BLUNT

UK, 1985, 86 minutes, Colour.
Ian Richardson, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Williams.
Directed by John Glenister.

Blunt is Sir Anthony Blunt, the fourth man in the controversies over defections of British Foreign Office officials to the Soviet Union. Donald Mac Lean and Guy Burgess in the '50s, Kim Philby in the '60s were unmasked and fled to the Soviet Union. Sir Anthony Blunt remained in England even when it was known officially that he was a Soviet spy. He was knighted and was Master of the Queen's Pictures.

There has been continued interest in the Soviet agents, many documentaries and films made about Philby, Burgess and Mac Lean. These include such fictions as Julian Mitchell's Another Country and Frederick Forsythe's The Fourth Protocol as well as the Michael Caine thriller The Whistle Blower in which John Gielgud does as impersonation of Blunt.

This is BBC telemovie which was nominated for British Academy Awards. It offers excellent performances by lan Richardson as Sir Anthony Blunt and Anthony Hopkins as Guy Burgess.

1. The impact of this British telemovie? The quality of BBC production? The strength of the writing and the acting? The continued interest of the public in these stories?

2. The quality of the cast and its strength?

3. The picture of Britain and '50s? London, the Foreign Office? The English countryside and its beauty? The atmosphere of England? The musical score?

4. The insights into the workings of M15, the CIA and the FBI? The background of the students at Oxford and Cambridge in the '30s? Their sympathies with communism? The 1950s and the atmosphere of the Cold War? The clashes between East and West? English society and the possibility of upper class moles? The processes of detection and exposure?

5. The 1979 setting, the importance of the flashbacks, the revelations? A span of almost 20 years? The ending and the final comments?

6. The portrait of Blunt: in himself, age, experience, the art connoisseur, his personal elegance, his lectures? His research? His living alone, his servants? His prim manner and style? British reserve? Emotions? His work in the Foreign Office, his allegiances and causes? MI5 and his career, a consultant? His past and the university? The interest of the Soviet Union in him? His service during the War? Information supplied? His links with Philby, Burgess and MacLean? With Rees? His covers, plans? His silence? The significance of the visit to Rees? The government's hold over him?

7. Blunt's personal life, friends and servants? The significance of his homosexuality? Burgess and his arrival? His relationship with Burgess, pleased to see him, the relationship, love, care? His use of MacLean? Tensions? Anguish about Burgess? Collecting his items and burning them? The visit to Rees? Left alone in his position?

8. Anthony Hopkins' portrait of Burgess? Well-known, bright, drinking, indiscreet, homosexuality? His work in Washington and his relationship with the US government? His relationship with Blunt, the love relationship? The relationship with Mac Lean, tensions? The decision to leave? Going to Rees and his family? Fleeing to the Soviet Union?

9. The character of Rees? Friends, marriage, the attack? The visit and the tensions? Margaret and the secrets? The phone call? Blunt's visit? Telling everything to the authorities? His past, friendship, causes? Loyalties? Going to the Foreign Office?

10. The Foreign Office and its investigations, pace, secrets, the Old Boys, union, ties and codes? Keeping quiet about potential scandals?

11. The British and the various ideologies, espionage, covers?

12. The Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s, the period of Stalin? British fascination with '30s Russia? Changes, loyalties? Espionage and contacts?

13. The relationship between the United States and Britain, atomic secrets? The FBI uncovering spies? The damage done to the United States and Britain by Burgess and MacLean?, Philby and Blunt? The changing of the balance of nuclear power?

14. The atomic world. secrets and developments? The bombs, the balance of power, the threats for the nuclear age?

15. The film offering portraits of characters? Interesting espionage? History?