ianlouisiana ...screams the spy arrested at the Harrow Road Baths as he struggles with his M.I.5 captors,and at the time - the height of the CND movement,the strange fascination Kruschev inspired in the British Left Wing press, this country,dull,dreary and lifeless,seemed almost like an East European Soviet satellite - he clearly felt he had a point as his Masters promised the Working Classes a better deal than he felt they were getting in Britain. As he was led away cursing,even the spycatchers seemed discomfited by his words. "The Traitors" can be seen to have hugely influenced espionage films from "The Ipcress File" onwards with its semi verite style and extensive use of real London exteriors.There are still boarded - off bombsites 17 years after the war ended,the clothes are drab and entirely suited to the black and white photography and what traffic there is appears to be travelling suicidally fast through an unrecognisable Notting Hill. See "Ring of spies" for a similar example of the superior small English picture that has a lot to say about the state of the country at about the same time. There is not a wasted shot in the whole film,not a line of dialogue that needed to be excised. It is a brilliant example of what good film makers can do with a big imagination and a small budget. Currently showing on the excellent "Talking Pictures" Freeview channel.

michaeldarvell The Traitors is a excellent film compared to most other second features of the same period, 1962. It has a very good story by Jim O'Connolly, writer-director of another fine B movie, Smokescreen, in a tale of spies in London exchanging government information in a cat and mouse chase between the secret agents and the security men. The characters are well-rounded and have good, sparky dialogue that is often humorous too which gives them more humanity. Most second features of the 1950s and 1960s were just pot-boilers to while away an hour or so before the main feature came on. Good and credible performances by reliable British actors such as Patrick Allen, James Maxwell and Harold Goodwin etc make The Traitors a taut and suspenseful piece of film making by director Robert Tronson. The cinema used by the spies to exchange information is not the Coronet at Notting HIll, which is on a left-hand corner. The cinema in The Traitors is on a right-hand corner and looks like the ABC Fulham Road, at the corner of Drayton Gardens.

malcolmgsw Clearly this film was inspired by the revelations of various communist spies in the establishment and actual spy rings.This is a very neat and fast paced thriller with an exciting climax.It is also interesting for those of us living in London at the time what it was like.I have to say it looks rather down at heels with the grime of years of coal staining the buildings.No supermarkets yet,so a United Daries grocers shop next to the surgery with its windows full of tins.The cinema used is the Coronet Notting Hill.I am pleased to say that it is still operating and still looks pretty much the same inside.Anyway a thoroughly entertaining film.

GUENOT PHILIPPE Well, I was amazed and surprised by this little UK film. i did not expect so much. A fast paced movie telling the cat and mouse game between government agents vs a spy ring who has taken secret documents from a plane crash in Germany, not far from an US military research center. All set in London area. The actors are known for this kind of features, but I never remember their names. Anyway, I recommend it. The climax in the swimming pool reminds me Howard Koch's SHIELD FOR MURDER. Jim O' Connoly is here only the producer and writer, not the director.UK espionage movies are not always so good, so powerful. Such a shame.