It was called the spy scandal of the century at the time. It began with the 1951 defection to the Soviet Union of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean before leading to the revealing of Kim Philby and nearly thirty years later Anthony Blunt as fellow spies for the Soviet Union. While that part of the story is well known, what about the events leading to them? Cambridge Spies is a four part, four hour BBC mini-series that looks at the journey these four spies took from recruitment at Cambridge up until the Burgess and Maclean's 1951 defection.
The four actors playing the four Cambridge spies are all perfectly cast. Toby Stephens brings a huge amount of charm along with a quiet methodicalness to Kim Philby, the most successful of the four spies, though he is stretching believability a bit playing the younger Philby. Rupert Penry-Jones plays Donald Maclean as the most confessional of the four who ultimately is the first of the group to be discovered. Playing Anthony Blunt, the spy who later became Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, is Samuel West who gives a strong performance in what is perhaps the smallest role of the four. Giving what is perhaps the best performance of the four protagonists is Tom Hollander who is perfectly cast in the role of the flamboyant and outspoken Guy Burgess. Their performances takes them from young men at Cambridge in the 1930s across nearly twenty years and the four actors develop their character performances, and their relationships with one another, with a strong sense of reality across the four hours. Though the actors might bare little resemblance to the real life figures, they make up for that by bringing four incredibly complex historical figures.
The mini-series is also blessed with an excellent supporting cast. They include performances from Lisa Dillon as Philby's first wife Austrian communist Littzi Friedman, Patrick Kennedy as fellow Cambridge student and Burgess' great love Julian Bell, Marcel Iures and Darrell D'Silva as the foursome's Soviet handlers. The standouts of the supporting cast though lie in the final parts which feature John Light as CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, Anna-Louise Plowman as Maclean's wife Melinda and, in the final part, James Fox in the small but pivotal role of the British ambassador to the United States Lord Halifax.
The production values are stand out as well. From David Higgs cinematography to the costume design of Charlotte Walter and the production design of Mike Gunn, the various aspects of the production values all give a strong sense of time and place over the nearly twenty years the mini-series takes place across. This is especially true of the first episode with its scenes set at Cambridge and in Vienna, the latter heavily evoking the look of the classic 1949 film The Third Man. Last but certainly not least is the score from composer John Lunn whose haunting and at times beautiful score adds, despite its spareness of use, considerable atmosphere to the entire mini-series. The result is a historical drama set in a convincing setting.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the mini-series, besides its four lead actors, is the script by Peter Moffat. Though this is not the first time this real-life spy drama has been filmed (the first being Philby, Burgess and Maclean in 1977) this is the first since the revelation of Anthony Blunt as the "fourth man" and the end of the Cold War. As such, Moffat looks beyond the treachery of these Cold War spies into their motives and actions. The result is an oddly sympathetic look at them from their Communists (and anti-Fascist) days at Cambridge in the early 1930s through their rising through he ranks of British government. Highlighted in particular on this journey are the sacrifices they all made in their personal lives ranging from Philby's first wife to Burgess' great love Julian Bell and Maclean's being forced to leave behind his wife and children (though only one is seen in the mini-series). Also seen is Blunt's journey as he gradually loses faith in both communism and his spying for the Soviet Union. Moffat's script does contain a few historical inaccuracies (it was Philby not Burgess who passed on information about the attempts to parachute agents into Albania for example) and glances over several things including the so-called "fifth man" James Cairncross (a Cambridge educated cryptographer who passed to the Soviets information on the Enigma code-breaking operation) though most can only be spotted if the viewer is armed with quite a bit of knowledge of the real events. Overall though it is the overall portrait of four men who started out as wanting to fight fascism and ended up becoming traitors in the process.
So what is Cambridge Spies then? It is an intimate and highly personal portrait of four men, four college friends who committed to an ideology as young men, rose through the ranks of British government and sacrificed their loves, their lives and their careers to that cause. While containing a few historical inaccuracies (most of which require quite a bit of knowledge about the events to spot) this mini-series is filled with excellent performances and production values as well. While perhaps too sympathetic to the spies for some, the result overall is a fascinating human drama nevertheless.
