The Defector (1966)

Set during the Cold War, an American physicist (Montgomery Clift) is blackmailed by a secret agent (Roddy McDowall) into spying for the CIA in East Germany. His mission is to obtain some microfilm from a Russian scientist but the East German secret police are already privy to his mission when he arrives. Based on the novel THE SPY by Paul Thomas and directed by Raoul Levy. This was Montgomery Clift's last film (he died three months after completing it) and its reputation isn't very good so I was prepared for the worst. So I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't bad at all but it wasn't very good either. It's one of those drab and realistic anti-Bond spy films that thrived in the 60s like THE IPCRESS FILE, THE DEADLY AFFAIR, SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, etc. Clift, looking very gaunt, gives an effective performance but after a promising start, the film meanders around the half hour mark and never finds its footing again. The cinematography is by Raoul Coutard (JULES AND JIM) and the undistinguished score by Serge Gainsbourg. Clift's next film was to be REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE which would have made a better swan song. With Hardy Kruger, Macha Meril, Hannes Messemer and David Opatoshu.