
Spy 100, #69: O.S.S.
There’s an element of patriotic propaganda to O.S.S. (1946), which dramatizes the actual efforts of secret agents behind enemy…
October 24, 2017There’s an element of patriotic propaganda to O.S.S. (1946), which dramatizes the actual efforts of secret agents behind enemy…
October 24, 2017At last, I can belatedly backfill an obscure film from the Spy 100 list. The Iron Curtain (1948) tells…
October 23, 2017It took me almost six years, but I’ve finally finished reviewing the Spy 100 list. (Well, almost; several of…
December 19, 2015The Carol Reed-Graham Greene collaboration that worked so well in Our Man in Havana works even better in The…
December 7, 2015The subdued, talky An Englishman Abroad (1983) isn’t the list’s most electrifying entry, but it does serve as an…
October 25, 2015When I first watched North By Northwest (1959) nearly thirty years ago, I had no idea the path it…
June 14, 2015In my view, the list’s top three selections are unassailably awesome spy films, but it’s The Spy Who Came…
May 11, 2015Hallelujah. The final James Bond movie on the list, Goldfinger (1964), has been dutifully processed. I wasn’t impressed. Actually,…
May 3, 2015Occasionally, I find old movies difficult to get invested in, but director Michael Powell’s The Spy in Black (1939)…
April 1, 2015While it pales in comparison to some of the other spy films of its era, The Mask of Dimitrios…
March 31, 2015Now this is the stuff. From writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed – the same winning team of…
February 16, 2015Its inclusion on the list is unassailable, but on this viewing I wonder if The Manchurian Candidate (1962) might be…
December 29, 2014If there’s essential reading in the spy genre, John le Carré’s Karla trilogy surely tops the list. Tinker Tailor…
December 22, 2014Much as I enjoyed Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (1953), I think it’s rated too highly on the…
November 30, 2014In my view, the quietly devastating The Lives of Others (2006) is right up there with other classic films…
November 24, 2014