THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR Rx

US, 1942, 66 minutes, Black and white.
Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Anne Gwynne, Samuel S. Hinds, Mona Barrie, Shemp Howard, Paul Cavanagh, Mantan Moreland.
Directed by William Nigh.

There were many small-budget dramas of strange cases of strange doctors. This is another one of those – but not high on the list as a must see.

The film was directed by William Nigh who began directing in 1914, finishing in 1948, a long list of small dramas, sometimes with touches of horror. The film has a reasonably strong cast, Patric Knowles being a suave leading man, Lionel Atwill often a mysterious character, Anne Gwynne as a feisty heroine, Samuel S. Hinds is a substantial character, along with Paul Cavanagh. Mantan Moreland was an African- American comedian and has a significant comic role here – though, perhaps a little bit cringeworthy in hindsight. One of the biggest surprises is the familiarity of one of the assistants to the police investigators – none other than Shemp Howard, to become one of the Three Stooges.

There is a serial killer on the loose who signed himself Dr Rx. The victims have been in the courts and have been freed. Samuel S. Hinds is the lawyer concerned with all these clients.

When journalist, Jerry Church, Patric Knowles, returns from Latin America with no intention of doing further investigations, he is caught up because of friendships. Also in the story is the novelist of crime stories played by Anne Gwynne who has been engaged to Jerry Church – and eventually catches up with him, surprisingly wanting him to stay home and not do the investigations.

This provides a bit of comic romance as background to the murders. Lionel Atwill gets top billing as a doctor who has a gorilla in his laboratory and is concerned about transferring the animal brain to a human brain – with Jerry Church being a likely candidate. In a sense, this is a red herring, because the murderer turns out to be the lawyer who is wreaking his own justice on his criminal clients.

An uneasy mix of crime, comedy, and a touch of horror fiction with the gorilla in the laboratory.

THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 16th

US, 1941, 80 minutes, Black-and-white.
Robert Preston, Ellen Drew, Nils Asther, Cecil Kellaway.
Directed by William Clemens.

While there were many brief murder mysteries and crime dramas in supporting features of the 1930s, as well as a lot of screwball comedies, the two genres began to mix in supporting features of the 1940s. This is one of those films, crime and murder along with some comedy routines.

Surprising to discover, the film is based on a play by philosopher Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead). Contributing to the screenplay was a writer-director with success to come in the next 20 years, Delmer Daves.

On the crime side, there are suspicions when the CEO of a company is involved in somewhat sinister discussions, goes to his board meeting, and there is a revelation that $20 million is missing. His secretary comes back from a trip and her movements are being noted. She confronts the CEO, rather upset, but he arranges for a substantial sum to be transferred to her bank account. Also present in the office is the CEO’s fiance. And at the board meeting, quite distracted, in sailor’s uniform, is the heir to the company fortune – played by Robert Preston in the comic style that was to develop over the coming decades. The secretary is played by Ellen Drew. The CEO is played by Nils Asther, in the style of villains like Paul Lukas with a continental accent.

Then the CEO is murdered, thrown from a high storey window and the secretary is accused of the murder. The sailor tries to help her, thinking that she knows where the money is, but finding that she is innocent. However, she goes to trial for murder. The sailor engineers her escape, the company allows them to have a plane to take them to Latin America. They work out a code of where the money is hidden and the assumed name of the killer.

It is not entirely surprising to find the CEO engineered his own death.

On the comedy side, the sparring between the secretary and the sailor has all the touches of misunderstood romance, strange situations (and the touch of the suggestive, 1940 style), a lot of sparring and eventual collaboration, the solution of the crime, the buying of a marriage license and happy ever after.

Cecil Kellaway provides comedy as a drunk toff.

The film was directed by William Clemens, a director of small budget features including several Nancy drew films as well as Falcon dramas.

DEATH IN SMALL DOSES

US, 1957, 79 minutes, Black and white.
Peter Graves, Mala Powers, Chuck Connors, Merry Anders, Roy Engel, Robert B.Williams, Harry Lauter.
Directed by Joseph M.Newman.

