtext well. Not too knowingly so as to tip off Leamas as to what he is really up to.
Exactly! When the devastating outcome for Leamas is revealed, I wondered if he had regretted not taking the desk job that Control offered him. He didn't.
two great actors R I P
1:41 That camera makes Burton look powerless and insignificant. This ain't James Bond, there was nothing "cool" about being a spy in this movie
Well, if one reads the BOOKS of James Bond he/she would find the same vibe, very far from the luxury and vanity of the popular movies (but from the ones with Daniel Craig "the Great", very close to the original tormented character of Jan Fleming, despite the conspicuos unavoidable concessions to the rules of the film industry)
spying was a dirty business; I think this was Richard Burton's finest performance
@@peterashford7855 Yes, I’d agree with you. I think many people are able to act well. But some are able to become their characters. Still fewer have a personality which projects in all directions. Richard B was such a man for whom too few screen roles offered the challenged needed for his talent.
@@peterashford7855 listen only to Alex’s soliloquy in the car with the girl..... “what do you think spies are?
Amazing!!!! First, he stares at Burton unblinkingly over his cup. Then he's lost in a Wistful Reverie as his eyes become unfocused and his past and future flashes through his mind.
Perhaps the greatest spy film of all time. Bleak, murky, with Richard Burton and done in black and white.
I Saw this movie three times and red the book twice !! Both are SUPERB. The best of espionage EVER !GREETINGS from Brasil.
Sorry , juca ! Should have been like
But pressed wrong button !
+2msvalkyrie No problem ! tks
If any youngster (say, came of age in the 90's or later) were to ask me of the Cold War years, this is one of the movies I would reference.
I wants to know many things . About making nation and protecting nation . education and food
@@dipendramudbhari7184 Can't help you there. All I can tell you is, humans being what they are, you will have an unending need for food.
The best thing we as a people can do is to get off of Mother Earth and spread among the stars.
- i want you to stay out in the cold ...a little longer.
The best spy thriller ever written
Absolutely.
Le Carre is a superb author. Why he's not been knighted is a mystery.
@@atakd
He's been awarded the Goethe Medal by Germany, the Olaf Palme Prize by Sweden, the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America, but snubbed by his own country. Go figure.
Except perhaps for Alec Guinness as George Smiley .....his was a genius portrayal.
In the Bond movies the M character was almost always portrayed as a gentle, paternal guy (the Judi Dench iteration notwithstanding) yet in the film we get a far more cold, ruthless and manipulative type. That seems more realistic - one doesn’t become the leader of the circus by being warm and cuddly.
You don't head the SIS and be the nice guy.......
The guy who is his boss played the gunsmith in "The Day of the Jackal". The first film version. The best version. Here he mentions "metal fatigue" which is ironic that he played a character later that worked with metal and gunsmithing...yes...enough to stop your day with this information...
The actor who played "Control" was Cyrik Cusack.
Cyril cusack. Irishman. Sinead Cusacks daughter.
I wonder if it was Cyrus' idea to include the " yes" in this scene and his later scene. He is so so good. Yes. He had two scenes in this movie, two in "Day of the Jackel." 10-11 minutes total. Yet I thought even as a kid that this guy is really good at what he does. Yes.
@@amcname494
John le Carre stated in an interview he regarded Cyril Cusack's performance the best of any in the film. Here are excerpts from that interview:
ua-cam.com/video/xXGAqE5odXg/v-deo.html
@@jamesfahy3963And Niamh, Sorcha and Catherine. A family businesss
0:05 - "Would you like a drink?"
- "I'll wait."
- "Can you still do that?"
Brutal
The inherent savagery of English civility.
@@vhayes2257
The English can cut you to the bone with such decorum.
@@vhayes2257 well said.
@@newjeffersonian6456 We are taught how to do it in certain schools in England. The key is always to feign an air of 'effortless superiority', though, of course, some people exude this quality quite naturally. In any case, whether innate or performed, sanguinity and clipped taciturnity are required in order to create the very best thinly disguised insults which are then able to proceed from one's lips as if some linguistic magic has been wrought on one's tongue.
One of the few films made from a good book that is as good or even better than the book. Every performance in the picture is just right on. Cusack here is neatly understated. And later, Oskar Werner is excellent. Generally, Burton wasted his talent , but this was a fine performance in a really good picture. IMO, its woefully underrated. Might be the best spy movie ever made.
I think Burton didn't waste his talent so much as there not being sufficient 'vehicles' for his talent.
I wouldn't say 'wasted talent', rather 'overlooked'.
