British agent Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) meets his superior MacKintosh and Mrs Smith who direct him to steal diamonds from mysterious mail deliveries. He gets arrested after an anonymous tip and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He joins Slade, a KGB mole in British intelligence, in a prison escape. They are drugged and brought to a vast secret organization. Meanwhile, politician Sir George Wheeler (James Mason) rails against the government and MacKintosh informs him of infiltrating the escape organization.
The first act is rather stale. John Huston directs the material in a standard manner. The trial is boring. It would have worked much better to start with Newman arriving in prison. His intelligence background should be revealed much later as a shocking twist. The pacing and plotting is rather slow and methodical. It is competently made and it has the great Paul Newman. It's well into the second half when they finally have a car chase. Otherwise, the drama is rather limited.
The first act is rather stale. John Huston directs the material in a standard manner. The trial is boring. It would have worked much better to start with Newman arriving in prison. His intelligence background should be revealed much later as a shocking twist. The pacing and plotting is rather slow and methodical. It is competently made and it has the great Paul Newman. It's well into the second half when they finally have a car chase. Otherwise, the drama is rather limited.