Hunted down this movie, as it appears a rare beast. The cast is stellar for a British movie. The main protagonist appears to have been likened to James Dean. He spends much of the film striking louche poses - less angry young man, and more 'hip cat'. He appears miscast in this movie, as he inhabits a different plain to the rest of the cast. The storyline, in retrospect, is quite straight forward. However, it has managed to become inextricably entangled in elongated scenes of travel across the agricultural swathe of the then East Germany. There are also some unnecessary fight scenes that appear neither relevant nor truly aggressive. Conceivably, aspects of this movie are conceived out of homo-erotica? I truly wanted to love this movie. I adore 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' and the BBC Smiley series, but this was to flaccid and languid for my tastes. Something of a shame when one notes the immense cast that was at the director's disposal. If you love Cold War dramas - and Le Carre adaptations, you will, no doubt, want to watch this movie - with much sadness, I have to say - be prepared to be underwhelmed.

I'm a big fan of Le Carre, and I love the movie versions of 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. This movie is a real disappointment though. It differs significantly from the book in ways that seem pointless. The actor who plays Leiser looks like he's stepped off the set for 'Two Lane Blacktop' and looks frankly ridiculous as a Pole under cover in East Germany. The East Germany scenes themselves look like they were filmed in California (perhaps they were). The changes to the plot actually change a fundamental premise of the book. All in all, this film is not really worth the bother. Head for the book version or the 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' if you've not yet seen it.

'The Spy who Came in from the Cold', and the TV adaptation of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' led me to have high expectations of any John Le Carre adaptation...sadly, 'The Looking Glass War' falls short of those expectations.The basic essence of the novel's plot is preserved-an obscure intelligence unit called 'the Department' training and sending a Pole to East Germany. What the film fails to capture however are the inner psychological and emotional conflicts of the characters, especially those of the reluctant 'spymaster with scruples' Avery, and the manipulated agent Laiser. Part of the reason for this is the complete reinvention of Laiser's character. He goes from being an intensely loyal former agent from the Department's glory days in WW2 and a naturalised British citizen, to being an ill-tempered Polish drifter who really has scant motivation for taking up the job to begin with. Avery for his part, is hardly developed as a character, which makes his sudden reservations about the scheme in the end somewhat difficult to comprehend.If there is one plus point about the film, its that it spends a lot more time on Laiser's actual infiltration into East Germany, which actually forms a VERY small segment of the novel. However, Laiser's character being completely changed as it was, his brief relationship with the German girl becomes more like a run-of-the-mill romance of a spy story, as opposed to what it was in the novel-the last attempt of a betrayed agent to find human comfort before his inevitable capture...On the whole, its not a bad film. Even the bad parts are entertaining at times. But it certainly DOES NOT live up to the standards of other Le Carre adaptations.

A film very nearly forgotten today, though likely to get a small amount of new attention thanks to a recent DVD release, this movie examines the inner workings and frequent futilities of the spy game. Made at a time when the Cold War was active, it concerns the possibility of Soviet missiles being prepared in East Germany. British spies Richardson and Hopkins enlist (through virtual blackmail) the aid of a reckless and half-cocked young Pole (Jones) to sneak into East Germany and find out if reports of the missile are accurate. Jones becomes a reluctant agent, spurred on by the promise of sanctuary with the Brits if he can complete the mission. He is briefly prepped for the trip at Pickles' house where he engages in a bizarre fight with Hopkins that has a very unexpected capper involving another agent. Once on his way, things get off to a rough start when he injures himself right off the bat and then is forced to kill an East German guard mere moments after entering the country! A series of further misadventures continues, marked by his acquaintances with a shady truck driver (Robbins), a vicious dog and a lovely local girl (Degermark) who is travelling with a young boy. Meanwhile, Hopkins struggles with the ethics of his profession as his frustrated wife Massey starts to unravel emotionally. Richardson gives an assured, authoritative performance, demonstrating the stiff upper lip required for his role. Hopkins, in a very early role (though he got a late start in films to begin with) is interesting to watch. It's a somewhat uneven performance, but is reasonably arresting. He has himself stated that it wasn't until the mid-80's that he tapped in to what he considers his greatest acting tools, but he's certainly not bad here. George appears to decent effect as Jones' pregnant girlfriend and the reason he wants to avoid deportation. Degermark, most famous for her role in the international hit "Elvira Madigan", is a compelling figure. She's startlingly pretty and appealing. Sadly, her life would unspool dramatically soon after this and would never rebound completely. Similarly, Jones (who began an affair with Degermark during this film) would soon find himself out of the business and living a life of occasional drug-fueled obscurity for quite some time, making one more appearance a decade and a half after his last major film. A flash in the pan if ever there was one, he made a big splash with "Wild in the Streets" and "Three in the Attic", but then had his voice dubbed in this film and the subsequent "Ryan's Daughter", thus dooming him to a reputation of inferior performances. With his film career in stasis and facing some personal demons, he was done in the industry, perhaps of his own choosing. Here, he is wildly inconsistent. One minute he's fiercely animated in his signature James Dean way. The next he's practically comatose, barely registering behind tinted glasses. It's not necessarily a good performance, but he was intriguing enough a persona that, in any case, he's interesting to witness. The dubbing of his voice is well-handled and those not familiar with the actor would be hard-pressed to realize it. The director, clearly in tune with Jones' sex appeal, doesn't let him put a shirt on until 20 minutes into the film and often removes it some more after that! The film itself is rather austere and detached, but not without its moments of vivid incident. It's also stylishly shot with inventive camera work and use of reflective surfaces. There are also a couple of very quirky moments such as a scene involving chalk in the rain. Sure to be slow-going for a modern audience, it nonetheless remains of interest to fans of Hopkins, Jones and Degermark, the latter two having fallen off the radar soon after this, though they did make a little-known Italian together.