One of my favorite movies that he's a main character in is The Battle of Sutjeska, a rather hard-to-find film and not heard of much. That film was the first one in which I noticed him. He was excellent playing the part of Communist leader Tito, and his Serbo-Croatian was beautifully pronounced.
Well, Burton certainly did not waste his talent in THIS film. His performance was masterful in every way. I agree with another commentator that Burton should have gotten the Academy Award for his performance in this film. And you are right - TSWCIFTC is one of those rare movies that came from a great book yet did not disappoint in any way. It's the best spy movie ever made, IMHO.
Michael Hordern has a cameo in
the park bench with Burton.
A short scene but brilliant .
No, the book is better
This is were Control gauges Leames hatred for Mundt making him a perfect sacrificial lamb!!
Control: How do you feel about him (Mundt)
Leamas: Feel...??
Control: Yes.
Leamas: He's a bastard!
Control: Quite
You nailed it
Shiva Venkat But how do you know Leamas didn't like Mundt and only pretended to hate him?
Gauges yes, very true. I watched this film a few times, and after watching this scene again, in isolation I agree. He asks him first if he wants to stay out in the cold - take a desk job - to see if he's capable of desisting from the task which he isn't - he gauges the man (Leamas) tests him in every way psychologically. That's what this scene between Leamas and control is, psychological testing directed towards Leamas to see if he's capable of being used and he is easily used by control very quickly after this scene. Leamas can't accept at the tribunal scene that Mundt could be London's man, because as he says "If Mundt were london's man I would have known about it, I was a Berlin station head, if he were London's man I would have known about it" but he's caught by Control from the very beginning in this scene...
Leamas is the perfect pawn. Control pretends to give him an out knowing he is bent on revenge and loyal to the agents he has lost. Control is incredibly ruthless here to a degree that only becomes evident at the end. It is instructive to go back and watch these early scenes to appreciate just how ruthless and cunning the Brits are in sacrificing their own for a “higher cause” LeCarre is a genius, but it can only be truly appreciated upon repeated viewings and readings of the movie and novel. Layers upon layers of subtlety..
Cusak was brilliant in this film but so were the rest of the cast. It's very rare when a film is better than the book but in this case, everything is perfect. Burton never made anything as good despite a long and varied career. Anyone who visited the Eastern zone during the period will know the bleak atmosphere that is so cleverly captured in this film. It makes all other spy pictures look amateurish.
+Martin Padderborn The East Germany scenes were filmed in Eire.
+john huddy Yes and it's impossible to see the difference.
john huddy Dublin was a very bleak place back then and for a long time afterwards
I totally agree with your point of view.
Burton helps lots of people wait everyday. He looks like a wounded animal, ready to snarl at the prospect of banking or worse. He shrugs off his pain when he hears "what I have in mind is a little out of the ordinary" then he comes to life.
Cyril Cusack, gives a brilliantly understated delivery of these poignant and brutal lines.
Leamass has stitched himself up like a kipper the moment he says "I was in Berlin" and "he's a bastard". Controls response - "quite" - tells us that he is plotting Leamass downfall although we and Leamass only become aware that this was the case at the end of the film.
A leap too far, I'd argue. Control is an old master and used to 'using' his agents. His agents too, and in particular, Leamas, are professionals and know the game. In the final scene, Leamas was over and clear of the wall and was shot only because he went back for the girl. I can only assume that her killing was simply an expediency to protect Mundt.
@@jvincent6548 I agree on your last point. Control couldn't trust Leamas to not reveal the double cross to Nan and she probably would've have revealed it to the East Germans even if she hadn't. To be fair, Control did promise Leamas before he "defected", he wouldn't keep a file on her when this saga was all over. Only on the wall, did Leamas figure out what that meant.
Control was a straight gangster. Neither Leamas or Smiley were as vicious.
So interesting to watch side-by-side comparisons of different actors playing the same scene, especially the way they do the dialogue parts.
John le Carre's version of what James Bond (007) is really like.
The actor opposite Burton. Isn't that the gunmaker from Day of the Jackal?
David John Moore Cornwell, alias John le Carré, died. Undoubtedly, he ascended to the discreet Valhalla of the spies, perhaps on the 5th floor of the mythical Circus. RIP Mr. le Carré. And thank you.
Masterpiece
This is my favorite scene in any movie ever
"this new girl never warms the pot. her name's Patrice - imagine!"
Haven't seen the film yet but the version on BBC Radio 4, with Brian Cox as Leamas, was superb.