With the prevalence of drug problems in the 21st-century in the United States, especially news of opioid addictions, it is something of a surprise to see this film of 1957 and its focus on amphetamines and their abuse as well as criminals exploiting addicts.

The title tells all. The focus is on amphetamines, available through respectable -looking criminals as well as their agents in truck stops as well as service stations.

The film is rather didactic in its tone, warning of the dangers of this kind of drug addiction, the film opening with a sequence with the driver on drugs crashing his truck. There are speeches about the dangers of drugs throughout the film.

Peter Graves portrays an agent who goes undercover in a trucking company, boards with the widow of the dead truck driver, Valerie (Mala Powers), shares accommodation with a driver continually on the drugs Mink (Chuck Connors), finds that his instructor has also taken drugs, is upset at the death seizures of a friend, makes enquiries and is murdered.

The film shows the truck drivers, the journeys, the truck stops and the waitress who deals in drugs as well as taking them herself, the proprietors, the manager of the service station who collaborates in the end.

Peter Graves, as always, is sternly respectable. Mala Powers is glamorous – and then turns into a femme fatale, no romantic ending. Chuck Connors is boisterous as the driver who is always under the influence of drugs.

A film of its time, small-budget, but worth looking at two understand attitudes in the 1950s in comparison with the present.

1. The title, the reference to the amphetamines? Their availability, exploitation by criminal organisations? The need for prescriptions? The range of people who take the drugs? The deaths in the film?

2. The official offices of the anti-drug organisations? California, the highways, the truck stops, service stations? The bars? Accommodation and boarding rooms? The musical score – and the high emphasis on the jazz and rock style of the period?

3. The opening, the driver, on the drugs, erratic driving, his crash?

4. Tom, earnest, the plan for his going undercover, his story? The encounter with Valerie, getting the room? Sharing with Mink? The attraction to Valerie, her being a widow, the death of her husband? Her sympathy, romance? The contact with Steve and his visits?

5. Mink, Chuck Connors’ style, lively, high, dancing, reckless driving? Friendship with Tom, driving together? More and more drugs? More and more erratic driving? Getting the knife after the fight in the bar, wanting to dance with the proprietor’s wife? In the truck, the driving, the fight, the knife? Tom overpowering him, in hospital?

6. The service station, his dealing the drugs? Tom’s instructor, taking the drugs, the ugly death of his friend, making inquiries, his being killed?

7. Amy, the waitress, doing the drugs, taking them, giving the letter to Tom after her disappearance, the information?

8. Steve, respectable, his visits to Valerie? The final visit, hurrying away?

9. Steve and the gang, Valerie being a mastermind, her greed? Sitting Tom’s room, finding the letter with the information? Her lies, twisting her story, trying to be romantic Tom? Her exposure? The police taking her away?

10. The group taking Tom, preparing to kill him, the service station owner? To dig the graves? Tom turning the service station owner against the crooks, the fight?

11. A moralising story of the 1950s – and the continuing use of drugs in the US, especially by drivers?

THAT’S NOT MY DOG

Australia, 2018, 89 minutes, Colour. Shane Jacobson, Ron Jacobson, Paul Hogan, Steve Vizard, Jimeoin, Fiona O'Loughlin, Paul Fenech, Christy Whelan, Tim Ferguson, Stephen Hall, Russell Morris.
Directed by Dean Murphy.

in many ways, it might have been a very good idea for comedian Shane Jacobson (best known as Kenny) to invite a number of his friends, well-known and lesser-known comedians, to a party at his house with the request that they have some jokes ready to narrate. Other critics have suggested that it is not a very good idea and that it is not cinematic, something rather for presentation online or some kind of series.

Many people will see the title of the film, see Shane Jacobson’s name and possibly some of the of the cast and decide that this is an Australian comedy for them. However, a caution.

This is for an audience which might be called broad-minded. There are many jokes focusing on sex – which they are entitled to. However, a number of them are pretty coarse, what used to be called “dirty jokes�.

