Best movies like Philby, Burgess and Maclean
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Recruited by the Russians during their days at Cambridge, three young Englishmen rise to become high-ranked MI5 agents until their exposure in 1949.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: microfilm
Best tv shows and movies like Philby, Burgess and Maclean (1977):
Similar in 83%
Burnt by Frost (1997)
Plot Summary:
When is an enemy not an enemy, when is an ally not an ally? The answer to these questions determines the fate of a man. Simons struggle is played out against the rugged landscape of northern Norway. Raised in a close-knit community, he bears the scars of a childhood haunted by rumors. During World War II, the Russians and Americans become a presence in this remote landscape, which will have far-ranging consequences. Victimized by rumor and Norways shifting political allegiances, Simon is denied the final reconciliation he longs for with his community and with himself. When the Berlin Wall falls, his life is once more turned upside down.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Norway
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: offbeat
Similar in 82%
An Englishman Abroad (1983)
Plot Summary:
Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 608
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 61 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Top Secret (1967)
Plot Summary:
Top Secret is a 1967 Italian-Spanish Eurospy film directed by Fernando Cerchio and starring Gordon Scott.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 57
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, Spain
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspense, eurospy
Similar in 79%
The Mind Benders (1963)
Plot Summary:
A British scientist is discovered to have been passing information to the Communists, then kills himself. Another scientist decides that they might have brainwashed him by a sensory deprivation technique, but he doesn’t know if someone really can be convinced to act against their strongest feelings. So he agrees to be the subject in an experiment in which others will try to make him stop loving his wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 903
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychotronic
Similar in 82%
Saturday Fiction (2019)
Plot Summary:
An actress working undercover for the Allies in 1941 Shanghai discovers the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbor.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: China
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 81%
Code Name: Emperor (2022)
Plot Summary:
Juan, a secret service agent, approaches Wendy, a young Filipina who works as a maid for a suspicious couple.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 89%
Master Spy (1963)
Plot Summary:
Boris Turganev (Murray) is a Russian scientist who has absconded from a Communist prison in an attempt to achieve a better life working for the British. As Boris struggles to make his superiors believe he is there to work and not to spy for the Russians, an office romance blossoms that could put his mission in jeopardy.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 184
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: independent film, eurospy
Similar in 82%
The Dirty Game (1965)
Plot Summary:
A U.S. intelligence general (Robert Ryan) recalls three Cold War cases of Soviet (Henry Fonda), French and Italian (Vittorio Gassman) spies.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 267
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, West Germany, USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: anthology, retro, independent film, eurospy, microfilm
Similar in 84%
Secret Weapons (1985)
Plot Summary:
Hamilton plays a young Russian girl recruited to be a sex spy, seducing men and catching them in compromising situations so they can be blackmailed. The problems start when she falls in love with one of her targets, and must figure out how to avoid the constant surveillance and defect.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 291
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
I Know You Know (2008)
Plot Summary:
Jamie, an 11-year-old boy, is fascinated by his father Charlie’s espionage work until the world of spies becomes all too real. Charlie lives in his own reality—an undercover agent, always on an important mission, always on the move. Life for Charlie is highly charged and on the edge. He is unpredictable, explosive, yet kind hearted and fiercely protective of his Jamie who hero-worships his father.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 596
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 81 min
Plot tags: uplifting, semi serious, exciting, touching, humorous, witty, clever, realistic
Similar in 79%
The Dead Season (1968)
Plot Summary:
A duel between Soviet spy and German war criminal.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 404
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Come Spy with Me (1967)
Plot Summary:
Set amidst the steamy underworld of Bermuda and Jamaica, this spy adventure chronicles the exploits of a female spy trying to investigate the mysterious murders of two colleagues before an important meeting between the world's most powerful leaders.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 90
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film
Similar in 88%
Assignment K (1968)
Plot Summary:
Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 252
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, eurospy
Similar in 89%
The Liquidator (1965)
Plot Summary:
Spy spoof about Boysie Oakes, a British secret agent who specialises in Liquidating. In actual fact he contracts out the work and pretends it is was himself. This leads to complications.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: eurospy
Similar in 88%
The Sell Out (1976)
Plot Summary:
