The Looking Glass War

Frank Pierson made a very ambitious bet when he wrote the screenplay and directed the film version of John Le Carré's The Looking Glass War. I admire that ambition, but he only partially succeeded. The novel is a bitter, dark and gritty tale, with lots of satire, of old spymasters reliving their past glories. For that reason they are not up to the job of managing a modern and "Cold" War. Instead of "simply" telling that great and worthy story, Pierson seems to have been inspired by the Swinging 60's, with counterculture movements and young people everywhere pushing back against previous generations, to make an even bigger and more flamboyant statement of generational angst than Le Carré intended. This might have worked if executed well, but a few mistakes undercut him. He chose two beautiful, quirky, fast-rising stars, Christopher Jones and Pia Degermark as the leads. Jones' recruitment scenes were not believable, and neither was Degermark's two deus ex machina moments of entering the spy's life. But they were very nice to watch, and the very good cinematography helped, too. A few other turn-offs, for me were several tedious segments when I thought Pierson was channelling Michelangelo Antonioni, location shots that do not look like anyplace I've ever seen in Germany, as well an overly abrupt ending. In the end Pierson seems to have abandoned Le Carré's biting satire, and he jumbled the shift to generational angst.

Made in 1969 this adaptation of a Le Carré novel isn't faithful to every element of the original book, and is heavily influenced by other contemporary films.

This means it isn't quite as uniformly bleak as many other Le Carré adaptations but depending on how you take it, it is perhaps hard to really believe in or sympathise with any of the characters. This is despite some pretty good performances by some of the lead actors.

What is perhaps missing is the clever editing, taut direction and sheer screen presence that (say) Michael Caine brings to the Harry Palmer movies (even though the plots of those are not exactly uniformly brilliant) or Richard Burton brings to "the spy who came in from the cold". Those movies stand head and shoulders above this.

Technically this film is well-photographed and the dubbing is well done too; however it is perhaps understandable if the pace of the film wanders, given that it looks a lot like they decided to shoehorn various sequences into the plot purely for stylistic reasons.

Some of the criticisms in the other reviews here are spot on and others are (IMHO) thoroughly misplaced; no spoilers here so you will have to work out which for yourself. I guess it is a bit of a curate's egg, this; "good in parts". Therefore if you approach it with suitable expectations you will probably find enough things about this movie to like to make it worth watching.

Overall this film probably isn't as bad as the knockers would lead you to suppose and nor is it as good as the 'ten' folk make out either. It is certainly an interesting period piece but it is also a little more than that too, so it gets 6/10 from me.

A disappointing adaptation of a good book, with a key aspect of the latter (inter-departmental rivalry) being omitted. I located an on-line copy after the usual frustrations of working through links to Youtube that led to short clips, paid subscription copies and so on.

With several jumps in the plot, I did wonder if the version I saw had been hacked around, but it was the 108 minutes stated here on IMDb. Christopher Jones was unconvincing and uninspiring as Leiser, his fight with Avery a prolonged interpolation and his scrabbling around to get under the wire in the dark protracted. And how lucky he was to come across an attractive girl and child (what happened to him?) in the middle of nowhere - and to bump into her again in a cafe.

The best things were the wide, open European spaces and Anthony Hopkins' acting

During the Cold War, the British Intelligence receives a blurred photograph from East Germany taken from Hamburg and Director LeClerc (Ralph Richardson) believes that they are missiles. Their agent Taylor King (Timothy West), who receives a film that might clarify the detail from a pilot in Finland, is found dead on the road and the police believe that he was accidentally killed in a hit-and-run. LeClerc meets the Polish defector Fred Leiser (Christopher Jones), who jumped overboard from a ship expecting to have asylum and stay with his British girlfriend (Susan George) that is pregnant, and decides to recruit him to cross the border and spy the Eat German facility to check the missiles. In return, he would have salary, insurance and political asylum. Leiser is trained by the agent and family man John Avery (Anthony Hopkins) and soon he finds that his girlfriend has had an abortion. When Leiser crosses the border, he stumbles with the local Anna (Pia Degermark) and they stay together in the beginning of a dangerous journey where he is just a pawn in a war game.

"The Looking Glass War" is a dated thriller with a disappointing story. The characters are poorly developed and it is hard to understand the motivation of Leiser in his assignment after discovering that his girlfriend had forced an abortion. He is neither British nor an idealistic man to risk his life in a suicidal mission. Actually it is difficult to understand who he is since he is capable to kill two men in cold blood, slap the face of his girlfriend and let Anna with him knowing that his mission is compromised. The betrayal of LeClerc is the great plot point in the story but also difficult to understand why he plots all operation apparently to justify his agency and get rid off a defector. In the end, there is no consequence receiving or not the message from Leiser. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The film is part allegory on the WWII betrayal of Poland by the United States (under FDR) and Britain, which like the main character (now obscure cult icon) Christopher Jones is used and then abandoned. Not to spoil, I will just mention there is a nice one-liner quote from one of the character that touches on both main themes in one shot. (Have to now read the John le Carré novel to see if it's in there or from the screenwriting). The location migrates from Great Britain in the half to East Germany in the second. The main character Leiser (Christopher Jones) is a Pole who is recruited and exploited for the UK government/military war-related mission (locating rockets) and who is sent to East Germany (hostile) in return for promise of citizenship.

The other major theme is a straightforward counterculture anti-war mongering theme, but certainly not presented in a cliche manner - quite the opposite and film must be viewed to its full conclusion to witness. Very simple and digestable theme for any viewer to get, regardless if they are educated in deeper history or not. So the film is effective thematically without knowing the deeper obscure 'classified' references.

It's a straightforward thriller with a very clear mission, easy to follow in plot, and that develops into an especially interesting artistic form in its second half. The ending is effective and somewhat poignant final scene, where the main impact and revelation is experienced.

There is a good amount of symbolism buried within the film as well, which makes for a film worthwhile of subsequent viewing for film students. Film also has two large act with a shorter final conclusion, which swap locations and style. Lots of film technique, very subtlely presented and well-structured.

The cast is fantastic starring Christopher Jones, but also a younger prime Anthony Hopkins, Pia Degermark and even Susan George in an important scene.

A pleasant surprise representing buried and hidden historical allegory, but also for its equally noble anti-war theme --- both symbiotic and written with perfect synthesis.

I cannot speak for the book as far as adaptation, but knowing the history and war references as well as being literate and a fan of counterculture era film, this hit the mark. And it even makes me want to read the book as well.

Very interesting film. Obscure, subdued. Significant.