samkydd

Having had the BBC radio play version of this terrific Graham Greene story for many years (starring Jack Watling as Wormold and Eleanor Bron as Beatrice) I finally got around to buying the DVD of the Carol Reed film version and for under five pounds a real bargain! It arrived this morning but we were down Southbourne beach all day in Bournemouth and I just couldn't wait to get home to watch it earlier this evening!

Made in 1959 it stars the great Alec Guinness, Noel Coward, Ralph Richardson, Burl Ives and Maureen O'Hara. Very enjoyable film and I'm surprised I've not seen it before now. I don't know if it was filmed in Cuba but even in gleaming black and white it manages to capture the atmosphere of pre-Castro days very well.

If it was shot there I imagine that most of the 50s American cars featured are still driving around the streets of Havana today, albeit powered by Lada engines! Wormold had a lovely Morris 1000 convertible while the police captain drove a beautiful Mercedes 190, also a rag top.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Nick Dando

IMDB does give the location as Havana, but whether that's true I can't confirm. Seems rather risky as the island was in the throes of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, and was still rather unstable.

Nick

DB7

Doesn't the film open with a reference to this after the credits?

Steve Crook

Under Trivia on the IMDb it says:
Fidel Castro's government gave permission for this film, which presents the fallen regime of Fulgencio Batista, in an unflattering light and also condemns American and British meddling, to shoot on location in Havana, only months after the revolution. It was completed during the brief period in 1959 before Cuba had aligned itself with the Soviet Union.

Steve