Oscar Werner is one of my all time fav actors. But I don't know about him stealing the film from Burton. Think about Burton's incredible scene before he gets sent to prison... where he goes into the small grocery store. Or one of the greatest speeches in film... to Clair Bloom (who is always incredible) in the car about the nature of spies. There are just so many powerful moments and performances in this film. Certainly, one of the best films of the 1960s... and that's saying a lot.
+kabardinka1 The opening sequence when the agent Burton is waiting for is shot in the no man's land between the checkpoints is particularly realistic.
I crossed thatstretch
+kabardinka1 The opening sequence when the agent Burton is waiting for is shot in no man's land between the checkpoints is particularly realistic.
I crossed that stretch a number of times and that's just how it was.
+Martin Padderborn Sorry about the glitch .I've had problems with UA-cam before.
Witness a Welshman and an Irishman so quietly pull the rug out from beneath the other. In contrast Werner was over the top, but his true gift was always making it look like he was tired of it all. His fluency in English was exceptional.
WTF? Stole? Nobody stole this movie from Burton. Rarely does an actor dominate a role so thoroughly that when I read the novel his performance is based on, I see that actor in my mind's eye when reading it. But for me, Burton will always be Leamas, the tragic, the heroic. I don't care whatever else about this movie is good. Without Burton's performance in the starring role, nobody'd even remember it today. Or would have even a year after it played the theaters. He's that good.
I loved the boom I had no idea they made this into a film I MUST find this!!! If there's a chance in Hell of seeing Leamas journey with my eyes I'm leaping on that chance. Just from this I can tell they had a vision for the telling that camera work is great
Cyril Cusack a brilliant actor. Also played the mayor (a crafty, cunning character) in the comedy Clochmerle, set in s small French wine village.
One needs to come in; in from the cold
This movie could have been an early James Bond precursor but it wasn't to be but Richard Burton should have won an oscar for portraying a spy character in this movie, released in 1965 and recorded in the same year. I do have a copy of this movie on DVD, made in Black and White and surprisingly recorded in stereo, would be fantastic if the movie, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold was colorized in colour with high quality sound and picture also in H.D, 1080p and 4k. Instead of Standard High definition, black and white and in mono. 🎬🎧🎼
Color would ruin it.
❤❤❤❤❤this movie! Burton is immortal !❤️ from india
Saw this yesterday. What a movie!
This is close to being the BEST SCENE in the movie......great acting by Cyril Cusack and Richard Burton!
That's what you get when you use
actors who have spent years in Rep theatre learning their craft...!
Before appearing on screen...
Nowadays it's straight from Stage
school to film . And it shows..!!
"He's a bastard."
"...Rigth." Marvelous
Richard Burton and Rod Steiger should've won the Oscar in a tie. Lee Marvin won for "Cat Ballou"! He was a great actor himself but I don't know what the hell they were thinking?
1:58 Occasionally... we have to do wicked things. Wicked things indeed.
Probably that was Control's way of letting out a little hint of what was going to happen.
Burton was mesmerising when he was in a good film. We should have got more stuff like this from him.
Would you like a drink ?
No I'll wait
Can you still do that ?
Cusack is just brilliant in this movie. In this scene, he is so "in control" of the conversation. Just moving Burton around like a pawn. He knows exactly where he wants to go. And Cusack also gives you that feeling that control is a very amoral man. In his second scene, Cusack removes all doubt about control's nature. He is going to get someone killed, just not the man we thought. And he really doesn't care who else gets killed. He lets Burton know in an off-hand way that his girlfriend is on their radar. She has become a liability. She is not going to make it.
In his two scenes, Cusack does so much for this movie. All the actions that take place right to the end are the result of Control's cold blooded "methods." You buy into Burton's Leamas defecting and running off to east Berlin, all the manipulations, all because you believe in Cusack as Control. If you don't believe in Control's cunning, his ruthlessness, the rest of the movie would just not work as well. "It's like metal fatigue" Brilliant.,
And while we are talking about Cusack, he also had two small scenes as "the gunsmith" in another great movie, "Day of the Jackal." Cusack plays the Gunsmith as the consummate professional and you buy right into it. "Will the gentleman be moving? Will you be going for a head shot or a chest shot?" "In that case, you should have explosive bullets." Wow, of course I should have explosive bullets.Why didn't I think of that. I'm so glad I came to you. Every freelancer and government "contractor" recommends you. Yup, Cusack was brilliant.
I completely agree with you and so did John Le Carre. In an interview he stated that he regarded Cusack's performance the best of any in the film.
Superb.
Wow. I saw this movie in Barrington Hall on acid it was very weird.
