Instead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.
Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), a British spy, is sent to East Germany, supposedly to defect, but in fact to sow disinformation. As more plot turns appear, Leamas becomes more convinced that his own people see him as just a cog. His struggle back from dehumanization becomes the final focus of the story.—John Vogel <[email protected]>
When an East German informant is killed at Checkpoint Charlie right before his eyes, Alec Leamas (Richard Burton), head of the Berlin station, returns to London headquarters. There his boss, Control (Cyril Cusack), enquires if he is tired, burnt out, ready to come in from the cold. Control suggests that there is a vacancy, a desk job, that might interest him, but Leamas declines adamantly. Thus, Control immediately mentions that he has something out of the ordinary in mind, to target a German Agent called Hans-Dieter Mundt (Peter van Eyck), who is systematically eliminating informants to the West.—alfiehitchie
Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) is the operative for the British Secret Service overseeing the field Agents and their activities in Berlin. Recent activities in the field in Berlin and Alec's long-term status in the position make his London-based boss, Control (Cyril Cusack), openly wonder if Alec is burnt out and thus needs to come in from the cold to a London-based desk job. Alec's deteriorating state of mind is what Control wants the enemies to believe, as he asks Alec to do one last job out in the field. Alec is to pretend to become a drunkard who has left the agency due to his perceived failings in the job, working whatever odd jobs he can get, given his previous secret work. This change in attitude would make Alec ripe for turning information to the enemies. What Alec is supposed to do is implicate top East German Agent Hans-Dieter Mundt (Peter van Eyck) as a British double Agent, leading to Mundt being murdered by his own. The Brits expect Mundt's second in command, an East German Jew named Fiedler (Oskar Werner) who hates his ex-Nazi boss, to be the unsuspecting accomplice in this plan. Beyond the regular dangers in Alec being found out, or Mundt being able to convince his masters of his innocence, Alec faces one initially unintended obstacle, namely his relationship with a librarian named Nancy "Nan" Perry (Claire Bloom), whom Alec has met during his cover job as a library assistant. She is openly a member of the British Communist Party, but in her idealistic state, sees herself as drunkard Alec's savior. Alec wants to keep her out of what is occurring, which may be difficult, as both sides, while watching Alec's movements, will see their involvement with each other.—Huggo
During the Cold War, operative Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) loses his last informant in East Berlin when he is shot while crossing the border. Leamas travels to London to meet his chief, Control (Cyril Cusack). They have a meeting, and Control asks him to lure the East Germans to make them believe that their Agent, Hans-Dieter Mundt (Peter van Eyck) is a double Agent, and use Jewish Agent Fiedler (Oskar Werner), who is under the command of Mundt and hates him, to expose Mundt to get rid of him. Leamas poses as an alcoholic potential defector without any pension who finds a job in a library. Soon he becomes the lover of Nancy "Nan" Perry (Claire Bloom), who works with him in the library and belongs to the British Communist Party. Leamas is arrested for fighting in a store, and when he is discharged from jail, an East German Agent recruits him and sends him to the Netherlands. He is then taken to East Germany, where Leamas meets Fiedler, who uses his information to accuse Mundt. Afterward, Mundt is put before a tribunal, but out of the blue, his attorney summons a mysterious witness. Who might be this witness?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In West Berlin in the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, Alec Leamas is a spy in charge of British Intelligence operations in the city. However, his operatives have been hunted down and killed by Mundt, the head of East German counter-espionage. Leamas himself is present at Checkpoint Charlie near the Berlin Wall when he witnesses the last of his agents, Karl Riemeck, being killed as he attempts to escape to the West.
Leamas is recalled to London by Control, the head of the "Circus" (slang for MI6, the British Intelligence service). Control makes little secret of the fact that he sees Leamas' career as over, however he is willing to keep him on for one last operation: to destroy Mundt, something which Leamas is only too happy to do.
Leamas is later seen apparently out of the service and unemployed. He gets a job at a reference library and starts an affair with Nan Perry, another librarian and a member of the British communist party. Leamas gives the impression of a bitter, broken man and an alcoholic. He later assaults a grocer and spends time in prison.
After his release from jail, Leamas is approached by a man called Ashe who claims to be part of a charity that supports ex-convicts. Leamas is quick to realise that Ashe and his associate Carlton are East German agents who want him to defect and provide information. Still a heavy drinker and desperate for money, he agrees.
Leamas later visits George Smiley, another leading official in the "Circus", and there he meets Control who briefs him on what he is to tell the Germans. Leamas' defection is part of a long-term plan hatched by the British that will lead the East Germans to believe that Mundt is a traitor and will be executed by his own side.
