Martin Ritt's adaptation of the John Le Carre bestseller THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, a burnt-out spy soon to retire from British Intelligence. For his final assignment, Alec must pose as a drunk who wants to defect to East Germany, where the chief of operations for the Communists, Hans-Dieter Mundt (Peter van Eyck), has captured several British spies. His acting works: Communists throw Alec into jail for public drunkenness and for having an affair with a young member of the local Communist party, Nan (Claire Bloom). In jail, he is approached by Mundt's agents and asked to defect. They take Alec to East Berlin where he is grilled by Mundt's top man, Fiedler (Oskar Werner), who believes that Mundt is actually a double agent. Shot in stark black and white in documentary style, Ritt's film is a realistic portrait of the grim life of a spy, revealing all of the profession's complexities in a style that is equally as thrilling as an elaborate action scene in a James Bond movie. At the heart of the film is Burton's bitter and world-weary Alec, and his performance here ranks among the best of his career.

In this Cold War thriller adapted from John Le Carré's novel, British Intelligence agent Alec Leamas takes on a final assignment before his retirement. His job: make believe he's a defector to get into East Germany and ruin a spy ring run by a German agent. However, it turns out to be a tricky assignment. After entering East Germany, Alec soon realizes he's caught in a trap that's been set for him. Meanwhile, he finds himself falling in love with Nan Perry, a Communist librarian. But can the two find happiness in the midst of all the deceit that goes hand-in-hand with the spy trade?

Originally released theatrically on December 16, 1965.

Filmed at Ireland's Ardmore Studios and England's Shepperton Studios.

John Le Carré actually worked as a spy for the British Intelligence Agency in Berlin when the Berlin Wall was going up. He drew upon those experiences to write THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.

Additional cast: Scot Finch (German Guide) and Anne Blake (Miss Crail).

DVD Features:

Region 1
NTSC
Keep Case
2-Disc Set
Widescreen 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 - English
Additional Release Material:
Additional Audio Material - Audio Conversation - Martin Ritt, Director With Patrick
McGilligan, Film Historian - 1985
Audio Commentary - Oswald Morris, Director of Photography
Documentary - 1. THE SECRET CENTER: JOHN LE CARRE- 2000
2. ACTING IN THE 60'S: Richard Burton, Actor With Kenneth Tynan,
Critic - 1967
Interview - John Le Carre, Author
Additional Product:
Booklet
Trailers - Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Galleries - Set Designs Gallery
Additional Product:
Booklet - Essay - Michael Sragow, Critic

Distributor Notes: John Le Carre's acclaimed bestselling novel, about a Cold War spy on one final, dangerous mission, is every bit as precise and ruthless onscreen in this adaptation directed by Martin Ritt. Richard Burton delivers one of his career-defining performances as Alec Leamas, whose hesitant but deeply felt relationship with a beautiful librarian (Claire Bloom) puts what he hopes will be his last assignment, in East Germany, in jeopardy. An intelligent, hard-edged, and even tragic thriller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is etched with realism and suffused with genuine political and personal anxiety.

Source: Image Entertainment Inc. / Criterion Collection

Richard Burton: Welsh Actor, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, CLEOPATRA
Claire Bloom: British Actress
Oskar Werner: Austrian Actor
Peter Van Eyck: Actor/B. Germany
Sam Wanamaker: American Actor/Director
George Vaskovec: American actor,
Rupert Davies: British Actor
Cyril Cusack: Irish Actor
Michael Hordern: British Character Actor
Robert Hardy: British Character Actor
Bernard Lee: British Supporting Actor

Martin Ritt: American Director/Producer

Martin Ritt: American Director/Producer

Paul Dehn: British Writer/Song Lyricist
Guy Trosper: American Screenwriter

Sol Kaplan: American Composer

Anthony Harvey: British Director/Editor

"Burton is terrific....Oskar Werner matches Burton's performance as an ambitious Jewish communist agent who is hungry to displace his ex-Nazi superior."
"Burton is sexily morose....[The actors] pull you into a fascinatingly crabbed, paranoid world." -- Grade: B+
"The drab cold war atmosphere is deftly evoked by Oswald Morris's elemental black-and-white photography and the cramped sets designed by Tambi Larsen and Hal Pereira."