Cambridge Spies

Starring:Tom Hollander, Samuel West, Rupert Penry-Jones, Toby Stephens, Jenna Harrison, Simon Woods, Colin Higgins (II), Daniel Hart (II), Patrick Kennedy (IV), Adam Blackwood, Peter Eyre, Nicholas Burns, Marcel Iures, Lisa Dillon, Leon Lissek, Stuart Laing, Michael Parkhouse, Miles Richardson, Alejandra Herzberg, Nicholas Day
Director: Tim Fywell
Studio: BBC Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
This moody BBC 2003 dramatization of the most notorious debacle in the history of the British Secret Service raises the specter of the treachery of Philby, Burgess, MacLean, and Blunt for a generation of viewers who can only imagine the shockwaves generated by their duplicity. Inevitably the story suffers from the basically repellent quality of its raw material. Determinedly nonjudgmental, it frequently stumbles along a precarious path between romantic eulogy and fact-based fable of the perils of idealism. For all the handsome casting, the characters have little charm to compensate for their deeds. Their motivations are sketched only vaguely. Even in moments of personal vulnerability, however poignant the performances, sympathy is at a premium. But it has its high points as an atmospheric soap opera: the recreation of a period that stretches from the radical aspects of 1930s university life at Cambridge to cold war London, dipping into the Spanish Civil War and the Washington diplomatic circle en route, is vivid. The acting, too, is fine. Tom Hollander's rampantly dissolute Burgess verges constantly on parody. But Toby Stephens (Philby), Samuel West (a frosty Blunt), and Rupert Penry-Jones (an emotionally wrung-out MacLean) work wonders with Peter Moffat's insubstantial script. --Piers Ford
Description
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 Commentary
Documentary: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

Average customer rating:

Gripping Spies
Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been
Great movie, so-so history
to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron
How to turn traitors into nice guys

Cambridge Spies
Starring: Tom Hollander , Samuel West , Rupert Penry-Jones , Toby Stephens , and Jenna Harrison
Director: Tim Fywell
Manufacturer: BBC Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Espionage | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Queen's Sister
The Great Gatsby (A&E)
Almost Strangers
Onegin
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre, 2006)

ASIN: B0000C23D5
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Amazon.com

This moody BBC 2003 dramatization of the most notorious debacle in the history of the British Secret Service raises the specter of the treachery of Philby, Burgess, MacLean, and Blunt for a generation of viewers who can only imagine the shockwaves generated by their duplicity. Inevitably the story suffers from the basically repellent quality of its raw material. Determinedly nonjudgmental, it frequently stumbles along a precarious path between romantic eulogy and fact-based fable of the perils of idealism. For all the handsome casting, the characters have little charm to compensate for their deeds. Their motivations are sketched only vaguely. Even in moments of personal vulnerability, however poignant the performances, sympathy is at a premium. But it has its high points as an atmospheric soap opera: the recreation of a period that stretches from the radical aspects of 1930s university life at Cambridge to cold war London, dipping into the Spanish Civil War and the Washington diplomatic circle en route, is vivid. The acting, too, is fine. Tom Hollander's rampantly dissolute Burgess verges constantly on parody. But Toby Stephens (Philby), Samuel West (a frosty Blunt), and Rupert Penry-Jones (an emotionally wrung-out MacLean) work wonders with Peter Moffat's insubstantial script. --Piers Ford

Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

Gripping Spies.......2007-04-22

"Cambridge Spies"

