GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

edwagreen I have seen better but this is somewhat of an energetic spy film where inspector James Mason comes away from an interview with a man in his security department suspected of being a Communist, fully contented with the interview, only to have the man commit suicide later.Mason is immediately suspicious that this was not exactly murder and interviews the grieving widow, Simone Signoret, who portrays a holocaust survivor. When her story has cracks in it, Mason and others come to a surprising revelation.While this is going on, Mason's marriage to a much younger woman seems to be deteriorating and when Maximilian Schell, an old friend of his from the war years, enters, Schell confesses his love for Mason's wife.Wait until you see who the real culprit is as the bodies begin to pile up.Mason is his usual stand-offish self which he was so good at and Signoret sets the mood of a grieving holocaust survivor wishing to make the world a better place.

Thaneevuth Jankrajang The world has become very rapid with faster and faster telecommunication gadgets, and a film of good Cherry's quality like this one can't possibly get made in the pace of today's world. Yes, watching this older work of the late Sidney Lumet is like sipping a nice glass of Cherry at a most leisure moment. This film is meant to be excited, nail-biting, and thrilling at times, but the overriding quality has become that of neatness and pleasure. I believe that is when they made films simply to entertain and not to preach or to release one's political, social, or economic frustration. The director, script writer, and actors of this film made it appear easy to be an artist. One can forget what made such characters as James Mason, Simone Signoret, Maximilian Schell, Harry Andrews, Roy Kinnear, and few others to be so fondly remembered. These were talented men and women who did not try to over-advertise their performing quality. They minded their own works a lot more than undermined other people's. Information flowing across the Internet today is uglier and destructive because the changed intent of the users. Even praises and compliments are mostly of cynical nature. This film is well-told, well-paced, and truly story-oriented. Time flies with such works. My personal advice to today's human beings who forget how to be nice: watch The Deadly Affair and other films of this kind. They will soften your soul, give you back some kindness, and give you Oxygen of life. Mr. Lumet, Sir, wherever you are, have a nice Cherry!

MrOllie If you enjoy bleak British spy films made in the 1960's then this movie will be right up your street, as they don't come any bleaker than this one. James Mason stars as Dobbs a British Intelligence Agent who is investigating the apparent suicide of a Civil Servant with whom he had spoken with only the day before. The bleakness begins from the very start of the film when Dobbs, in the pouring rain, goes to see the civil servant's wife who is played by Simone Signoret. As the investigation proceeds we also witness the marriage situation of Dobbs (sadly not a happy one). Harry Andrews plays a retired police Inspector who is helping Dobbs with his enquiries and their investigations take them to some rather grim areas. We also encounter a very seedy character called Scarr played by comic actor Roy Kinnear. Lynn Redgrave briefly appears in this film as a member of a drama group. It was about the same time that Mason and Redgrave also starred together in Georgy Girl - a much different film. Overall, I thought it a very good drama with the bleakness adding to the atmosphere of the movie.

Bob Taylor The Deadly Affair was the top half of a double bill on TVO, with The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and I enjoyed it much more than the drab, monotonous Richard Burton vehicle. Sidney Lumet gathered the best English actors--Mason, Harry Andrews, Kenneth Haigh (who originated Jimmy Porter on stage), Roy Kinnear, Max Adrian, and many more, adding to them Simone Signoret, Maximilian Schell and Harriet Andersson: what a star-studded cast. Lumet keeps the action flowing adroitly; he brings the Harriet Andersson character into the story, rather than showing her in flashback as le Carré had done in the novel.All in all, it's a solid piece of entertainment. If you are a fan of Harry Andrews, as I am, you will relish the way he makes the retired policeman Mendel his own. The narcolepsy, the scene with the rabbit, the bar scene with Roy Kinnear, they are all wonderfully played. I could say that Mason is Andrews's foil, rather than the other way around. Simone Signoret is the wrong physical type for Elsa, but she manages to bring some real venom to her dialogues with Mason.