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(More customer reviews)This gripping, well-acted film launched me on a reading odyssey, beginning with Philby's "My Silent War" and including Seale and McConville's "Philby: the Long Road to Moscow," G. Borovik's "Philby Files," Yuri Modin's "My Five Cambridge Friends" (Y.M. was one of their KGB handlers), Philip Knightley's "Philby, the Life and Views of the KGB Master Spy", and Miranda Carter's "Anthony Blunt, His Lives", among many others (some of which are less than sympathetic). As a result, I can appreciate the intense research that went into this outstanding TV series.The portrayals are brilliant: the subtle nuances of Toby Stephens' Philby; the ambiguity of Samuel West's Blunt; the vulnerability of Rupert Penry-Jones' Maclean; and finally, the brilliance of Tom Hollander's Burgess. Hollander's portrayal of the outrageous original is so convincing that when one reads Guy Burgess' actual quoted words, one 'hears' Tom Hollander.
Moody and suspenseful, the drama dwells on a theme worthy of Sophoclean tragedy: the conflict between the obligations to oneself (friends and family) and the obligations to the State. Each of the characters, tragically flawed, reaches what seems to be the pinnacle of success, only to suffer a reversal of fortune and be cast down by outside events (here, the intrusion of the Cold War). The tragedy in Mr. Moffat's drama rests not in the fact that Philby, Blunt, Maclean and Burgess spied for the other side. These are mere plot points in an Aristotelian sense (although the repercussions on the State cannot be denied). The tragedy derives from the fact that as each man is compelled to betray his ideals, friends or family, he recognizes the enormity of that betrayal.
The film is enhanced by a riveting musical score and by remarkable camera work, which not only effectively depicts England of the 'thirties and 'forties, but also defines the characters with a sinister juxtaposition of shadow and light. The lighting is especially effective in scenes portraying the enigmatic and (some say) duplicitous Anthony Blunt, whose face is often half-masked in deep shadow.
The commentaries accompanying parts one and four of the series are equally fascinating, providing us with nuggets of information, such as the fact that Trinity College, Cambridge, would not allow its premises to be used for making a film about four of its most notorious graduates (The company was forced to film at King's College, next door.). Similarly, the Reform Club, the haunt of Jules Verne's fictional Phileas Fogg, refused admittance to the film company, because it did not want to advertise the fact that it had once named a double vodka and grapefruit juice a "Double Burgess", after one of its most irrepressibly rambunctious members, Guy Burgess.
We can only hope that Mr. Fywell and Moffat are planning a second series (The film-makers have already hinted at Philby's affair in Moscow with Melinda Maclean.). There are at least four more absorbing episodes: Philby's relentless grilling in London by MI5, his subsequent adventures in Beirut, his defection and miserable reception in Moscow, where he, like Burgess and Maclean, had to face the even colder reality of Russian Winters and the frost-bitten remnants of his utopian dreams, and finally Blunt's secret confession, promise of immunity, and eventual unmasking in London. Then the tragedy will be complete.
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In 1934, four brilliant young men at Cambridge University are recruited to spy for Russia. Fueled by youthful idealism, a passion for social justice, a talent for lying and a hatred for fascism, the four take huge personal risks to pass Britain's biggest secrets to Moscow. Starring four of Britain's most talented young actors, this epic yet intimate drama brings one of the twentieth century's most compelling true stories to exciting new life.DVD Features:Audio CommentaryDocumentary:45 minute documentary "Great Spy Stories of the Twentieth Century: The Cambridge Spies"Featurette:"A Cambridge Spies Historical Scrapbook" - a collection of rare interviews, news clips and other footage featuring the real Cambridge Spies.Other:Trailers
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