The Traitors

Using some potently photographed imagery of a still recovering post-war London, this has a little more of a plausible story to it. It's just the sadly lacking effort of the dreadfully wooden Patrick Allen that holds it back. It depicts the scenario in the early 1960s where the rise of communism was an attractive thing for a political class that was prepared to betray their country in the hope of an Elysium to come. The story takes a while to get going, but the spying antics - they are trying to smuggle secret documents to their Soviet counterparts - present us with a slightly more sophisticated network of agents and with quite an interesting use for the public baths (no, not that one...!) The dialogue is fine, the supporting actors - principally James Maxwell and Jacqueline Ellis are efficient and it features quite an exciting last five minutes. A better cast might have made for a more compelling watch. As it is it is still watchable but Allen was never good enough to top the bill, and he certainly isn't here either.