Gripping Spies

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

The BBC is well known for producing fine TV films and "Cambridge Spies" ranks up there with the best of them. The four part mini series recently released on DVD, while perhaps not completely historically accurate is a tour de force where characterization is concerned--the actors portray their characters with amazing conviction. The entire historical affair that brought Kim Philby to international news coverage is still somewhat of an enigma, even today. This is not a documentary and is not an enactment of actual events and should be watched with an open mind and the knowledge that what you are watching is fiction.
What we have is a lightly fictionalized account of how four well brought up English boys betrayed their country to the Soviet Union. Philby's father had been a diplomat and cabinet minister and his son, Kim, and three other undergraduates at Cambridge were studying for futures in the foreign office and security services. They became Soviet agents early on in their college years. They were to provide the former Cold War power with details on how to build an atomic bomb so that the Russians would be able to manufacture one of their own. The mission meant that several high ranking members of the British government would be exposed.
The story is one of the most dynamic stories of the 20th century and this look at the story concentrates basically on the personal dynamics of the students. We get a picture of four students versus the establishment and the personal lives of the men are very interesting. Two of the men (Philby and McLean) were straight and two were gay (Burgess and Blunt). The establishment was represented by Lord Halifax (James Fox) who was the British ambassador to America. He was the person who became aware of the plot but the students managed to elude capture by moving to Moscow.
Within the four hour television presentation, all of the characters are fully and richly drawn. Guy Burgess (Tom Hollander) is an alcoholic who is charming and wisely witty. Donald McLean (Rupert Penry-Jones) sees Communism as his personal redemption. Toby Stephens as Kim Philby exudes cleverness and angst and Samuel West as Blunt is cold as stone that occasionally shows a bit of emotion. His life is dominated by art but he does have access to the Queen.
The affair was more than seventy years ago and what is mystifying about it is not so much why they did it but why the guys kept it up. As presented here, we get a familiar story which is retold to us in a wonderful way. The real story of what happened we may never know and I suspect it is far too complex to be translated to film.
The series captures the feel of Europe in the 1930's. It is a glamorous, intelligent and well-acted production. A great story is not always easy to put on celluloid and visually the entire production is a pleasure to watch. It is absolutely incredible to see how four handsome and well-bred men could betray their country.

Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been.......2007-04-04

This is an entertaining account of the Cambridge Ring of spies recruited by the Soviets in the 1930s.

It struck me as a set of semi-fictional vignettes to tell a true story.

This sort of thing always disappoints me. To me, the story is fascinating enough without embellishment or alteration.

It's worth seeing as a piece of entertainment, but not to be taken too seriously.

For those historically minded, the bonus disk with documentaries and some actual footage of the real spies is useful, but again a little disappointing.

It has a couple of interesting clips, but could have been more thorough. It could have, for example, included the entire press conference when Philby denied being the 'Third Man'. Instead, you get a 5 second grab. I'm not sure if the 1956 press conferencce with Burgess and MacLean was filmed, but Burgess' film with Tom Driberg in Moscow was not included in its entirety. Again, only a 5 second grab. Anthoy Blunt's 1979 interview is very interesting, but constitutes the only extended interview of the package.

Great movie, so-so history.......2007-01-10

As a movie, Cambridge Spies is well-acted by a stellar cast, interestingly plotted, well-scripted, and beautifully filmed. I enjoyed it very much.

Historically accurate? Less so.

to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron.......2006-09-22

i just couldn't believe these 4 naive cambridge guys who were supposed to be very very smart would be so naive and stupid to become the most notorious spies that british empire could have produced. so two of them were homosexuals or bi-sexuals, and the other two would be just idealists. why they couldn't be smarter to verify the realistic communist russia first, see what atrocities the communism had broght to their people? did they ever read a common line such as 'seeing is believing'? if a bunch of morons would have successfully stolen the british classified secrets for over several decades to feed the russians, then you have to admit one fact: what a joke that the british government turned out to be. this is a very funny spy movie i should say.

How to turn traitors into nice guys.......2006-08-12

This is a terrific film, full of wonderful acting and carefully recreated sets and costumes (with the possible exception of the Guernica sequence which shows antiquated German aircraft). Having said so, I must take exception to the almost totally biased presentation of the criminal activities of the main characters. There is very little in this series to indicate the true nature of Stalinism - its genocidal character, its show trials, public terror, the hell of the Gulag, etc., etc. In short, Stalinism was not better than fascism, and the excuse of serving the former in order to fight the latter is utterly ludicrous. Fortunately, the four traitors finally got their just desserts by having to live their final years in the Soviet "paradise" but the artistic value of the film is seriously marred by its propagandistic message.

