Hallmark Hall of Fame: Pack of Lies (#36.3)

Pack of Lies

Pack of Lies

Pack of Lies

source: Hallmark Hall of Fame: Pack of Lies (#36.3)

Suburban British housewife Ellen Burstyn discovers that her neighbor and close friend Teri Garr and her husband are actually Russian spies. When secret agents (led by Alan Bates) moves in to get the goods on them, Burstyn, husband Ronald Hines and their children's lives are turned upside down with burstyn in particular becoming a basket case. Garr becomes suspicious as Burstyn slowly becomes distant, but with national security at risk, there's nothing that Burstyn can do but comply. With great performances, this is a chilling domestic drama, giving the theory that spies do just what they do, making a living and doing things everyone else does, just collecting information that happens to be secure or classified. Garr, playing her typical plucky, friendly yet dizzy female, has other aspects that adds a different dimension to the character. Ultimately, the film is a well written study of betrayal from many different sides, something that will resonate with many viewers. It took time to get used to Burstyn's accent, but she does a great job making the viewer feel this character's pain.

The perspective from rating this film is based on the knowledge that it is largely a true story. Initially, the close friends were generally happy and contented in their suburban neighborhood. This tranquility was destroyed by the government surveillance program using neighbor against neighbor. This program that was forced on a law-abiding family probably wouldn't be allowed in many countries at present. Legal protections would probably be available to protect innocent citizens. Alternative methods should have been employed. But it has to be viewed quite differently 60 years ago near the height of the Cold War. Intrusion issue aside; the story was suspenseful and the acting, especially from Burstyn and Garr, was excellent. That said, it difficult to watch the build up to the emotional collapse. The irony of betrayal left a very bitter taste in one's mouth.

Based on a true story, this television movie makes a lot of promises to the viewer, with its stellar cast, layers of intrigue, and a tremendous build-up to the finale. But there is little payoff. Ellen Burstyn (Barbara Jackson) bears most of the emotional burden for this film, and she delivers a wallop of a performance. Much of the tension created can be attributed to her delivery of a demanding role. Emotionally, she is the hair trigger that threatens to explode, gaining intensity as the story progresses. The narrative is about friendship versus duty. Set during the Cold War, British authorities suspect that a mysterious stranger may be an agent for another country. They impose on some average folks, invoking rules about silence and compliance that put great stress on everyone. While watching, I was weighing various resolutions that might play out, most more dramatic than the actual ending of the film, which was only a letdown because my expectations had been raised so highly by the quality of the acting and the story.

As few people pointed out,this is based on the true story of Morris and Lona Cohen,an American couple who were spying for the KGB and lived in England when they were arrested in 1961.This TV movie made from the play of the same name,is about an also real couple,Bill and Ruth Search,and their daughter,who lived across the Cohens,and whose house was used by MI5 to watch on the Cohens. In real life,the Searches and the Cohens of course knew each other and were friends but there is no evidence that they were especially close as this movie shows them to be.This story over-dramatizes this situation,making Ruth Search incredibly attached to Lona Cohen,to the point that when the latter is arrested,it breaks Ruth's heart.Even as a play however,is hard to believe,because we are told the two women have been friends for about 3 years,they were not lifelong friends,and Ruth Search(Burstyn) in the play and movie still has her husband and daughter to care for,she is not a lonely woman.The shock of the true identity of their neighbors is true enough but the complete breakdown of Ruth is not justified in any way.Still,the movie is interesting ,in the fact that it is based in the unusual story of the Cohen couple who after being imprisoned 8 years for spying,returned to Russia.

I saw this film when it first came out. I just rented it from Netflix after all these years. This story has the same power and gut wrenching scenes that I remembered. Ellen Burstyn and Teri Garr had the talent to make this production exceptional. Alan Bates does well portraying Stewart, a weaselly little master manipulator who works for MI5. This story is close to a documentary of the investigation and arrest of Helen and Peter Kroger. Their best friends and neighbors, Bill and Ruth Search serve as a communications link for the KGB in England. Ruth is manipulated into betraying her best friend of 10 years, Helen. It becomes apparent at the end of the film that Ruth cannot live with what she has done. The film also makes clear that friendship supersedes current politics or at least should. Fortunately for the Searches, they were traded out of prison for an English agent arrested in Russia. Their neighbor Ruth did not fare so well. The Searches served 8 years for espionage. This film is heartbreaking but well done. Don't see this if you like happy endings.

The story of this movie is classical Hitchcock stuff. It tells about fear, suspicion, innocence, betrayed trust and delivers a considerable amount of suspense. It is based on real events and is basically a movie about the invasion of privacy and its devastating effects – thanks to the excellent performances of all the actors a rewarding experience, but one that left me feeling sad and uncomfortable. The question of loyalty looms large over the whole situation. So, your neighbors who happen to be your best friends, are suspected of being spies. But those who want you to believe that are very secretive about it, giving away only shreds of information, leaving you more or less in the dark. Is the neighbors' friendship a total fake, merely a tactical gimmick? Are they ignorant about all that is going on and maybe just victims? You can't talk about it with your friends - which basically is what friends are for - you must lie to them, faking the "usual ignorance". No wonder that the concerned family get to the brink of insanity, especially because - as if this were not enough - they have to deal with permanent house-guests who more or less take over the dwelling, spying on the neighborhood for some not really clear reason – creating an all around surreal situation. Remains the question: Whom can you trust? You have to trust somebody. It does this movie great credit that it distributes the pack of lies evenly, not demonizing anybody. There is nothing „bad" about the neighbors who are revealed in the end as hardboiled spies and did what they did because of their political convictions. They are perfectly civil and likable, up to their arrest which comes through as a general defeat for everybody concerned in the immediate surroundings. The effects on the family are truly devastating, and that is hard to take – even if in all probability there wouldn't have been more sensible ways to deal with the situation successfully. So probably they belong to the anonymous victims of the Cold War to whom, as far as I know, nobody ever erected a monument. The only thing I regret about Pack of Lies is the stylistic approach, which is flat and undramatic and makes it almost a documentary in appearance. In my opinion, the surrealistic elements of the story and the moral turmoils the family has to go through would have justified a slightly more "cinematic" approach to the issue. After all, the whole situation is really far from normal. Or so I hope.