This action drama centers on a former CIA operative who grudgingly rejoins the spy game due to the machinations of his one-time student - a screw up who goes to work for the Soviets. As his job drags him deeper into a dangerous and under-handed world, the student wants out of the agency and oout of the U.S.S.R. But the man's choices have made him a target and now both the United States and Russia want him dead, sending their mos able hit men to do it.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 619
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy, Israel
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: suspense, poliziottesco
Similar in 82%
Some May Live (1967)
Plot Summary:
During the Vietnam War U.S. decoder Kate Meredith is plagued with guilt when her correspondent husband coerces her to pass information to him and the Viet Cong.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 71
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: psychotronic, cult film
Similar in 86%
The Innocent (1993)
Plot Summary:
A young engineer is sent to post-WWII Berlin to help the Americans in spying on the Russians. In a time and place where discretion is still a man’s best friend, he falls in love with a mysterious woman who will take him on the dark side of evil.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: sexual, political thriller, independent film, exciting, sexy, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 75%
A Spy Among Friends (2022)
Plot Summary:
Follow the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby, through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
The Serpent (1973)
Plot Summary:
Vlassov is a Soviet spy who defects in France. He is whisked to the U.S, where Allan Davies takes over the case. After polygraph tests and cross-examinations, Vlassov names several Western European agents who are also spying for the Soviets. Davies wants to take the listed agents into custody; meanwhile, those on the list start dying under mysterious circumstances.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: political thriller, psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, eurospy
Similar in 89%
The Little Drummer Girl (1984)
Plot Summary:
An American Actress with a penchant for lying is forceably recruited by Mosad, the Israeli intelligence agency to trap a Palestinian bomber, by pretending to be the girlfriend of his dead brother.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: political thriller, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, political, eighties
Similar in 86%
The Human Factor (1979)
Plot Summary:
When Arthur Davis, a junior bachelor in the British secret service's African section, is seen taking a file with him to meet his girlfriend Cynthia- the brass fears he may be the leak to Moscow, and allows Dr. Percival to terminate the 'risk factor' by poisoning to avoid a scandal. In fact Davis's desk chief, Maurice Castle, is the double agent since the South African communists helped him smuggle out his black lover Sarah M., meanwhile his wife and mother of schoolboy Sam, to force him to cooperate with the Apartheid government. When Cornelius Muller, the South African official who failed to get him in Pretoria's power, visits London for the anti-communist operation Uncle Remus, he points out Castle still is the natural suspect.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political thriller, medical drama, independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, romantic drama, suspense
Similar in 87%
Pascali's Island (1988)
Plot Summary:
1908: Pascali, a spy for the Sultan, sends reports to Istanbul that nobody reads. His suspicions are roused when a British archaeologist appears, who may not be quite what he seems.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, independent film, period drama
Similar in 77%
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002)
Plot Summary:
Drama. TV Movie.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 428
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 75%
Daniel (1983)
Plot Summary:
The fictionalized story of Daniel, the son of Paul and Rochelle Isaacson, who were executed as Soviet spies in the 1950s. As a graduate student in New York in the 1960s, Daniel is involved in the antiwar protest movement and contrasts his experiences to the memory of his parents and his belief that they were wrongfully convicted.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, sincere, serious, retro, political thriller, contemplative, vintage
Similar in 80%
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
Plot Summary:
British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the cold war during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, suspense, grim, clever, bleak, realistic, talky, political thriller, retro
Similar in 76%
The Executioner (1970)
Plot Summary:
A British intelligence agent must track down a fellow spy suspected of being a double agent.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 450
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, talky, suspense, eurospy
Similar in 83%
Topaz (1969)
Plot Summary:
A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, political thriller, enigmatic, psychological thriller, exciting, retro, art house
Similar in 90%
The Ipcress File (1965)
Plot Summary:
This espionage thriller represents a landmark in spy movies introducing the sly, dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer. The story, centers on Palmer's investigation into British Intelligence security. He's soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder and finds a traitor is operating at the heart of the secret service. Will the mysterious 'Ipcress File' reveal who the traitor is?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, suspense, exciting, tense, enigmatic, clever, realistic, cynical, retro
Similar in 83%
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
Plot Summary:
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 290 min
Plot tags: clever, talky, serious, political thriller, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative, tense, atmospheric, thought provoking
Similar in 89%
Breaking the Code (1996)
Plot Summary:
A biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal, besides being a security risk.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 668
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative