Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.
Acting
Simone Signoret's thousand-yard stare haunts every frame.
Direction
Lumet makes domestic spaces feel claustrophobic and treacherous.
Score
Quincy Jones jazz that slinks then stabs.
Director
Sidney Lumet
James Mason
Charles Dobbs
Simone Signoret
Elsa Fennan
Maximilian Schell
Dieter Frey
Harriet Andersson
Ann Dobbs
Harry Andrews
Inspector Mendel
Kenneth Haigh
Bill Appleby
Roy Kinnear
Adam Scarr
Max Adrian
Morton - Adviser
Lynn Redgrave
Virgin Bumpus
Robert Flemyng
Samuel Fennan
Leslie Sands
Inspector
Corin Redgrave
David
David Warner
Edward II (in Edward II)
Timothy West
Matrvis (in Edward II)
Stanley Lebor
Lancaster (in Edward II)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Le Carré's novel was called 'Call for the Dead'; the title change was pure studio marketing. Mason allegedly took the role because he wanted to work with Lumet after 'The Pawnbroker.'
Made at the height of the Profumo scandal, the film's portrait of compromised British establishment figures landed differently than intended—almost sympathetic compared to reality.
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