1957: Les Espions

The director of a small psychiatric clinic in rural France accepts lots of money from someone claiming to represent the US secret service, and the next day lots of strangers have moved in, taking over the clinic uttering more or less vague threats about what will happen if he resists. It's a cool premise for a movie, but the lack of clarity about who is on whose side tends to create confusion rather than suspense or surprise. (6)

1936: Sabotage

Not to be confused with Saboteur, the Hitchcock film about foreign agents violenty disturbing public life in London shares with other Hitchcock movies of that time a certain patchyness and technical shortcomings, but is somehow delivered with more charm to make for an entertaining bit of viewing, though it certainly is not a masterpiece. (7)

1942: Saboteur

In this Hitcock wartime film, you'll be surprised to learn, a man is wrongly accused of being a saboteur. It's a little patchy and the showdown on the Statue of Liberty has more in terms of symbolism than in terms of spectacle. Not a bad film, but North by Northwest it is not. (6)

1981: Eye of the Needle

The Second World War: Ruthless Nazi spy vs. upstanding, albeit inept, English Rose. Who clearly does too much crying for this to be called a feminist film, and the overly dramatic score is bordering on parody, but why not? (6)

1942: To Be Or Not To Be

The famous comedy about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw is cleverly constructed, well-paced and generally charming, but after all, it's nothing but a comedy, so I really don't see the need to put it on par with the likes of A Clockwork Orange and Once upon a Time in the West. (7.5)

1965: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

This unsentimental look at cold war espionage, chronicling the attempts of the British secret service to infiltrate their East German counterpart, suffers from being decidedly unfilmic - it's mostly conversations in boring-looking rooms. On the upside: the no-nonsense b/w cinematography and the screen presence that was Richard Burton. (6.5)