This means a warning to audiences who might be cautious about broad humour, about sex jokes, and, especially, about frequent coarse language – and it is frequent in this film. This is a matter of sensibilities and sensitivity – and while many of the jokes are certainly G or PG rated, quite a number of them M-rated, which might mean not suitable for more fastidious sensibilities.

Shane Jacobson wants to throw a party for his father, Ron Jacobson, who actually initiates the jokes and the tone. And he recurs during the film with a number of other jokes as does Shane himself. Later in the film, there is a pause from the jokes with a rather more tender scene between father and son, the son paying tribute to his father and his humour when he was young and this party as a possibility for repaying him.

The film shows the preparation for the party, an evening party on the property. It shows the various guests turning up.

It means then that for almost an hour and a half there is a continued succession of jokes, some of them funny, others of them funny enough but probably better told in small groups rather than up there on the big screen. And there is also the distraction of the cast laughing far more heartily at the jokes than the audience is. Occasionally, there is a strong outburst of laughter from the audience, but often the audience will be just sitting there, perhaps laughing interiorly.

For those who like play on words, there is a recurring chorus with Steven Hall (well known for his variety of impersonations in Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell) exchanging a fair number of corny but amusing word plays.

In the background, quite a number of Australian musicians and singers are playing, which does make the film something of a musical.

And the guests? Apart from the now-familiar face of Shane Jacobson himself, some of the big names invited include Paul Hogan (who does know know to tell a yarn), Steve Vizard, looking more ample he did in television days, with audiences recognising Jim (Anthony Lehman) from Utopia. Tim Ferguson is in his wheelchair and does tell a wheelchair joke as well. Some of the other faces might be familiar but not their names – and there is a very strong cast list with a sketch of each of the end with their name.

By and large, there is enough amusing material to entertain an undemanding audience – it is directed to Dean Murphy and he and others receive a credit for “joke wrangling�. If there is to be a sequel, the joke wranglers need to be much more selective of high quality jokes (whether rude or not).

THE SHOP AT SLY CORNER

UK, 1947, 91 minutes, Black-and-white.
Oskar Homolka, Muriel Pavlow, Derek Farr, Manning Whiley, Kathleen Harrison, Kenneth Griffith, Irene Handl, Johnny Schofield.
Directed by George King.

The Shop at Sly Corner was based on a play by Edward Percy. The IMDb also has a reference to an alternate version with an alternate cast except for Kenneth Griffith as the shop assistant, the role he plays in this version – and, in the IMDb, the poster for this latter version is the one featuring Oskar Homolka.

The film has the atmosphere of post-war Britain, the shops on the high street, the highlighting of Sly Corner and the sinister overtones. Oskar Homolka plays the shop proprietor, with antiques, with a high range of clients – and later revealed as having associates who steal his material. He also has a background from Continental Europe, crime in his younger days, time on Devil’s Island.

Apart from the shop, his main devotion is to his daughter, Margaret, Muriel Pavlowo, who is a violinist, has performances at home, goes to a tutor, prepares for a concert which is the climax of the film.

The film introduces Kenneth Griffith as the shop assistant – a sinister and ambiguous role. He was to appear in the great range of British films in a variety of characters and performances.

Also in the supporting cast is Kathleen Harrison as the housekeeper and a short sequence of witness by Irene Handle. Derek Farr, who was married to Muriel Pabvlow in life, is a veteran returning from the war with goods for the shop. He is also in love with the daughter.

The director, George King, directed a great number of smaller British films during the 1940s.


1. Post-war Britain? Ordinary life, the streets, homes? The film as a thriller? Art dealer and criminals?

2. The visuals of the street, the shop, the interiors? The musical score? The theatre and the concert?

3. The tone, the title? Decius in himself? His age, his story, criminal, Devil’s Island, the background of the continent, crime? Coming to the United Kingdom? Love for his daughter? Her life? The shop, the clients, his antiques, his deals? His love of music, Margaret, the performances, promotion? Taking on Archie Fellows as his assistant?