The four actors playing the four Cambridge spies are all perfectly cast. Toby Stephens brings a huge amount of charm along with a quiet methodicalness to Kim Philby, the most successful of the four spies, though he is stretching believability a bit playing the younger Philby. Rupert Penry-Jones plays Donald Maclean as the most confessional of the four who ultimately is the first of the group to be discovered. Playing Anthony Blunt, the spy who later became Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, is Samuel West who gives a strong performance in what is perhaps the smallest role of the four. Giving what is perhaps the best performance of the four protagonists is Tom Hollander who is perfectly cast in the role of the flamboyant and outspoken Guy Burgess. Their performances takes them from young men at Cambridge in the 1930s across nearly twenty years and the four actors develop their character performances, and their relationships with one another, with a strong sense of reality across the four hours. Though the actors might bare little resemblance to the real life figures, they make up for that by bringing four incredibly complex historical figures.
The mini-series is also blessed with an excellent supporting cast. They include performances from Lisa Dillon as Philby's first wife Austrian communist Littzi Friedman, Patrick Kennedy as fellow Cambridge student and Burgess' great love Julian Bell, Marcel Iures and Darrell D'Silva as the foursome's Soviet handlers. The standouts of the supporting cast though lie in the final parts which feature John Light as CIA counter-intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton, Anna-Louise Plowman as Maclean's wife Melinda and, in the final part, James Fox in the small but pivotal role of the British ambassador to the United States Lord Halifax.
The production values are stand out as well. From David Higgs cinematography to the costume design of Charlotte Walter and the production design of Mike Gunn, the various aspects of the production values all give a strong sense of time and place over the nearly twenty years the mini-series takes place across. This is especially true of the first episode with its scenes set at Cambridge and in Vienna, the latter heavily evoking the look of the classic 1949 film The Third Man. Last but certainly not least is the score from composer John Lunn whose haunting and at times beautiful score adds, despite its spareness of use, considerable atmosphere to the entire mini-series. The result is a historical drama set in a convincing setting.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the mini-series, besides its four lead actors, is the script by Peter Moffat. Though this is not the first time this real-life spy drama has been filmed (the first being Philby, Burgess and Maclean in 1977) this is the first since the revelation of Anthony Blunt as the "fourth man" and the end of the Cold War. As such, Moffat looks beyond the treachery of these Cold War spies into their motives and actions. The result is an oddly sympathetic look at them from their Communists (and anti-Fascist) days at Cambridge in the early 1930s through their rising through he ranks of British government. Highlighted in particular on this journey are the sacrifices they all made in their personal lives ranging from Philby's first wife to Burgess' great love Julian Bell and Maclean's being forced to leave behind his wife and children (though only one is seen in the mini-series). Also seen is Blunt's journey as he gradually loses faith in both communism and his spying for the Soviet Union. Moffat's script does contain a few historical inaccuracies (it was Philby not Burgess who passed on information about the attempts to parachute agents into Albania for example) and glances over several things including the so-called "fifth man" James Cairncross (a Cambridge educated cryptographer who passed to the Soviets information on the Enigma code-breaking operation) though most can only be spotted if the viewer is armed with quite a bit of knowledge of the real events. Overall though it is the overall portrait of four men who started out as wanting to fight fascism and ended up becoming traitors in the process.
So what is Cambridge Spies then? It is an intimate and highly personal portrait of four men, four college friends who committed to an ideology as young men, rose through the ranks of British government and sacrificed their loves, their lives and their careers to that cause. While containing a few historical inaccuracies (most of which require quite a bit of knowledge about the events to spot) this mini-series is filled with excellent performances and production values as well. While perhaps too sympathetic to the spies for some, the result overall is a fascinating human drama nevertheless.