Lithuanian born Lawrence Harvey is an actor you can’t really
mistake for anyone one else, the suave good looks, and the slick combed back
hair. He made his cinema debut in House
of Darkness in 1948 and progressed to making films like The Good Die Young in 1954 under contract to Romulus
before his break through role as Joe Lampton in Jack Clayton’s Award Winning
movie Room at the Top in 1958. This led to
one of my favourite Harvey performances when he played William Barret Travis in
The Alamo (1960) other films of note
followed including The Manchurian
Candidate (1962) along side Frank Sinatra before his untimely death in 1973
from stomach cancer at the age of 45. His obituary in New York Times really
sums up the man:
“With his clipped
speech, cool smile and a cigarette dangling impudently from his lips, Laurence
Harvey established himself as the screen's perfect pin-striped cad. He could
project such utter boredom that willowy debutantes would shrivel in his
presence. He could also exude such charm that the same young ladies would
gladly lend him their hearts, which were usually returned utterly broken... The
image Mr Harvey carefully fostered for himself off screen was not far removed
from some of the roles he played. "I'm a flamboyant character, an extrovert
who doesn't want to reveal his feelings", he once said. "To bare your
soul to the world, I find unutterably boring. I think part of our profession is
to have a quixotic personality”[1]
After Darling with
Dirk
Bogarde and Julie Christie in 1965 he made a dozen or so indifferent movies
including A Dandy in Aspic (1968). This British spy drama was based on a
novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe who also wrote the screenplay. Directed
by Anthony Mann who died from a heart attack just before the movie was
completed, it was Harvey who took over the helm and finished the film. A Cold
War thriller about a British Intelligence Agent (Harvey) who is a double agent working
undercover for the Russians and tasked by the British to assassinate himself. The film also stars Tom Courtney as the rather
nasty British agent Gatiss who has it in for Eberlin right from the start.
American actress Mia Farrow plays Eberlin’s love interest the young kooky London
based photographer Caroline who follows the double agent to West Berlin. (Where
a lot of the movie was filmed) Also putting in appearances are Peter Cook,
Barbara Murray, John Bird, Harry Andrews and the American actor Lionel Stander
who in 1966 had the starring role in Roman Polanski’s Cul-de-sac opposite Francoise
Dorleac and Donald Pleasence.
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| Harvey with Mia Farrow.... |
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| My boyhood crush Barbara Murray. |
As was a feature of spy movies made at this time it is a
bleak but interesting movie that did not get good reviews on its original
cinematic release. With its appealing narrative and solid performances from the
cast, especially Harvey and Courtney, this rather underrated movie is well
worth a watch particularly for those of you that appreciate this type of film
genre.
