Traitor (1971)

Acclaimed playwright Dennis Potter's own thinly veiled political opinions are never far from the centre of this potently portrayed depiction of a former spy giving an interview to some journalists from the relative safety of his new Moscow home many years after his defection. "Harris" (John Le Mesurier) is a sorry state of a man, drinking heavily and living the life of a recluse embittered by his memories of childhood. His was a privileged upbringing in the upper echelons of a British society that saw him steadily come to resent the class that reared and nurtured him. He was ripe for conversion to the Soviet cause and with his career of public school, military, Foreign Office all mapped out neatly before him, his value was predictable and guaranteed. His three inquisitors are scathing in their disdain of the man, but as the whisky takes it's toll, we start to realise that there was/is more to the man's than just a sad and lonely old drunk. It's for that more sophisticated characterisation that Le Mesurier is to be commended, especially since it cannot be a million miles from his own now publicly acknowledged private life. "Harris" rants and raves but there emerges a purpose to this ostensibly crazed verbiage, and with Jack Hedley and Neil McCallum pressing their questions, plying him with more booze and flashing their cameras in his face all too frequently, the tension mounts to what could be quite an explosive denouement. Will it end that way, though? Will it ever end at all for "Harris"? It's tightly cast with plenty of desperate dialogue and an increasingly emotional performance to keep it compelling for an hour. Well worth a watch.