Made from John le Carre's first novel Call for the Dead, somewhat altered, it has an annoying Bossa Nova sound track and Harriet Andersson as an unconvincing spouse, not in the novel, which like Astrid Gilberto seems extraneous, both designed to sex it up ala the contemporaneous A Man and a Woman. Mason, called Dobbs, instead of Smiley here, seems uncomfortable with it all, not to mention too old for her. It is otherwise an excellent example of the British noir film. The cinematography is very good also. I am at a loss to understand the reference to Marlene Dietrich, unless it is an allusion to homosexuality, but it makes 10 lines here.
Review of The Deadly Affair
