Spielberg's crafted war salvo

A MURKY chapter in Cold War history gets the Masterpiece Theatre treatment from Steven Spielberg in Bridge of Spies, a tense and thoroughly absorbing period drama about an unknown but upright American lawyer who finds himself the key player in a secret prisoner exchange between two cagey nuclear powers.

Espionage, paranoia, political intrigue and some old-fashioned horse trading take centre stage in this slow-moving, dialogue-driven film, marking the start of Oscar season and with Tom Hanks - Old Reliable himself - doing the dealing. The Coen br…