Our man in Havana (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Our man in Havana |
| Original title | Our Man in Havana |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 111 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carol Reed |
| script | Graham Greene |
| production | Carol Reed |
| music | Frank Deniz |
| camera | Oswald Morris |
| cut | Bert Bates |
| occupation | |
| |
Our man in Havana is the 1959 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Graham Greene , who also wrote the screenplay for the film. Directed by Carol Reed .
action
Vacuum cleaner salesman James Wormold lives in Havana with his 17-year-old daughter Milly, with whom the Cuban police captain Segura is in love. Wormold is one day recruited into a café by Hawthorne, a British secret agent. He wants to save himself the work of finding agents and therefore passes this task on to Wormold.
Wormold invents agents with his friend, since he cannot persuade them to undertake such a project himself, and draws the components of a vacuum cleaner to send them to Great Britain as a plan for a possible super weapon . Now that Cuba is becoming more and more important for the British secret service, the secretary Beatrice is sent to the Wormolds. Wormold tries to keep the facade upright despite these difficulties. A non-British secret service found out about the alleged "agents" through an informer in England and had them murdered.
Wormold feels overwhelmed by the events and confesses everything to his secretary, with whom he has since fallen in love. She should send the confession to the British.
A spy within this secret service lets Wormold's superiors know that Wormold is about to be poisoned. With the help of this information, Wormold escapes the assassination attempt and exposes the murderer. The next day he shoots Dr. Hasselbacher, Wormold's longtime friend. This had inspired Wormold to start with the lying fairy tale, was probably involved in the foreign secret service and thus the one who informed the British secret service about the poison attack.
Wormold sends confession as the last message to London, but shoots the murderer with Captain Segura's service weapon, whom he previously distracted with alcohol and his daughter. After the funeral of Dr. Hasselbachers hands over the eviction orders for him and his daughter to Segura Wormold because he sees a danger to himself in Wormold's vicinity - either Segura is not an agent and fears for his life because everyone Wormold knows will be killed, or he is one enemy agent and is afraid of being hunted down by Wormold.
When boarding the plane, Segura returns two cartridge cases to Wormold.
At the end of the film, in the English Ministry, the admiral denies having received Wormold's confession, otherwise he would have to admit that he was deceived by a vacuum cleaner salesman. Based on test results that he invented himself, he claims that the super weapon failed and has been dismantled and that he is satisfied with it. With this, Wormold's position in Cuba is becoming less urgent and, thanks to his excellent work, he should be recommended for an order. Furthermore, Wormold should pass on his knowledge as a teacher for espionage in England.
criticism
As always with Carol Reed, the cast of the film was chosen with the greatest care. Alec Guinness surrounds the role of Wormold with an aura of cunning harmlessness, and Noel Coward expresses all the nuances that English self-irony is capable of. Actually, however, the most dangerous competitor for Guinness is Burl Ives, who plays the role of the foreign German Dr. Hasselbacher embodied. In a small but shocking scene, Mr. Wormold surprises his old friend in an old German uniform from the imperial era, which the doctor put on to remind himself of times gone by. It's a scene that would turn out cheesy in German films and make most English directors become malicious. German plus uniform equals militarism! Nothing like that with Carol Reed. An old English guard uniform could not have triggered any greater emotions in the English audience. [...] The world produces around 800 feature films annually. If about thirty of these are above average, we can congratulate each other. "Our Man in Havana" is one of the best films of the year. At the beginning of 1960 it will also start in the Federal Republic. It's not a huge, super gala film, but a funny and wise film. And since it's a British one, English filmmakers can be forgiven for many of their sins.
The time of December 18, 1959
The third man on the "Third Man" team, Carol Reed / Graham Greene, is not Orson Welles this time, but Alec Guinness. Accordingly, this film is not demonic, but mainly satirical. [...] Unfortunately, the producers were not satisfied with parodic amusement, but instead, for the sake of Greene's tendency for the subtle, interwoven evidence that such frivolous games often turn into bloody seriousness. The (climatically well adapted) film therefore fluctuates between two keys that do not sound together. More impressive than Alec Guinness in the title role: the acting playwright Noel Coward in the role of the duped secret service recruiter.
Der Spiegel from March 9, 1960
Awards
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award .
"With this film and the third man, Carol Reed once again reproduced the original book very well."
aftermath
A variation of this material was filmed in 2001 under the title Der Schneider von Panama .
Web links
- Our Man in Havana in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Our Man in Havana in the All Movie Guide (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Zeit: Our Man in Havana Article of December 18, 1959
- ↑ Der Spiegel: Our Man in Havana Article of March 9, 1960