A Dandy in Aspic

Anthony Mann: A Dandy in Aspic (GB 1968) with Mia Farrow (Caroline) and Laurence Harvey (Eberlin).

Maldonne pour un espion / Vakoilija jota kukaan ei halunnut / Spionen som ingen ville ha.

    Anthony Mann

Grande-Bretagne / 1968 / 110 min / 35 mm / VOSTF

D'après le roman A Dandy in Aspic de Derek Marlowe.

Avec Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, Mia Farrow.

    Finnish premiere: 3 May 1968.

    Rétrospective Anthony Mann

    Copie rare Technicolor Scope

    Sous-titres français: Jean Sendy

    Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6, 30 March 2024.

La Cinémathèque française: " Ingénieuse histoire d'agent double qui reçoit comme mission de s'exécuter lui-même, le dernier film d'Anthony Mann, mort avant la fin du tournage, garde l'empreinte de son savoir-faire, d'une atmosphère de suspicion et de guerre froide plus que réussie. "

 AA: An espionage thriller, a Cold War thriller, a double agent thriller.

The mood of the movie is completely different from what Anthony Mann had done before, but because he died during the filming, it is hard to tell to what extent the ambience reflects him. After Mann's death, the direction of the principal photography was brought to a finish by Laurence Harvey.

The film starts in Swinging London, co-starring Mia Farrow in full Blow-Up mode. The score is by Quincy Jones and the costumes are by Pierre Cardin. The uncanny opening and closing credits imagery is that of a puppet on a string. Danse macabre of the Pop Age.

The movie continues in dreary divided Berlin, familiar from Torn Curtain - and that is how it still looked in the 1980s when I was a student at the Freie Universität. (See list of filming locations quoted below).

A Dandy in Aspic belongs to the contemporary cycle of realistic Cold War espionage thrillers, including The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Torn Curtain, Topaz and The Kremlin Letter. They share a sour taste, a malaise about the poisonous spirit of the Cold War. Collectively, they grow into an expression of bad faith (mauvaise foi). The leading inspiration in this trend was John Le Carré. The artists were committed to the cause of the Free World but struggled with disgust of a Free World also embracing regimes of Greece, Spain, Portugal, South Africa and South Korea, the war in Vietnam and brutal coups and repressions against democratic leaders in Iran, Guatemala, Congo, Indonesia and Chile. Ian Fleming's James Bond stories were pop parodies of the Cold War. In dialogue with Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming said that James Bond is not a hero like Philip Marlowe (BBC 1958, often included in James Bond dvd / bluray box sets). *

A Russian double agent who has managed to function as a British spy for 18 years, would like to step out, but his superiors refuse permission. To complicate his job, the British secret service gives him the mission to terminate a compatriot... himself.

It is in the nature of secret agents and double agents to hide their true self. Alexander Eberlin (Laurence Harvey) and Paul Gatiss (Tom Courtenay) are immaculate and effective, but they remain opaque to such a degree that they fail to move. It is a part of their profession that they are expendable, but it is a problem for the movie that we, the audience, do not care about them either.

"Copie rare Technicolor Scope" was announced. It was a privilege to savour the juicy vintage Technicolor of this 35 mm print.

...

WEST BERLIN LOCATIONS identified in German Wikipedia:

Flughafen Tempelhof, Europa-Center, Funkturm, S-Bahnhof Tiergarten, U-Bahnhof Gleisdreieck [als Ersatz für den S-Bahnhof Friedrichstraße, als Grenzübergangsstelle zu Ost-Berlin], Springer-Hochhaus, AVUS-Rennstrecke, Stuttgarter Platz.

...

* Ian Fleming to Raymond Chandler (BBC interview in 1958): " Your hero, Philip Marlowe, is a real hero. He behaves in a heroic fashion. I never intended my leading character, James Bond, to be a hero. I intended him to be a sort of blunt instrument wielded by a government department who would get into bizarre and fantastic situations and more or less shoot his way out of them, or get out of them one way or another. But of course he’s always referred to as my hero. I don’t see him as a hero myself. On the whole I think he’s a rather unattractive man ... " (Five Dials, Number Seven, pp. 30-33).