4. Archie Fellows, in himself, his manner? Malice? His work, keeping an eye on the goods? His knowledge? Attracted to the daughter? His ambitions, his presence, knowledge, the beginning of the blackmail attempts, there is visits, his acquiring the goods, his house, his girlfriend, his lifestyle? Confronting Decius? Decius killing him?

5. Decius and his associate, stealing the goods, collaboration, wanting to break the collaboration, yet removing the assistant’s body, the accident and his death?

6. Margaret, the lessons, the tutor, playing? Practice? The attraction to Robert Graham? The initial performance, the interactions with Fellows? The preparation for the concert, the promotion, her performance?

7. The concert, Decius is going to the concert, Robert Graham present, seeing him, finding his memento? Confronting Decius with the truth? Decius and his life and achievement, ending his life for his daughter?

ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENICE

US, 2017, 94 minutes, Colour.
Bruce Willis, John Goodman, Jason Momoa, Emily Robinson, Jessica Gomes, Famk3 Janssen, Thomas Middleditch.
Directed by Mark Cullen.

The title sounds good – but it is not Venice, Italy, but Venice, Los Angeles. Which means then that the characters and the situations, even with gangsters, are fairly laid-back.

This is one of the many films that Bruce Willis has made since losing his top action spot reputation. He rivals Nicolas Cage in the number of films made each year – very few of them top-notch. This one is definitely not top-notch. It may be famous for the fact that Bruce Willis does a sequence naked on a skateboard through the streets of Los Angeles!

The film certainly has the atmosphere of Venice Beach, including the beaches themselves. Bruce Willis plays a private detective who lectures skateboarders on their future but has not made much of his own future. He has a young assistant, Thomas Middleditch, who does some of his detective work for him, including tracking down the sister of the local gangster, played by Jason Momoa.

The plot is slight, an encounter with the gangsters, with Willis dressing up as a pizza delivery man, taking a car, crashing it and delivering it back to its bewildered owner. He looks after his sister’s dog, to whom his niece is devoted – and their being robbed, the gangster having the dog and giving it to his girlfriend. (This aspect of the plot is much the same as the Jordan Peele, Keegan Michael Key’s, comedy about a lost cat, Keanu.). John Goodman is there as a beach bum who owns a surfing store and is bewildered at his divorce.

The plot is fairly meandering, not of great interest – which means that the film is little better than a brightly coloured time-passer.

FRIEND REQUEST

Germany, 2016, 93 minutes, Colour.
Alycia Debnam -Carey, William Moseley, Connot Paolo, Brit Morgan, Brooke Markham, Sean Marquette, Liesl Ahlers, Shashawnee Hall.
Directed by Simon Verhoeven.


Friend Request takes us into the world of social media. This is a film for a young adult audience, the characters being in their early years at college. Most of them seem to be addicted to social media, being online, posting photos, getting messages…

The film is an international production, the director coming from Germany (making the Men in the City series). Location photography was done in South Africa with the mysterious lonely girl being the only South African principal performer. The leading lady is from Australia. The leading man is from England. The rest of the cast are Americans – and the setting is an American city.

The material is fairly familiar. Everybody is online and there is a mysterious presence there, a young girl in a hood who appears in the campus dining room. The leading lady, Laura, befriends her, slightly, and the mysterious young woman becomes very dependent. What she places online, photos, artwork, video clips, is particularly sinister. She intrudes on the young girl, especially resentful about not being invited to the birthday party with Laura and friends.

The consequences are that the young woman hangs herself, sets herself on fire in front of the computer camera. Laura is upset, although her friends are fairly callous, except her boyfriend, Tyler, who supports her. There is also a computer nerd, Coby, who helps Laura investigate.

As might be expected, the various friends are killed off in sometimes spectacularly violent ways. Laura persuades Coby to track down the origins of some of the mysterious woman’s pictures, leading to a factory, leading to more deaths – including Laura’s mother. Suddenly, the leading man is also killed.

