Terence Stamp excels in this British made for TV movie about an Oxford professor who doubles as a British intelligence agent. His assignment in this film is to find out about a possible new generation of Philbys, MacLeans, Burgesses and Blunts coming out of the highest halls of Academia in Great Britain.
Ever since his exposure in America we've never ceased the debate as to how Alger Hiss who was establishment personified could have possibly found the Soviet Union attractive enough to turn traitor and spy for them. Ditto in Great Britain where several people just earmarked for positions of great authority in the establishment of that country turned traitor and in fact defected on discovery. Those names mentioned above are still a tender subject in the United Kingdom.
So when a young and promising Oxford student dies in a mysterious motorcycle crash Stamp goes in to investigate. He finds a new generation of sleeper agents just waiting to be sprung on British establishment. In fact the recently deceased young man was a total phony and we're not sure where he originated from.
Coming out as it did in 1986 the film is a bit of an anachronism because as Stamp correctly points out the Soviet Union is having its own student issues. But the film was remarkably prescient in pointing that out as the Sovierts collapsed within a decade.
Without knowing about the agents in the establishment that I've mentioned Deadly Recruits does lose a bit of impact for an American audience. Still it's an interesting work.
Ever since his exposure in America we've never ceased the debate as to how Alger Hiss who was establishment personified could have possibly found the Soviet Union attractive enough to turn traitor and spy for them. Ditto in Great Britain where several people just earmarked for positions of great authority in the establishment of that country turned traitor and in fact defected on discovery. Those names mentioned above are still a tender subject in the United Kingdom.
So when a young and promising Oxford student dies in a mysterious motorcycle crash Stamp goes in to investigate. He finds a new generation of sleeper agents just waiting to be sprung on British establishment. In fact the recently deceased young man was a total phony and we're not sure where he originated from.
Coming out as it did in 1986 the film is a bit of an anachronism because as Stamp correctly points out the Soviet Union is having its own student issues. But the film was remarkably prescient in pointing that out as the Sovierts collapsed within a decade.
Without knowing about the agents in the establishment that I've mentioned Deadly Recruits does lose a bit of impact for an American audience. Still it's an interesting work.