Travelling on a false passport, Leamas goes to Holland where he meets Peters, an East German Intelligence official. Leamas tells Peters about what he knows about the "Circus" and specifically about Operation "Rolling Stone" during which he made payments into Danish and Finnish banks under a false name. The money was later taken out by a "business partner", actually an agent working behind the Iron Curtain. Leamas later reads a newspaper article which shows that he is wanted by the police in England. He has no choice now but to agree to actually go to East Germany itself and is taken there by Peters.
Leamas arrives at a compound where he meets Fiedler, Mundt's deputy in counter-espionage. It's well known that there is little love lost between Mundt, an ex-Nazi, and Fiedler, who is a Jew. Fiedler questions Leamas further about "Rolling Stone" and suggests that it was all about secret payments to a spy even higher up in the East German government than Karl Riemeck, who worked for the Presidium of the East German Communist Party. Leamas himself rejects this theory on the grounds that, as head of British Intelligence operations in Germany, he would have been told about all the agents working there.
Meanwhile in London, Leamas' girlfriend Nan Perry is visited by George Smiley who claims to be a friend of Leamas. She is later invited to East Germany as part of an exchange program between the British and East German Communist Parties.
One night, Fiedler and Leamas return to the compound where they are arrested by Mundt himself. However, Fiedler has already reported his own findings to the Presidium and Mundt is himself later arrested as a spy for the British.
A secret tribunal is convened to determine Mundt's guilt. At the hearing, Fiedler outlines his case: in 1959, Mundt was part of a trading mission in London, a cover for intelligence work. He killed a man and escaped under the noses of the authorities. Fiedler claims that his escape was too easy and that he only got away when he agreed to supply information to the British, for which he was paid. Fiedler also points out that Karl Riemeck, a proven spy, rose high in the East German civil service thanks to Mundt, thus enabling them to gain access to secrets. When Riemeck came under suspicion, Mundt had him killed to protect himself. Another point is that the money from the bank accounts set up by Leamas in Helsinki and Copenhagen was withdrawn at times when Mundt is known to have been in those cities.
When Leamas is asked to give evidence he again rejects the idea that Mundt was a spy for Britain because he - Leamas - would have been told. In answer to Mundt's lawyer, he denies ever meeting George Smiley.
Mundt's lawyer, Karden, claims Leamas was set up by his boss, Control, to defect in order to frame Mundt and get him executed. He further reveals that Mundt's agents actually followed Leamas during his last days in London and that, although he gave them the slip, it was in the neighbourhood of George Smiley's residence.
Leamas' girlfriend, Nan Perry, then appears in the court, having been lured to East Germany. Without knowing exactly what is going on, she is quizzed over her involvement. It's revealed that she now owns the lease on her rented flat due to an anonymous benefactor and that she was visited there by George Smiley. Karden persuades the court that Leamas did meet Smiley before he left London and set in motion a plan to discredit Mundt.
In an attempt to try and get Nan out of trouble, Leamas quickly steps forward and admits that Karden is right about the British plan. Mundt is cleared and Fiedler and Leamas are arrested. Although Leamas hoped to get her released, Nan is also taken into custody.
Leamas is taken back to his cell, but later hears the door being unlocked. Making his way out of the building to a back exit he meets Mundt. Nan is also there waiting next to a car. Mundt gives Leamas instructions on how to get to East Berlin and meet a contact who will get him over the Wall. His escape will give Mundt extra excuses to purge Fiedler and his associates and have them executed.
During the journey by car, Leamas tells a confused Nan what's really been going on, the truth that he himself has only just realised: Mundt is a spy for the British and Fiedler was closing in on him. Rather than just have Fiedler killed, Smiley and Control decided to discredit him and his evidence as well. Leamas was used to make Fiedler's case and Nan to undermine it. Thus Fiedler will die for trying to incriminate a senior intelligence officer and Mundt will be able to resume his work as a double agent.
When Nan berates him for causing the execution of Fiedler who was guilty of nothing, Leamas tells her that London needs Mundt in order to protect the West and the freedoms people like her take for granted:
"What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me." He also points out that her own Communist beliefs have their own share of evils: "There's a few million bodies on that path."
In East Berlin, Leamas and Nan meet a contact who directs them to a section of the Wall over which they can escape to the West. But as they climb over it, the contact takes aim with a rifle and kills Nan, who now knows too much about Mundt to be kept alive.
A shocked Leamas sees Nan collapse to the bottom of the Wall on the Eastern side. At that moment, Smiley himself calls from the Western side for Leamas to hurry and get over the Wall. Leamas instead climbs back down to the East German side and goes to Nan's lifeless body where he himself is shot dead.