The point made is that Laura will not be killed off because the mysterious woman wanted her to be lonely, meaning that all her friends and relations will be killed. However, there is a pessimistic ending where the spirit of the dead woman takes over Laura, she is dressed in black and in a hood, looking enviously at the ordinary students in the dining room.

1. The target audience? Audiences who can identify with the characters? The dependence on social media? Posting photos, messages? Communications? Mysterious use and sinister use of the Internet?

2. Filmed in South Africa, the international cast and German director, the American city locations, lecture rooms, dining room, apartments? Restaurants? The countryside, the sinister factory, the country roads? The musical score?

3. The title, the social media reference? Laura and her increasing number of friends? Marina becoming a friend? Laura and friending her?

4. Laura, the central character, attractive, in a relationship with Tyler? Studies? The range of friends, online? The lectures and her not paying attention? Her seeing Mari Na, talking with her, walking with her, Mari Na dependent on her, watching the dread uploads, drawings, pictures of Mari Na, the video clip and its sinister aspects? The effect on Laura? Her dreams, looking in the mirror? Her friends? Mari Na not being invited to the birthday party – celebration, online, Mari Na’s reaction?

5. Mari Na, mysterious, in black, in the dining room, talking with Laura? Walking? Wanting to go to the birthday party? Rejected? Hanging herself, setting herself on fire, the images online? Her still seeming to be alive?

6. Tyler, friendship, work? The relationship with Laura? Is jealousy of Cobe? Cobe, the nerd, interpreting the message is online? Laura and her roommates? The callous attitude towards Mari Na?

7. The beginning of disasters? Gustavo, his friendship, the computer, the corridor, the elevator and his death? His girlfriend, her shock, in hospital, denouncing Laura?

8. Laura and the number of friends online rapidly decreasing?

9. Olivia, in the apartment, the attack, the lacerations, hospital? Her becoming violent and escaping?

10. Coby, his work, Tyler’s jealousy, Laura driving with him, his reactions, stabbing Laura, at the factory, his killing Tyler? His death?

11. Laura, transformation into the sinister presence, alone, the hood, in the dining room? Completely lonely? The cycle beginning again?

APOLOGY FOR MURDER

US, 1945, 67 minutes, Black-and-white.
Ann Savage, Hugh Beaumont, Russell Hicks, Charles D.Brown, Pierre Watkins.
Directed by Sam Newfield.

For audiences coming across this brief 1945 film noir, it may seem rather familiar. In fact, it is parallel to Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity with Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray? and Edward G.Robinson. While this classic film was based on a novel by James M.Cain, it is said that the screenplay for this film was based on an actual story from the 1930s.

Hugh Beaumont portrays a journalist who wants an interview with a millionaire who is reluctant – and encounters an ultra-seductive woman in his office whom he assumes to be the millionaire’s daughter but is, in fact, his wife. He falls for her, badly. And, when he is falling, she manipulates him to murder her husband, promising faithfulness to him. Ann Savage, who had appeared in Detour in a similar role, is a no holds barred villain. Hugh Beaumont is her murderer.

The film focuses on the journalist, his behaviour, his emotions, the tangles into which he gets himself, especially as the millionaire’s assistant is accused of the murder and tried. Meanwhile, the journalist’s editor who commissioned the initial piece is suspicious of the wife and her manipulation of an unknown man – and he works his way to find out the truth, asking the journalist to help him.

Ultimately, the editor realises who the man is that he is searching for. The journalist himself goes to the wife, sees her with another man using the same seductive tactics, confronts her and there is a mutual shooting.

While Double Indemnity is a classic, this B-budget short feature is able to capitalise on the basic narrative and a strong portrayal of the central characters.

RADIO CAB MURDER

UK, 1954, 70 minutes, Black and white.
Jimmy Hanley, Lana Morris, Sonia Holm, Jack Allen, Sam Kydd. Frank Thornton.
Directed by Vernon Sewell.

In contemporary times, the screenplay would have provided an entertaining episode for an episode of a television series. However, it is an illustration of the supporting features from Britain in the middle of the 1950s.

