An Englishman Abroad

TV Movie
1983
1h 1m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

The actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow and meets a mysterious Englishman. It turns out that he's the notorious spy Guy Burgess.The actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow and meets a mysterious Englishman. It turns out that he's the notorious spy Guy Burgess.The actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow and meets a mysterious Englishman. It turns out that he's the notorious spy Guy Burgess.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

644

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 7 BAFTA Awards
- 12 wins & 3 nominations total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
At the same time in Moscow, Guy Burgess also met with Sir Michael Redgrave, who was playing Hamlet, and whom he had known at Cambridge University. A memo from January 9, 1959, declassified in 2014, described their going to a party together and to Burgess' flat, showing that Redgrave had been under surveillance by MI5 for his alleged Communist sympathies for many years.

Goofs
When Coral, in Burgess' flat, says 'The theatre's in a dreadful state', her lips are out of sync.

Quotes
Coral: I wouldn't care, but it's only the interval. If you want to come round and be sick you might at least save it for the end of the performance.

Crazy credits
[At end of opening credits] "Although some incidents are imaginary... this is a true story. It happened to Coral Browne in 1958."

Connections
Featured in Coral Browne: Caviar for the General (1989)

User reviews12

Review

Featured review

9/10

Bates and Schlesinger together again

John Schlesinger made his first feature "A Kind Of Loving" with the young Alan Bates. It was an extraordinary debut. They also work together in "Far From The Madding Crowd" and in a TV adaptation of Terence Rattigan's "Separate Tables" with Julie Christie. In "An Englishman Abroad" their artistic relationship is at its peak. The idea came from the incomparable Coral Browne, a true story. They told the story to Alan Bennett and Mr Bennett came out with this piercing, funny, sad true story of a gay British spy living, or surviving his exile in Moscow, without an ounce of resentment. No, all the disappointment, every bit of regret is in Alan Bates's eyes. What a spectacular performance. This beautiful film deserves a serious revival.