The spy writer ever. Loved this spy thriller
just realized Cyril Cusak "contol", played the man who made a custom sniper rifle, for the Jackel, in the movie the jackel
The dramatic irony of this scene is so thick it needs a wooden stick for stirring.
Pls would love to see the whole film
This is in my personal top ten. To get into this list - a personal list - a film must be able to be watched and watched again irrespective of the interval between. Another criteria I set is that the film must possess the ability to reveal more of itself with each viewing. Another in my top ten - though in a completely different genre - is MAster and Commander.
There's obviously no tea in those cups.
I watched this last week after a holiday in Berlin supercool film ridiculously brilliant acting by richard no Oscar what a travesty ,an berlin what a cool city,,,,
It would have been wonderful to get a couple of minutes dialogue before this … “and this new girl , she never warms the pot . She’s called Patrice , imagine …”
2 verry good actors
My god... brilliant!!
"Quite."
It used to be two lumps. It still is.
Not to be confused with The spy who came down with a cold...😹 but seriously great film based on the classic John le Carré novel
Real spy stuff!
Cyril Cusack is brilliant in this film and in The Day of the Jackal. Did Control become a gunsmith in retirement?
Recommended myself to watch.
POSITIVE a Soviet would brief his pawn the same.
Real Spies. No Morals.
No Heroes.
Being a spy is a shit lonely job.
cusak was irish he hated the english and therefore loved playing this role--no spoiler but he is evil beyond imagination
Almost half of Scotland hate the poor English too, as proven by their recent independence vote..:)
@Mr Spoon can't quite understand why people hate the English. The government was not perfect but was just. The British had good administration. Then again I'm biased as the descendant of British loyalists who moved to Nova Scotia and then back to the USA to get a job. Mind you the family moving back to the USA was over 100 years after first leaving the USA and in the 1880-1890s there really was no minding if the King's subjects moved back and forth across the border.
SNP drivel !! Only brain dead morons " hate " other entire nations. Though , on balance , I
" brain dead " just about describes
the average SNP supporter.
I understand where Burton was coming from... and it's too bad cause he could have changed his life and career for the better.
Oskar Werner stole the show in this film
He certainly did!
One of my all time fav actors. But I must say that Burton was pretty wonderful in this film as well.
Burton (Leamas) gives a masterpiece of acting at the moment he realizes that the tables had been turned on him.
He did no such thing. It's a fine film in every respect, but the story's about Leamas, and no actor could have played Leamas the way Burton did. Which is to say brilliantly, and devastatingly. I'd rank this performance against that of any actor, in any movie, from any time period. In fact the only performance I can think of that even comes close is Alec Guinness as Smiley, in that BBC production of (yep!) another magnificent film based on a David Cornwell novel.
And he was three years older than Burton!
Lucha y lucha personal ante una ❓ pregunta.¿Estas o no estas?no lo comprendí
😊❤
A bleak but brilliant film...
“Tired agents sometimes need pruning….” Alec was set up to die in order to protect Mundt, who’d been turned and was in danger of being exposed by Fiedler.
As it turns out he was only an pawn on both sides of the former Cold War .
You basically are giving up your life as a free man when you take this path as a double agent. You can only do this without having any background or family. I can only imagine the backbone an individual would have within their mind and their soul. I salute these people who mostly gave up on any kind of life one would consider normal.
le Carre didn't think Burton was the best choice for this
The film portrays how Leamas has a character flaw of accepting what he is told. When control tells him about the story of why they do wicked things, he is communicating gibberish. No intelligence is really communicated. He philosophizes his actions and expects Leamas to accept what he is told. If I were a spy I would have retired then and there because I would not allow myself to be manipulated with useless info.
Didn't know Clive Owen was in this movie.
Got a promotion in 1984
Pay close attention 007
" BROAD SWORD CALLING DANNY BOY! OVER."
Danny Boy (Michael Hordern) is in this movie as well.
@@buffalopatriot Good call.
Richard Burton must have been Typecast because he played a very good (or doubleplusgood) O'Brien in "1984" which, as you know was about "Communism"
continuity problem with the great Burton's hair
Try not blinking for 20 seconds as did Burton in a take here.
That faux-gentile manner as they swim like sharks...
I think this film was lost on me. It's annoying because I wanted to enjoy it. Should I read the book then rewatch the film?
shannonjazz Yes.
Control has a sideline in custom made sniper rifles.
For the right people of course.
It's a wicked world, our methods can't be less wicked than theirs.
Can they?🕳️
Yes