Jimmy Hanley had been prominent in British films in the 1940s into the 1950s. He plays a former soldier of World War II who became disillusioned and was an expert safe cracker. He is seen driving a taxi and then realises that his passengers are criminals and he tries to turn them in. He has been going straight and working for the taxi company, and falling in love with the young woman in charge of coordinating pickups, Lana Morris, also popular in British films.

When the proprietor of the company receives an anonymous letter accusing the young man of being a thief, he defends himself and decides to collaborate with the police. He is ostensibly fired (with the other taxi driver supporting him and campaigning for his reinstatement), out of work, the police hoping that he will be approached by the group of safe crackers. He is. He plays his part very well, hesitant, seemingly angry, agreeing to meetings, taking hard stances. He is an expert in equipment as well and the group rely on him for their plan to open a bank safe. This all happens. And in the meantime, he is in touch with the police, his boss and his girlfriend.

However, the gang is cautious and give him false information about the bank that is to be robbed. He passes this on and the police go to the wrong bank. This means that he is under suspicion, is threatened. There are also some comic complications with all the taxi drivers trying to help him when they find out the truth.

Eventually, all goes well but not without some difficulties, dangers and confrontations.

A modest little story but effective in its way.

RED SPARROW

US, 2018, 140 minutes, Colour.
Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise? Parker, Ciaran Hinds, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Jeremy Irons, Thekla Reuten, Douglas Hodge.
Directed by Francis Lawrence.


Tinker, Taylor, Ballerina, Spy.

While the Cold War may well be over, there is still plenty of cold war everywhere, not least between Russia and the United States – witness the inquiries into the Russian connections for the Trump election campaign; witness the number of Russian diplomats murdered in the United Kingdom over the last decade…

While red might be obvious for Russia, who are the sparrows? According to the scenario, specially chosen young men and women undertake a rigorous training to become seductive spies. Part of their skills is to recognise the strengths and weaknesses in those they target, responding to the weaknesses, particularly sexual weaknesses. And the training is fairly explicit.

Dominica, a young Russian ballerina, a talented performer at the Bolshoi, suffers a leg-breaking accident and cannot dance any more. This actioner is a star vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence. Her uncle is a top official in whatever is the equivalent these days of the KGB. He traps her into an assassination situation – for which she is willing because she has a very sick mother at home to whom she is devoted. The Bolshoi is terminating the medical help for her mother. After the assassination, because she is a witness, her options are to be eliminated or to become a sparrow.

The sparrow training sessions are very striking because the lecturer and tutor is played by Charlotte Rampling at her commanding best.

Alongside the introduction to Dominica, the film introduces a CIA agent in Moscow, Nash, played by Joel Edgerton. He compromises a mission to protect his contact and is moved back to the United States. Because his contact seems to trust only him, he gets permission to return to Hungary to initiate contacts again. At the same time, Russian authorities decide that he would be a rather easy target for Dominica to seduce and get information from.

There are always tensions. We know that there is going to be some ambiguity, and there is. While Dominica does her job, she still resents the hold that the officials have over her and, of course, the temptation is for her to be a double agent, working for Nash and his associates, especially in connection with an American Senator’s aide who is prepared to hand over sensitive discs.

One of the interesting things about this film is that it is full of cameos from a great number of strong character and actors from Jeremy irons, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ciaran Hinds, Mary Louise Parker, Joely Richardson.
In the past, there have always been sequences in spy stories with the ways “that we can make you talk�. There are some very violent ones in this film and one that will make even the hardened reviewer shudder, a torture method of removing skin, layer by layer, with a couple of close-ups.

Naturally, in this world of overt operations covert operations, double dealings and betrayal, the ending is not quite as anticipated.

The film was directed by Francis Lawrence who directed Jennifer Lawrence in several of the Hunger Games films.

For those in need of a regular dose of spy thrillers, this might be the one for the time being.

