The Looking Glass War

A uniformed boarder guard actually says "Your papers please!" in this drab adaptation of John Le Carre's novel (with Bergmanesque visuals from cameraman Austin Dempster).

First-time director Frank R. Pierson had recently received two Oscar nominations as a scriptwriter when Columbia gambled upon his ability to direct a feature film. Columbia lost, it went out on the graveyard shift in February and Pierson went back to TV for several more years.

Both leads were blessed with sullen good looks but not the ability to speak English and soon disappeared. Fortunately they're backed by a fine line-up of British acting talent who are the ones who make the film worth watching. (As in the earlier Le Carre adaptation 'The Deadly Affair' time is devoted to the unhappy home lives of the minders; and again it's not a pretty sight.)