Spies of Warsaw (2013)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Nice effects though.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Spies of Warsaw is a clumsily transparent 40's style spy thriller. This is yet another throw back mini series that tries in a very transparent and bumbling manner to recapture a 40's essence, found in films like Casa Blanca. Of course the obvious problem with copying better films, is all sense of originality and creativity is lost. The outcome is a wooden mini series that feels self consciously clichéd and clumsy. The performances of the quality cast are regrettably constrained by the caricatures they are forced to adopt like a poorly fitting set of clothes. Quality actors like David Tennant don't stand a chance to really shine, which is in no way any reflection on their talent. Sad to say, whilst I like the idea behind this series its slavish adherence to a tired formula does it a real disservice. Five out of ten from me.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are the writing team that wrote the sublime Porridge as well as The Likely Lads. I want to remind people of this just in case someone watched this and thought they were two substandard writers who deserved to be taken to a forest late at night and shot.Spies of Warsaw takes place in the run up to the second world war as various spies from major countries converge in Poland hoping to gain influence in the future of the country. David Tennant plays a French military attaché Colonel Jean-François Mercier who runs a small network of agents and Janet Montgomery as his love interest Anna Skarbek.What should be an interesting tale of espionage, intrigue and love turns out to be dull, flat and uninspired. Its mind numbingly tedious.David Tennant plays his character with a mockney accent. The same accent the Scot used for his Doctor Who. You never at once feel drawn in by any of the characters, care about them or even feel involved with the plot. It even ends on a damp note. Not once did I think we were in Poland or France or Germany. I actually reckoned the drama was shot somewhere in Belfast where they dress buildings up to look unconvincingly like Nazi Germany.Director Coky Giedroyc has to take the blame for bringing such a poor script to screen. Its interesting that he was responsible for shooting the original unaired pilot of 'Sherlock' before it was reworked and an experienced film director became involved and re-shot an expanded story with great success.

This is simply an abominable adaptation of the novel. Alan Furst's books are about period atmosphere and capturing the era more than plot. This film fails in the atmosphere category completely. That being said, as a spy film it's okay but it's in no way Alan Furst. The cast is excellent, although the leads have no chemistry. The plot is interesting but drags a bit. The suspense is minimal and the film simply moves from point A to point B. There just isn't much one can say about a mini-series that is not noteworthy in any way. It really is neither boring or engaging. Not terrible for a film but for an adaptation of a specific novel, an awful failure.

I gave it 1 because I couldn't give it 0.Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement may be good writers of comedy series, but the BBC utterly failed when it appointed them to make what turned out to be a very bad adaptation of a very good book.They completely failed to develop the story as it unfolded in the original work by Alan Furst. They failed to develop the original sub-plots that made this story work and added all sorts of unnecessary ones that were not even in the book. Presumably this was done to Make the programme more "exciting". I know adapting books to the screen (big or small) requires changes but I was left wondering whether these two had even read the book before they set to work.Oh, and as for the uniforms. Good in the most, but Tennant's dress uniform in Episode 1 was completely wrong and looked about three sizes too big for him. He ended up looking like an extra from an Italian comic opera. Mercier, the aristocratic cavalry officer, would not have been seen dead in it.All in all wasted opportunity to turn a good book into a good TV series brought down by an obviously small budget, poor direction and poor choice of writers. Gods help us if they ever get turned loose on other works by Furst.