Whereas other moments of the film stop and allow revelation through intensity and cogitation, the film rushes through revelation to bloody denouement like a downhill locomotive, only to have its sudden end leave viewers feeling shell-shocked. This did not bother me, but it’s definitely something Ritt should have given more pause to; especially how Leamas dies, which is, given all we learn of the character, up to that point, simply implausible, and a bow not to a Hollywood ending, but a Shakespearean one which is just as contrived as a Hollywood ending would have been. Of course, that Le Carre was really a spy lends this film, and much of his work, a gloss of realism simply for not being James Bondian; how much of it was really real is not knowable. The screenplay by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper is solid, thus succeeds and fails mainly on the strength of its source. The reality, however, does not matter, for the aesthetics are what carry the film.
That stated, the film and DVD are highly recommended. I’ve lamented the growing lack of DVD commentary tracks on recent Criterion titles since adopting their new C logo, but, this film manages to counter that loss with a bevy of great features. Before I detail them, however, I wonder why the company would put this all out on a two-disk version — disk one with the film (in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio) and trailer, and disk two with the features. They could have all been easily fit on a single disk. Perhaps marketing it as a two-disk DVD might lead fans to think more is offered? Still, quality trumps quantity. Disk two has some great features.
The best is a 1967 interview of Burton by film critic Kenneth Tynan, called Acting In The 60s: Richard Burton. It is brilliantly conceived and executed, probing, and reveals a depth of Burton rarely seen. It is one of the best actor interviews on film. A hour long interview with Le Carre is almost as good, but more focused on the book, the film, and aspects of the author’s past’s influence on both. Le Carre speaks of the proprietary feeling most writers have toward their characters, and how he, by contrast, always sought to rewrite his books in their film adaptations, because he always found flaws he wanted to fix. Also, the revelation that screenwriter Paul Dehn was also a British spy and contract killer is startling. Whether true or not, one cannot know, but such hyperbolic gems are usually only found in DVD bonus features on Werner Herzog films. A BBC documentary, The Secret Centre: John Le Carre, is also excellent. Cinematographer Oswald Morris gives some selected scene commentary, but it does not make up for the lack of a full audio commentary.
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