After the ambitious, philosophical war movie Fear and Desire and the solid film noir Killer’s Kiss, Stanley Kubrick achieved his first true masterpiece with The Killing

“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport.”

The MacGuffin here is the Soviet plans for the invasion of Yugoslavia, Tito was just a little too independent minded to suit Stalin, who was known to be very crabby at times. He already has East Germany, Poland and most of Eastern Europe so just wants to add to his collection

Any viewer loyal or otherwise of Upstairs, Downstairs or Downton Abbey is clued in as to the social setup (if not, or otherwise not aware of the British Class system, you’d best stop reading now. You’ll be confused for weeks, if not months.