The Deadly Affair - The John le Carré Movie Club : Spybrary

Today, we discuss The Deadly Affair, starring James Mason, on the next episode of the John le Carré movie club series on the Spybrary Podcast. This is the series where our panel of spy film fans will take a deep dive into a John le Carre movie.

Following our full debriefing of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy we are tackling The Deadly Affair starring James Mason. We are joined by Jeff Quest of the Le Carre Cast, Double O Section‘s Matthew Bradford, and Spybrary commentator Martin Reynolds.

That and more in this episode of the Spybrary Spy Podcast.

The Deadly Affair (1967)

The Deadly Affair is a 1967 British spy film based on John le Carré's first novel, Call for the Dead (1961). The film stars James Mason and was directed by Sidney Lumet from a script by Paul Dehn.

As it is a Columbia Pictures production and Paramount owned the film rights to the name George Smiley, the central character is renamed Charles Dobbs. Paramount acquired the film rights to the character's name when filming The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965).[2]

The soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, and the bossa nova theme song, “Who Needs Forever”, was performed by Astrud Gilberto. (Wikipedia)

Full Cast

James Mason as Charles Dobbs
Simone Signoret as Elsa Fennan
Maximilian Schell as Dieter Frey
Harriet Andersson as Ann Dobbs
Harry Andrews as Mendel
Kenneth Haigh as Bill Appleby
Roy Kinnear as Adam Scarr
Max Adrian as Advisor
Lynn Redgrave as Virgin
Robert Flemyng as Samuel Fennan
Leslie Sands as Inspector
Corin Redgrave as David
Sheraton Blount as Eunice Scarr (uncredited)
Denis Shaw as Wilf the Barman (uncredited)
David Warner as the actor playing Edward II in the Aldwych Theatre