1. The title? Contemporary Russian agents? The focus on Russia, the Communist background? The symbolism of sparrows?

2. Moscow, the 21st century, the city, views, homes and apartments? The Bolshoi Ballet, the theatre, the offices? Government offices? The training centre? Spartan? Hotels and luxury? The contrast with the US, Washington? The American embassies, Hungary, hotels and apartments, the streets? The scenes in London, hotels, the roads, Heathrow? The European atmosphere?

3. The musical score, the ballet music, the classes? Contemporary themes?

4. The introduction to Dominika, to Nash? Intercutting the two? To bring them together?

5. Dominika, Russian, her age, country, patriotic, her caring concern for her mother? The Bolshoi assistance for her mother? The story of her father, her relationship with her uncle? Her dancing, her reputation, performance, the audience response, photos with her? The performance, the accident – and deliberate? In hospital, recovery, her limp, her anger? Her vengeance on her partner and her rival? The injuries?

6. Her uncle, his work, the recording of the betrayal by the dancers, his using force, Dominika following in his footsteps, the bashing of the dancers? The phone calls?

7. Dominika and her options? Her being forced to go to the Sparrows? The stern officer in charge, her presence, manner? Philosophy of training, the amoral stances, targeting of victims, understanding them, their weaknesses, especially sexual, understanding their own estimation of themselves? The issues of orders, obeying, Dominika standing her ground? Refusing to strip? The man stripping? Sexual issues, jealous young man, setting Dominika up on the table, the prisoner and his sexual addiction? The young man impotent? Wanting power? The other members of the group, men and women, their age, training, the girl and her homophobia, the prisoner anal sex?

8. The scenes with the authorities, Dominika’s uncle, the heads of the Politburo, officials, the leader, the deference to the President talking with him? The surveillance? The decisions?

9. Dominika’s task, her dress, going to the hotel, in the bar, the setup, the official, alure, going to the room, the sexual advances, the coming of the killer, slitting the throat, her being rescued, her being a witness, death or further assignments?

10. The motivations of the different authorities, secrecy, the end of the Cold War era but the totalitarian presuppositions? The state, loyalty, the hold over individuals, the uncle and the issue of Dominika’s care for her mother, financial support or not?

11. Nash, American, the opening with his codes, the contact, the meeting in the park, the exchange, witnessed, his being mistaken for a drug dealer, his firing the shots? The pursuit? Going to the embassy, the return to the United States, his being under surveillance? The discussions in America, the Russian contact, Nash asking to go to Hungary?

12. Dominika assigned to Nash? The dossier, his weaknesses? His apartment, ingratiating herself? Dominika installed in Budapest? Sharing the apartment with the other agent? The two in their work, the jealousy? The flatmate and her interrogation – and her being murdered in the bath? The local Russian officer, the office, his reactions, wanting to control?

13. Nash, his controls, the meeting, his swimming, encountering Dominika, the attraction, the contact, the relationship?

14. Dominika’s uncle, his visit, his personality, the sexual approach to her and memories of the past? Dominika and her plans for vengeance?

15. The sexual relationship with Nash, denying this to the authorities? The setup of the aide to the senator, going to London, the visit, the disks, copying them, tension in timing? The aide, her character, drinking, the money, the agents following her, the accident on the streets?

16. The official killer, his presence and threats?

17. The meeting with Ivan, his frank talk with Dominika, his being the mole, his motivations?

18. Dominika, her return to Russia, her being tortured, the sadism of the torture, the detail? The refusal to give information?

19. The killer, the return to Budapest, with Nash, the grim sequences of the peeling of the skin? Dominika seeming to agree, her turning the tables, rescuing Nash?

20. Ivan, organising behind-the-scenes? With Dominika? The name of the traitor, the chief official and his agreement to the tactic? The exchange – and the revelation that it was the uncle? His being shot?

21. Dominika, her return, the official acclaim, her abilities as a spy, as a Sparrow? The officials and the audience, her being promoted?

22. Dominika, her mother, getting the care for her mother that she wanted?

23. The world of John Le Carre, familiar to audiences – a more contemporary version?