Les Espions

Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and released in 1957, Les Espions is a French-Italian spy drama adapted from Egon Hostovský's novel Der Mitternachtspatient. It follows a French psychiatrist who accepts a well-paid, seemingly harmless assignment from an American intelligence service, only to find himself trapped between the competing machinations of several secret services. In a bleak, nihilistic environment, his naive decisions endanger not only those around him but his own life as well. The international cast includes Curd Jürgens, Peter Ustinov, Sam Jaffe, Véra Clouzot, O. E. Hasse, Martita Hunt and Gérard Séty, with a score by Georges Auric. Shooting took place at the Saint-Maurice studios in Paris, where René Renoux designed the sets. Running about 137 minutes, the film opened in Germany in September 1957 in a heavily cut version, but was not shown in Britain or the United States.