Cold War Killers (1986) Online

Land is being excavated for a housing complex, when a cold war era plane is found. For 27 years rumors associated with the plane crashing have different factions looking for it; and things really heat up when the cargo is mentioned. Where is it and why is in not in the wreckage? There's talk of black market goods being transported, Nazi treasure and murder of the crew. British Intelligence officer David Audley(Terrance Stamp)is assigned to gather information on what the cargo was and its where-a-bouts.. Oh yes, Russian intelligence is also in search of the top secret goods. Being made for TV may be a deterrent. Truthfully there is very little action, if any at all. But there is a romantic interest between Audley and the daughter(Carmen Du Sautoy) of the flight member accused of hiding the cargo. Others in the cast: Martin Dale, John Rowe, Peter Ivatts, John Horsley and Robin Sachs.

A series of espionage based thrillers produced in England for television, titled CHESSGAME, released in the mid-1980s, includes this excellent example, possibly the best of the lot, with Terence Stamp portraying former Oxford professor David Audley, in charge of a coterie of agents in the employ of the Ministry of Defence (M.O.D.), set against their Russian counterparts. Each film is based upon a novel by Anthony Price, this work's model being first in published sequence: "The Labyrinth Makers", and it retains the original's skillful plotting, character development and intelligence, with Stamp a polished spy in addition to being probably the best groomed. Not long past World War II, a British cargo plane disappears after passing the Belgian coast, reappearing in a Lincolnshire pond that developers are dredging, inducing enormous interest from both the M.O.D. and the Russians, as items being transported aboard the plane have singular significance to all those in the Game. Audley, now assigned as a field officer, and his group are chosen to win a race against the Communists to recover possibly smuggled cargo, his selection in part due to Arabists' distaste for the former educator, a Middle East expert whose close liaison with Israeli operatives has become problematic to his superiors who view him as possibly being compromised and, as a consequence, are not precisely forthcoming with certain information that Audley might require in the contest. The film is tightly constructed, smartly composed and acted, with nary a dull moment, and is paced appropriately to permit the players to craft their parts, the screenplay by Murray Smith being a particular strength, as are also the design by James Weatherup, costumes of Vera Preston, and camerawork of Doug Hallows, while especial credit should be given to flawless sound dubbing by John Whitworth. Wit and intelligence abound, with Audley and his new-found lover Faith (Carmen du Sautoy) developing an engaging relationship, and performances by all of the cast manifestly are being held to a higher standard, including those of Robin Sachs as Hugh Roskill and Michael Culver as Nick Hannah, associates of Audley, John Horsley, who plays Sir Alec Russell, overseer to the English team, and George Pravda as Igor Panin, principal adversary from the KGB. Origin of the film's polish shall be traced to director William Brayn, whose camera setups, blocking, and editing supervision, along with an appreciation of Stamp's unique methods of molding his character, all conduce to successful continuity and a top-flight production.

I got this on one of those bulk, el cheapo DVD sets you find at department stores. I was very surprised at the quality of production, writing and acting.

The ending is a bit quick but believable. None of the characters, even the bad guys, are hollow. They all have some depth.

No one is a fool and most folks are quite clever. It is very heady and intellectual at times and even rather funny in other.

It is well cast and never dull.

It is the best of 80's British TV.

I really enjoyed it. If you find it, I recommend you watch it.

Pay close attention and don't even munch on popcorn and nuts while viewing this movie. If you miss any of the dialog you'll miss much of the sense of the plot and even worse, the charming human interaction especially among the characters played by actors Sautoy, Stamp and Sachs.

It is inappropriately titled for cinema release though because there are practically no scenes of killings which were only briefly mentioned several times. The fade outs at crucial moments clued me on to the fact that it is a TV production. All that was lacking would have been the legend: "Place advertisement here."

The plot revolves about a couple of boxes stolen by an "enterprising" WWII RAF pilot thought to contain treasure of some kind. We are led to believe for a while that it is Nazi loot, even improbably, part of the Tsar's crown jewels. What it really was were documents revealing that top Soviet Red Army general staff were negotiating with Hitler during the war to overthrow Stalin and make Russia a member of the Axis Powers. That would have led to the defeat of the West. That, to my mind, was even more improbable than the yarn about the Tsar's crown jewels.

I found this movie in a one dollar, 4 DVD, package of "War Classics". I use such packaged DVDs as fodder to watch while I exercise. Usually they are mind numbing time passers. Imaging my consternation when "Cold War Killers" came on. After the first 20 minutes or so, I was compelled to stop exercising and concentrate on the excellent movie. The performers were very believable, even the character actors. It was reminiscent of the best post-war English ensemble movies. Terence Stamp, the lead, made a much more convincing secret agent than Patrick Macnee. The plot was complicated enough to keep my attention, as it unfolded clearly and logically.

A very soft spy thriller with a decent cast, Terence Stamp and a few others, not very big names. The movie is neither great or bad. It's just a chance to see Stamp again, a very special actor, who was playing in many great movies (just remember "The Collector") and beautiful Carmen Du Sautoy, who also appeared in "The Man with the Golden Gun ". The latest film of George Pravda, the old KGB spy.