A Dandy in Aspic

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A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by Anthony Mann
Laurence Harvey (uncredited)
Written by Derek Marlowe
Based onA Dandy in Aspic
1966 novel
by Derek Marlowe
Produced byAnthony Mann
Starring Laurence Harvey
Tom Courtenay
Mia Farrow
Peter Cook
Harry Andrews
Cinematography Christopher Challis
Austin Dempster
Edited by Thelma Connell
Music by Quincy Jones
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • April 2, 1968 (1968-04-02)(USA)
  • April 4, 1968 (1968-04-04)(London - premiere)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 neo-noir [1] Technicolor and Panavision British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, and Mia Farrow, with costumes by Pierre Cardin. [2] It was Mann's final film.

Contents

Set against the backdrop of 1960s Cold War Europe, it is the story of a spy known to his superiors in British Intelligence by his code name "Eberlin".

Plot

Eberlin, a Cold War British intelligence operative, has a problem. His superiors have ordered him to find and assassinate a KGB agent named Krasnevin, believed to be responsible for the recent murders of British agents. Summoned to a meeting at a country estate, he is presented with film footage of the suspected Krasnevin. He turns out to be Eberlin's go-between with Russian double agents.

To accomplish his assignment, Eberlin is partnered with a ruthless, cynical, and sociopathic British agent, Gatiss, who openly distrusts and dislikes him. Caroline is a London-based photographer with whom Eberlin has an affair. Much of the film takes place in West Berlin, where Eberlin, as part of his mission, attempts to cross the Berlin Wall to the East. His attempts are frustrated by his partnership with Gatiss and by the Soviet authorities, who are keen to retain the identity of the assassin.

Cast

Production

Largely filmed on location in London and Berlin,[ citation needed ] this was Anthony Mann's final film; he died of a heart attack before it was finished. Its direction was completed by Harvey.

Music

Unidentified orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones including Carol Kaye (electric bass) [3] and Earl Palmer (drums). [4]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "One wonders what Bresson might have made of Derek Marlowe's novel, which is in one way a completely routine spy thriller, and in another, anything but. The point about the novel is that when Eberlin, the double agent, finds that he has been assigned to kill himself, it is as if he were paralysed by the irony of his position. All the usual spy things happen, violence proliferates, he acts and is acted upon; but because he is aware that he is securely caught in a trap (and the book sees events exclusively from his point of view), all this action is merely vain fluttering, leading nowhere and having no real meaning. In a very real, Bressonian sense, the action takes place in Eberlin's mind, where exterior events are seen, as it were, through a glass darkly, imponderably adding to or subtracting from his chances of survival. The film, predictably, opts for a straightforward actionful approach, with the result that what we get is a totally routine spy thriller. ... The plot, in fact, just isn't strong enough or inventive enough to withstand this sort of clumsy exteriorisation, and the result is deadly dullness." [5]

The New York Times described it as "a very wobbly spy movie ... slow, blank, decorous and completely devoid of suspense." [6]

Variety called the film as a "routine, poorly-titled espionage meller loaded with uninteresting, cardboard characters." [7]

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide rates the film 2 out of 4 stars and describes it as a "wooden spy melodrama in which principals keep switching sides so rapidly it becomes impossible to follow." [8]

Time Out said: "the film is strong on Cold War atmospherics and notable for its superior cast." [9]

Home media

A Dandy in Aspic was released to DVD on 1 August 2011 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as a DVD-on-demand title available through Amazon. A limited edition blu-ray disc with extensive bonus materials was released in the United Kingdom on 25 March 2019. In 2020, it became available for streaming on The Criterion Channel.

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References

  1. Spicer, Andrew (2010). Historical Dictionary of Film Noir. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 427. ISBN   978-0-8108-5960-9.
  2. "A Dandy in Aspic". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. "A Dandy In Aspic". Library of Congress.
  4. "A Dandy In Aspic". Library of Congress.
  5. "A Dandy in Aspic". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 35 (408): 71. 1 January 1968 via ProQuest.
  6. Adler, Renata. "Screen: Harvey Plays a Deadpan 'Dandy in Aspic'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  7. Variety staff. "A Dandy in Aspic". Variety. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  8. Maltin, Leonard (2015). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2015 ed.). New York: Penguin Random House. p. 316. ISBN   9780451468499.
  9. "A Dandy in Aspic". Time Out. Retrieved 3 April 2020.