Ring of Spies (also known as Ring of Treason is a 1964 British spy film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Bernard Lee, William Sylvester and Margaret Tyzack. It is based on the real-life case of the Portland Spy Ring, whose activities prompted "Reds under the bed" scare stories in the British popular press in the early 1960s.
Plot
Harry Houghton, a dissatisfied and alcoholic embassy attaché, disgraces himself at an official garden party in Warsaw, Poland. Knowing he is to be disciplined the following day, he says goodbye to his girlfriend, who reports back to the Russian embassy about his inevitable return to England. Despite a poor report from his previous superiors, Houghton is posted to the top secret Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland, a Royal Navy equipment testing facility. Houghton is soon approached by secret Soviet intelligence to hand over documents to them, as he apparently had in Warsaw, with the veiled threat of blackmail. He agrees to do so, but for pay. He begins an affair with a fellow records clerk, "Bunty" Gee. Gee has access to more important secret documents, and is groomed by Houghton and his new handler Alex (Gordon Lonsdale). Together, the couple begin to procure top secret documents for Soviet intelligence for money. When a fellow officer at the base receives poison pen letters, the shortlist of possible suspects includes Houghton. As a matter of routine, Houghton is followed by the security services, who find his high-spending habits suspicious.
