# List of films based on spy books

A list of spy films that are based on books. If a book has been turned into both a film and a TV series (or TV film), then the TV series is included.

## Early USA

More to add
| # | Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| 1 | The Spy | 1914 | Otis Turner | United States | The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground | James Fenimore Cooper | 1821 | Novel | - | - | - |

## World War I

More to add
| # | Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| 1 | The Great Impersonation | 1921 | George Melford | United States | The Great Impersonation | E. Phillips Oppenheim | 1920 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 2 | The 39 Steps | 1935 | Alfred Hitchcock | UK | The Thirty-Nine Steps | John Buchan | 1915 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 3 | The Great Impersonation | 1935 | Alan Crosland | United States | The Great Impersonation | E. Phillips Oppenheim | 1920 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 4 | Secret Agent | 1936 | Alfred Hitchcock | UK | Ashenden: Or the British Agent | W. Somerset Maugham | 1928 | Novel | Ashenden | 1991 | UK |
| 5 | The Great Impersonation | 1942 | John Rawlins | United States | The Great Impersonation | E. Phillips Oppenheim | 1920 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 6 | The 39 Steps | 1959 | Ralph Thomas | UK | The Thirty-Nine Steps | John Buchan | 1915 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 7 | The 39 Steps | 1978 | Don Sharp | UK | The Thirty-Nine Steps | John Buchan | 1915 | Novel | - | - | - |

## World War II

| # | Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| 1 | The Lady Vanishes & | 1938 | Alfred Hitchcock | UK | The Wheel Spins | Ethel Lina White | 1936 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 2 | They Met in the Dark | 1943 | Carl Lamac | UK | The Vanished Corpse | Anthony Gilbert | | Novel | - | - | - |
| 3 | Above Suspicion | 1943 | Richard Thorpe | United States | Above Suspicion | Helen Clark MacInnes | 1939 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 4 | Decision Before Dawn | 1951 | Anatole Litvak | United States | Call It Treason | George Howe | 1949 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 5 | Carve Her Name with Pride | 1958 | Lewis Gilbert | UK | Carve Her Name with Pride | R.J. Minney | | Novel | - | - | - |
| 6 | The Counterfeit Traitor | 1962 | George Seaton | United States | The Counterfeit Traitor | Alexander Klein | | Novel | - | - | - |
| 7 | Eye of the Needle | 1981 | Richard Marquand | UK | Eye of the Needle | Ken Follett | 1978 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 8 | Fortunes of War * | 1987 | James Cellan Jones | UK | Fortunes of War | Olivia Manning | 1960 & 1962 | Novels | - | - | - |
| 9 | Shining Through | 1992 | David Seltzer | United States | Shining Through | Susan Isaacs | 1978 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 10 | Fall from Grace * | 1994 | Waris Hussein | UK | Fall from Grace | Larry Collins | 1985 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 11 | Enigma | 2001 | Michael Apted | United States, UK, Germany, & Netherlands | Enigma | Robert Harris | 1995 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 12 | Charlotte Gray | 2001 | Gillian Armstrong | UK | Charlotte Gray | Sebastian Faulks | | Novel | - | - | - |
* * BBC mini-series
* & pre-WWII

## Cold War

| # | Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| 1 | The Big Clock | 1948 | John Farrow | UK | The Big Clock | Kenneth Fearing | 1946 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 2 | Our Man in Havana | 1959 | Carol Reed | UK | Our Man in Havana | Graham Greene | 1958 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 3 | The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | 1965 | Martin Ritt | UK | The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | John le Carré | 1963 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 4 | The IPCRESS File | 1965 | Sidney J. Furie | UK | The IPCRESS File | Len Deighton | 1962 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 5 | The Quiller Memorandum | 1966 | Sidney J. Furie | UK | The Berlin Memorandum | Trevor Dudley Smith | 1965 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 6 | The Deadly Affair | 1966 | Sidney Lumet | UK | Call for the Dead | John le Carré | 1961 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 7 | The Odessa File | 1974 | Ronald Neame | UK | The Odessa File | Frederick Forsyth | 1972 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 8 | The Black Windmill | 1974 | Don Siegel | UK | Seven Days to a Killing | Clive Egleton | 1973 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 9 | Three Days of the Condor | 1975 | Sydney Pollack | United States | Six Days of the Condor | James Grady | | Novel | - | - | - |
| 10 | Hopscotch | 1980 | Ronald Neame | United States | Hopscotch | Brian Garfield | 1975 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 11 | Firefox | 1982 | Clint Eastwood | United States | Firefox | Craig Thomas | 1978 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 12 | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy * | 1979 | Frances Alcock & John Irvin | UK | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | John le Carré | 1974 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 13 | Smiley's People * | 1982 | Simon Langton | UK | Smiley's People | John le Carré | 1979 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 14 | The Osterman Weekend | 1983 | Sam Peckinpah | United States | The Osterman Weekend | Robert Ludlum | 1972 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 15 | The Little Drummer Girl | 1984 | George Roy Hill | United States | The Little Drummer Girl | John le Carré | 1983 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 16 | The Fourth Protocol | 1987 | John Mackenzie | United States | The Fourth Protocol | Frederick Forsyth | 1984 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 17 | No Way Out | 1987 | Roger Donaldson | United States | The Big Clock | Kenneth Fearing | 1946 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 18 | The Russia House | 1990 | Fred Schepisi | United States | The Russia House | John le Carré | 1989 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 19 | Patriot Games | 1992 | Phillip Noyce | United States | Patriot Games | Tom Clancy | 1987 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 20 | Clear and Present Danger | 1994 | Phillip Noyce | United States | Clear and Present Danger | Tom Clancy | 1989 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 21 | The Tailor of Panama | 2001 | John Boorman | United States | The Tailor of Panama | John le Carré | 1996 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 22 | The Sum of All Fears | 2002 | Phil Alden Robinson | United States | The Sum of All Fears | Tom Clancy | 1991 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 23 | The Bourne Identity | 2002 | Doug Liman | United States | The Bourne Identity | Robert Ludlum | 1980 | Novel | The Bourne Identity | 1988 | United States |
| 24 | The Bourne Supremacy | 2004 | Paul Greengrass | United States | The Bourne Supremacy | Robert Ludlum | 1987 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 25 | The Bourne Ultimatum | 2007 | Paul Greengrass | United States | The Bourne Ultimatum | Robert Ludlum | 1990 | Novel | - | - | - |
* BBC mini-series
In March 2015, shooting wrapped on the film adaptation, Damascus Cover of Howard Kaplan's novel The Damascus Cover set in 1989 at the fall of the Berlin Wall, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Hurt, Jurgen Prochnow and Olivia Thirlby.

## Post-Cold War

| # | Film | Date | Director | Country | Source work | Author | Date | Type | TV | Date | Country |
| 1 | Icon | 2005 | Charles Martin Smith | United States | Icon | Frederick Forsyth | 1996 | Novel | - | - | - |
| 2 | The Constant Gardener | 2005 | Fernando Meirelles | UK | The Constant Gardener | John le Carré | 2001 | Novel | - | - | - |