Ring of Spies (1964)

Ring of Spies: Directed by Robert Tronson. With Bernard Lee, William Sylvester, Margaret Tyzack, David Kossoff. During the Cold War, a RN warrant officer stationed in the British Embassy in Warsaw leaks secrets to his Polish girlfriend who’s a Soviet agent and after his transfer to a naval station in Britain he joins a Soviet spy ring.

“A British spy thriller; A story about a British navy clerk assigned to a top secret research facility. He is blackmailed into stealing vital secrets for the Russians in exchange for cash. Set during the height of the Cold War, it is based on the true events of the Portland Spy Ring, where daily duels play out between Soviet Intelligence and British counter-espionage. Tension is undermined by the docudrama style but the playout of the espionage activities is absorbing. While Bernard Lee gives a reasonable performance, he is not a sympathetic character as the lead so it ends up a simple drawn out morality tale. His cohort, played Margaret Tyzack, while initially innocent, is drawn to venal motivation without much of a struggle, so the drama is rather pedestrian at times.”