To me, this movie is perfection.

One of my all time favorites.

Fresh and Exciting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Oh, where did the 1960s ever go? What happened? (Sob.) Before it became distressingly violent the 1960s were informed by a light-hearted revolutionary spirit. The Beatles were breaking records, which was nice, and the skirts were tiny, which was also nice. Recreational highs were a pastime and the scent of flowers, hemp, or at least incense, was in the air, a pastel age. There was a Cold War going on too. That's not so nice. However even such a serious business was subject to frolicsome presentations, and this is a good example. The credits are irritating though. I wish "The Pink Panther" with its adorable credit sequences hadn't appeared four years earlier because everybody had to have a crack at it after that.This movie is cute without being hilarious. Everyone is good natured, even the authorities who are not good natured. Among its virtues are the lanky, leggy Susannah York, all soft, pink, blond, and utterly beautiful. She looks dusted in talcum powder. Then there is the officious Dirk Bogarde, in his dark suit and umbrella, who hires her as a code breaker for some intelligence apparat in England. York is a whiz at it too, although her talent doesn't impress Bogarde that much. York sees Bogarde as a challenge and sets out to liberate him. It couldn't have been too hard. He had nowhere to go but up, and this is the London of "Blow Up," tastefully psychedelic.The bossy Bogarde keeps a loose woman, Janet Munro, on the side but York soon seduces him and finds he is reluctantly but undeniably distracted from his blue notebook. It's a bad idea for Bogarde to be mixed up with Susannah York. I should have been mixed up with Susannah York instead of him. Somewhere in the background of all this is Sir John Gielgud, good as ever, simultaneously charming and disdainful, wearing a carefully pressed suit and what appears to be a Crescent tie. He's a delight but I believe his school tie should be Westminster, not Crescent.Anyway it turns more serious as the Russians enter the picture, and the Americans too. Bogarde is assigned a big decoding job involving a Russian satellite. An incredibly young Donald Sutherland cheerfully plays a recording of the first Russian satellite ever. He claims it's sending Morse code but it's not. I was a radioman in the Coast Guard at the time and had to copy the signals. The thing just went beep beep beep.Spies manage to lace Bogarde's champagne at one point with acid but it all ends happily. Bogarde also appeared in "Modesty Blaise" somewhere around this time. It made no more sense than "Sebastian" but was probably more fun. It had Bogarde stretched out on the sand, dying of thirst, and moaning, "Champagne . . . champagne." "Sebastian" isn't that absurd.

I haven't seen this movie for at least 25 years so my rating is obviously a shot from the hip. I do recollect enjoying its slightly quirky idea at the time.Featuring Dirk Bogarde, Britain's prettiest closet gay, as yet another handsome heterosexual; he gives his usual competent turn as a cryptologist-par-excellence who is so obsessed with his craft that he can't even concentrate on sexy Susannah York (though we all know the real reason).The movie is an interesting and light-hearted take on the business of code-breaking. Bletchley Park meets swinging sixties. Groovy, baby. It's an unpretentious little relic that seems to have been largely forgotten. Which is a shame, because it deserves an airing from time to time. It makes a great contrast with the coolly laconic and rather more serious 'Ipcress File'.Its cast is really quite amazing for such a 'lost' movie. As well as Bogarde and York there's the irreplaceable John Gielgud, Nigel Davenport, Donald Sutherland, and Ronald Fraser. Even the late Alan Freeman, one of the most enduring pirate/BBC DJ's of the late 20th century plays the part - of a DJ. What more can a movie ask?Worth a watch, if only for such an excellent cast.

I saw this movie when I was in the "game" that was played in the movie. I was with a group of men in a foreign land though, not in England with a group of women. Lord knows I would have preferred the latter. I have not seen this movie since the 70's and would love to acquire a copy of it. What does it take to get a DVD made?

I discovered this movie via my affexion for Jerry Goldsmith's innovative (for the period) score... highly recommended for its quintessential marriage of images and sounds...The talent on view here, and the obvious affexion its cast and crew have for this film (evident in every frame) make this a must see.