Defence Of The Realm

Bluesky

It's a small story. An MP is seen leaving a location shortly before a liaison officer of the East German embassy arrives. Proximity is one thing, but they're both apparently seeing the same woman. Any number of scandals have started with someone observing something they shouldn't. Even before Dennis Markham is caught by the Daily Dispatch's camera we've seen a man climb a fence. It doesn't sound like much, but their brief escape from a young offender's institution is spark to a complex chain reaction.

Defence Of The Realm is a conspiracy thriller in a strong tradition, one framed by its protagonist's role as a journalist. Shot in and around London in the 1980s it represents landscapes both physical and commercial that have completely changed. Despite relying on (fictional) connections between the fourth estate and the UK's security and policing apparatus in ways not complementary to either, its most recent brush with fame was as a cover mount on The Daily Mail. Those DVDs are such that after catching a 40th anniversary screening I was able to pick one up for the proverbial buttons. Defence Of The Realm passed one of the greatest tests for this sort of film, which is that as soon as I saw it I wanted to get a copy for my dad.

Gabriel Byrne plays Nick Mullen, a role that's notable in part because it was one of the first times an Irish actor was called upon to play an Englishman. In the anniversary screenings he revealed in a preceding Q&A that his own experiences with questioning at airports and otherwise informed several scenes, especially as the State starts to lean on Nick. His mentor is played by Denholm Elliott, and one of the many complicated legacies of the film is how papers like The News Of The World treated him and his family. Nick and Elliot's Vernon are close, enough that it's Nick who rescues his tired and emotional colleague from a lunch liquid enough to drown in.

There are some great details. This was shot in a London that in places is eminently recognisable, though the Houses of Parliament are probably cleaner now. Other views down the river, and especially along Fleet Street are strikingly different. Filming locations including the massive print rooms before the Wapping Dispute, when type was full of cliché and leaders might include metalworkers. In the last decades some of the film's paranoia has been dismissed as of the Thatcher era, your standard leftie luvvie libels. That's much harder to condemn after subsequent scandals. Those in the loop are sometimes also ensnaring, tying the noose, pulling the strings.

As a surveillance thriller it's perhaps in the same vein as The Conversation as some of the watching eyes are private. One of the things about the Corruption Perception Index is that perception thing. If it's just how things are done, dear boy, then who could call it improper? That might be old-fashioned, and in places Defence Of The Realm is, but that's one of its delights.

It's in light of what comes after that makes it worth revisiting. The cast is full of familiar faces, especially to Scots of a certain age. Greta Scacchi plays Markham's secretary, and their double-act is one of the film's many strengths. The scrum outside the Markham house when the story breaks and the antics of the press pack, especially Nick, are full of what in other spy stories would be called tradecraft and here is towards spivery or sharp practise. So much is analogue, the paper's morgue, fogbound roads, it's all rolled up into what at the time felt state of the art and now feels charmingly of an era.

There's an inquisitory panel that could be a play, so tightly staged and with such depth in its questions that it could stand alone. Writer Martin Stellman had writing duties on Quadrophenia, would return to similar territories in oddities For Queen And Country and The Interpreter. He's clearly inspired by the Profumo Affair but there's plenty of novelty Director David Drury helmed just three films, but spent years in television after this. That included plenty of crime series and he's got a good eye for the important detail. He was aided in this by Roger Deakins. This is an early feature work for him in a career that spans from 1917 to Sid & Nancy.

The benefit of hindsight is that I can point to this and show it as an early example of various people's talents. At the time it was a massive loss for the Rank Organisation, one of those film names that were once news and are now history. That's a shame, because it deserves a place in the canon of conspiracy thrillers, of Cold War paranoia, and (perhaps selfishly) depictions of journalism on film. These all feel a bit like faint praise, and they would be if they alone were why Defence Of The Realm is worth watching. It's a taut thriller rooted in several strong performances. Byrne in particular walks between misdirected idealism and borrowed cynicism as he pulls back what's pulling the wool back from his eyes. As with some of the best stories, there are some films that require a little digging. This is a hidden gem.

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