Cambridge Spies [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Netherlands ]

Average customer rating:

Cambridge Spies [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Netherlands ]
Director: Tim Fywell
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000EHMG7Y

Product Description

Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Language Options: Dutch (Subtitles) English (Dolby Digital 5.1) Synopsis: Harold "Kim" Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean were four bright, intelligent, and ambitious young men who attended Cambridge University in the early '30s. They all seemed to have promising futures ahead of them and, indeed, all four distinguished themselves in their careers. Burgess and Maclean became respected diplomats, Philby rose to be a senior officer in British intelligence, and Blunt was a well-known art historian. But the four men shared a secret -- certain that Great Britain would fall during the Second World War, and equally convinced that Russia held the world's best and only hope of defeating the Nazi juggernaut, the students became secret agents for the KGB, the Soviet Union's intelligence force, and the former schoolmates worked together as agents for the U.S.S.R. well into the height of the Cold War -- until they were discovered in 1963. Cambridge Spies is a made-for-TV drama produced by the BBC which dramatizes the true story of these unlikely secret agents, exploring how they worked together, and what finally brought their secret lives into the spotlight. It stars Samuel West as Blunt, Toby Stephens as Philby, Tom Hollander as Burgess, and Rupert Penry-Jones as Maclean. Special Features: 2-DVD Set Box Set Interactive Menu

Average customer rating:

Gripping Spies
Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been
Great movie, so-so history
to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron
How to turn traitors into nice guys

Cambridge Spies [Region 2]
Starring: Tom Hollander , Samuel West , Rupert Penry-Jones , Toby Stephens , and Jenna Harrison
Director: Tim Fywell
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Queen's Sister
The Great Gatsby (A&E)
Almost Strangers
Onegin
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre, 2006)

ASIN: B00009PBTC

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Gripping Spies.......2007-04-22

Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been.......2007-04-04

Great movie, so-so history.......2007-01-10

As a movie, Cambridge Spies is well-acted by a stellar cast, interestingly plotted, well-scripted, and beautifully filmed. I enjoyed it very much.

Historically accurate? Less so.

to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron.......2006-09-22

How to turn traitors into nice guys.......2006-08-12

Average customer rating:

Gripping Spies
Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been
Great movie, so-so history
to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron
How to turn traitors into nice guys

Cambridge Spies
Starring: Tom Hollander , Samuel West , Rupert Penry-Jones , Toby Stephens , and Jenna Harrison
Director: Tim Fywell
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Queen's Sister
The Great Gatsby (A&E)
Almost Strangers
Onegin
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre, 2006)

ASIN: B00005JMW1

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Gripping Spies.......2007-04-22

Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been.......2007-04-04

Great movie, so-so history.......2007-01-10

As a movie, Cambridge Spies is well-acted by a stellar cast, interestingly plotted, well-scripted, and beautifully filmed. I enjoyed it very much.

Historically accurate? Less so.

to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron.......2006-09-22

How to turn traitors into nice guys.......2006-08-12

Average customer rating:

Gripping Spies
Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been
Great movie, so-so history
to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron
How to turn traitors into nice guys

Cambridge Spies [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Netherlands ]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Queen's Sister
The Great Gatsby (A&E)
Almost Strangers
Onegin
Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre, 2006)

Product Features:

2-DVD Set
Box Set
Interactive Menu

ASIN: B000CSBXTM

Product Description

Netherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) Dutch (Subtitles) Synopsis:Harold "Kim" Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean were four bright, intelligent, and ambitious young men who attended Cambridge University in the early '30s. They all seemed to have promising futures ahead of them and, indeed, all four distinguished themselves in their careers. Burgess and Maclean became respected diplomats, Philby rose to be a senior officer in British intelligence, and Blunt was a well-known art historian. But the four men shared a secret -- certain that Great Britain would fall during the Second World War, and equally convinced that Russia held the world's best and only hope of defeating the Nazi juggernaut, the students became secret agents for the KGB, the Soviet Union's intelligence force, and the former schoolmates worked together as agents for the U.S.S.R. well into the height of the Cold War -- until they were discovered in 1963. Cambridge Spies is a made-for-TV drama produced by the BBC which dramatizes the true story of these unlikely secret agents, exploring how they worked together, and what finally brought their secret lives into the spotlight. It stars Samuel West as Blunt, Toby Stephens as Philby, Tom Hollander as Burgess, and Rupert Penry-Jones as Maclean. Extras: 2-DVD Set Box Set Interactive Menu

Customer Reviews:

Gripping Spies.......2007-04-22

Entertaining, interesting but not as good as it could have been.......2007-04-04

Great movie, so-so history.......2007-01-10

As a movie, Cambridge Spies is well-acted by a stellar cast, interestingly plotted, well-scripted, and beautifully filmed. I enjoyed it very much.

Historically accurate? Less so.

to fight the fascism you have to be a naive moron.......2006-09-22

How to turn traitors into nice guys.......2006-08-12

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