 First edition | |
| Author | Eric Ambler |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
Publication date | 1938 |
| Media type | |
| OCLC | 758608170 |
| Preceded by | Uncommon Danger |
| Followed by | Cause for Alarm |
Epitaph for a Spy is a 1938 spy novel by Eric Ambler.
Josef Vadassy is a Hungarian refugee who is effectively stateless. He was born in Szabadka, then in Hungary, but it became Subotica and part of Yugoslavia following the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. His Yugoslav passport later expired and the authorities refused to renew it.
While on holiday in the south of France, he sends a roll of camera film for development, however, it turns out to contain pictures which are not his, of nearby naval defences. He is arrested on suspicion of spying. The police realise that Vadassy did not take the pictures, but that someone else at his hotel must have an identical camera, a Zeiss Ikon Contax. Vadassy is told to return to the hotel to find the real spy, with the threat that should he fail to do so, he will be deported, which could mean death.
The novel was published and is set just before World War II. Vadassy is a typical Ambler protagonist, sympathetic but out of his depth. The plight of stateless individuals is a recurring theme in Ambler's novels. [1] The hotel setting makes the novel similar to a country house whodunit. [2]
The book contained early descriptions of German concentration camps, based on Ambler's conversations with refugees and reading of left-wing newspapers. [3]
The book was serialised in the Daily Express and made Ambler a household name. [4]
The novel was filmed as Hotel Reserve in 1944, starring James Mason. It was adapted for television in 1953, with Peter Cushing as Josef Vadassy, and again in 1963 with Colin Jeavons as Vadassy.
Colin Andrew Firth is an English actor and producer. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a series of challenging roles, including leading roles in A Month in the Country (1987), Tumbledown (1988) and Valmont (1989). His portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice led to widespread attention, and to roles in more prominent films such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), and Love Actually (2003), co-starring as Mark Darcy in the romantic comedy films Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), and Harry Bright in the musical comedy films Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! (2018).
The Mask of Dimitrios is a 1944 American film noir starring Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, and Victor Francen. Directed by Jean Negulesco, it was written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same title written by Eric Ambler. Scott played the title role, of Dimitrios Makropoulos, in his film debut.
Passage of Arms is a 1959 novel by Eric Ambler.
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.
Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by the English author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenaged spy named Alex Rider and are primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises 14 novels, as well as six graphic novels, seven short stories, and a supplementary book.
The Dark Frontier (1936) is Eric Ambler's first novel. Based on the development of weaponry in the year 1936, The Dark Frontier was one of the first novels to predict the invention of a nuclear bomb and its consequences.
Journey into Fear is a 1940 spy thriller novel by Eric Ambler. Film adaptations were released in 1943 and 1975.
Cause for Alarm is a novel by Eric Ambler first published in 1938. Set in Fascist Italy in that year, the book is one of Ambler's classic spy thrillers.
The Trial is a 1962 drama film written and directed by Orson Welles, based on the 1925 posthumously published novel of the same name by Franz Kafka. Welles stated immediately after completing the film: "The Trial is the best film I have ever made". The film begins with Welles narrating Kafka's parable "Before the Law" to pinscreen scenes created by the artists Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.
Where the Spies Are is a 1965 British comedy adventure film directed by Val Guest and starring David Niven, Françoise Dorléac, John Le Mesurier, Cyril Cusack and Richard Marner. It was based on the 1964 James Leasor book Passport to Oblivion, which was also the working title of the film. MGM intended to make a Jason Love film series, but the idea was shelved.
Journey into Fear is a 1943 American spy film noir directed by Norman Foster, based on the 1940 Eric Ambler novel of the same name. The film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer, and the destination of his journey changed from France to the Soviet Union - reflecting the changes in the war situation since the original Ambler book was written. The RKO Pictures release stars Joseph Cotten, who also wrote the screenplay with Orson Welles. The Mercury Production was also produced by Welles, again uncredited.
Hotel Reserve is a 1944 British spy film starring James Mason as an innocent man caught up in pre-Second World War espionage. Other cast members include Lucie Mannheim, Raymond Lovell and Herbert Lom. It was based on Eric Ambler's 1938 novel Epitaph for a Spy. Unusually, it was both directed and produced by a trio: Lance Comfort, Mutz Greenbaum and Victor Hanbury. It was shot at Denham Studios with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. The film was produced and distributed by the British branch of RKO Pictures.
The Care of Time (1981) is the last novel by British spy fiction writer Eric Ambler. It deals with the theme of international terrorism, using fictional unpublished memoirs of Russian terrorist Sergey Nechayev as a plot device.
Highly Dangerous is a 1950 British spy film starring Margaret Lockwood and Dane Clark. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker, based on a screenplay and novel The Dark Frontier written by Eric Ambler.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 Cold War spy thriller film directed by Tomas Alfredson. The screenplay was written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, based on John le Carré's 1974 novel of the same name. The film stars an ensemble cast including Gary Oldman as George Smiley, with Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, David Dencik and Kathy Burke. It is set in London in the early 1970s and follows the hunt for a Soviet double agent at the top of the British secret service.
Dirty Story: A Further Account of the Life and Adventures of Arthur Abdel Simpson is a 1967 novel by Eric Ambler. It was also published as This Gun for Hire.
Uncommon Danger is the second novel by British thriller writer Eric Ambler, published in 1937. It was published in the United States as Background To Danger. In his autobiography, Here Lies Eric Ambler, Ambler explains that "Background To Danger" was the original title, but his British publisher disliked the word 'background', so it was published in all English-speaking countries except the US as Uncommon Danger.
The Mask of Dimitrios is a 1939 novel by Eric Ambler. In the United States it was published as A Coffin for Dimitrios.
Judgment on Deltchev is a 1951 novel by Eric Ambler. It was his first solo novel for eleven years, and Ambler was worried about producing a bad novel, but did not. The book is a courtroom drama based on the show trial of Bulgarian politician Nikola Petkov. It provoked hostile responses from Communist fellow travellers.
The Light of Day is a 1962 novel by Eric Ambler.
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