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Our Man in Havana [VHS]

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Sir Carol Reed's 1960 film of Graham Greene's "Our Man in Havana" gets off to a slow start. The expatriate British widower Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) is having difficulty making enough money to support the expensive tastes of his cherished teenaged daughter Milly (Jo Morrow), who has caught the idea of a Batista torturer and equestrian, Capt. Segura (Ernie Kovacs). The British spymaster for the Caribbean (Noël Coward) insists that Wormold become a British secret agent, and Wormold decides to take the money and when pressed for results, concocts nonsense "intelligence."

His ludicrous inventions, including a military installation he invents out of vacuum cleaner parts, are taken very seriously. As in Greene's "The Third Man" (also filmed by Reed) and "The Quiet American" (filmed by Joseph Mankiewicz), ignorance ("innocence") proves to be extremely dangerous to others. This film is not as great as those other two, but has a very strong cast (including Burl Ives as a German doctor, Maureen O'Hara as a plucky M16 professional sent to assist Wormold, and Ralph Richardson as the agency head back in London) and splendid black-and-white cinematography of Havana almost as good as that of Vienna and Hanoi in the other two films. The camerawork is by Oswald Morris, John Huston's cinematographer on another, broader 1950s spy spoof (Beat the Devil) and other films (including the 1952 Moulin Rouge, Moby Dick, The Roots of Heaven, The Man who Would be King, and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison) plus Kubrick's "Lolita" and Reed's "Oliver!"

Guinness (who had a career in spying movies ahead of him!) delivers a subtle performance. More unexpectedly, so does Ernie Kovacs, who was generally a very broad and antic comic. A thuggish police officer in a Latin American dictatorship is an easy target, but Kovacs draws on the tradition of cortesia and is considerably more professional than the M16 establishment that turns out to be at least as devoted as he is to keeping up appearances. Burl Ives (who long outlived Kovacs, but stopped getting roles like those in which he was so memorable in the late 1950s) also delivers a subtle performance as he is dragged into the madness Wormold's fantasies unleash.

Alec Guinness gives a terrifically funny performance as Wormold, a reluctant, middle-aged British resident of Havana who is approached by his country's desperate, and ridiculously credulous, "intelligence service" to do his patriotic duty and become a part-time spy. Wormold is also the lonely father of a nubile daughter and he needs extra money to answer her increasingly expensive wishes. The government will pay well. One day, rather hopelessly and absently, he sketches the interior of a vacuum cleaner he is supposed to be selling at his modest business, pretending his sketch pertains to some dangerous, real-life strategic device. His secret agent employers are elated. They send Wormold money. Unfortunately, they also become desperate for more "intelligence" from the now equally desperate Wormold. As he invents ever more outrageous fictions, the spy masters grow ever more fascinated. Then comes the kicker: Wormold's elaborate fantasies begin to come true. He has created a monster, in effect. The complexities of his imaginary spy world begin to envelope him. The outcome is terrible - and terribly funny. The subtle comic genius of Guinness may be lost on some American audiences, or it may be just your cup of tea. I laughed till I cried. I have never forgotten this movie since I saw it when I was an English major, studying Graham Greene, among others. I eagerly await its issuance in DVD.

This is a very funny black comedy with a screenplay by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed. James Wormold (Alec Guinness) is a vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana. He's getting by but needs more money to take care of his teen-aged daughter. He's recruited as a spy for Britain by Noel Coward. He doesn't really know what's wanted, but he can use the money. Since he doesn't know anything of value, he begins making up stories and inventing plans, and mentioning the names of people supposedly involved. The names, of course, are just names he picked at random. His masterpiece is his "discovery" of a giant military complex, the plans of which he gets to his controller (Coward) who sends them on the London. The plans are actually the diagrams of one of his vacuum cleaners. This first part of the movie is a funny, sharp-edged parody of British pomposity and the thick headedness of "intelligence."

But then people begin to die.

It seems there may be more than British spies in Havana, spies who also believe the plans are genuine, and who are a lot more ruthless than the British. The second half of the film is darker, less funny and much more sardonic.

The cast is a strange grouping of disparate acting styles, but somehow they all work very well together. In addition to Guinness and Coward, there is Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs, Maureen O'Hara and Ralph Richardson. Coward is priceless as a mannered, fatuous, obliviously incompetent spy. Kovacs for once is less Kovacs and more the part. He plays the Cuban police's main man in catching spies. He's amusing, and so are his lines. Among them, "There are two classes of people: those who can be tortured and those who can't." He and Guinness share a great scene where Guinness, who has to get away from Kovacs, challenges him to a checkers match with the pieces being miniature liquor bottles. Each time a piece is taken, the victor has to drink it. Guinness manages to lose regularly. Kovacs preens on his victories and only gradually, and increasingly incoherently, begins to suspect.

For Reed, who directed The Third Man, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and other classic films, this is, in my opinion, the last of his first-rate movies. He continued to direct but made such things as The Key, Oliver! and The Agony and the Ecstasy.

This is a film that cries out to be on DVD. It's not even available on VHS. I taped it three or four years ago when it was on cable and watched it again over the weekend. Keep an eye out for it if its ever released. It's a very good movie.

Graham Greene served in British Intelligence during the 1939-1945 war along with other literary types such as Malcolm Muggeridge. They all were less than impressed with the organization and expressed this in various literary ways. For Greene it was a series of semi historical novels. I would guess that Inspector Clouseau would not feel out of place in the MI6 of the post war era. In this novel Greene illustrates all of the misunderstandings and quirks of fate that foul up intelligence operations. An inept person is recruited into the organization. In order to show results he fakes the recruitment of subagents and fabricates information they are supposed to have given to him. His security is bad and these reports are read by the other side thinking they are true. The sub agents are arrested and tortured to death. The hero is recalled to London and given a medal and retirement to cover up for the bungling of himself and the poor judgement of the person who recruited him and the people who accepted his false information and used it for national policy direction.

One thing this film accomplishes that it did not intend to is to give us all a farewell look at pre-communist Cuba. Many Cuban exiles have been ctitical of this film saying it focused too much on the negative aspects of Cuba during this period making the country seem so kitchen sink . Erine Kovacs did a stellar job playing Capt Segura, the hated & corrupt police offical who drives around Havana in a mouth watering Mercedes 300SL roadster. This movie was in my opinion the performance of Air Alec Guiness's career not Star Wars. I wonder why it is not out on DVD....

I found this movie a masterpiece from begining to end. The photography of old Havana is superb, the humor, extremely ingenous, the performances of Alec Guiness, Ernie Kovacs and Burl Ives, outstanding. The movie is very costumbrist; in the sense that shows very accurately every day life in Havana decades ago

I see there are already six reviews as I write this, some of them more knowledgeable about directors and screenplays than I could ever be, and a number of them mention what an excellent spoof on spying this movie is. I just want to add some of the wonderful jokes I recall from seeing the movie, about forty years ago. Note that some of what follows might be interpreted as SPOILERS, although that is not my intent.

Of course Guiness could be funny just walking down the street, but as he drew the Vacuum cleaner parts and provided a description of a scientific weapon being developed in secret, it was already funny. When Ralph Richardson, the British Spymaster (of MI5? I don't recall a name being given for the agency) sees the plans, he describes them to Noel Coward, who is in based in some neighboring South American Country, as looking for all the world like a GIGANTIC VACUUM CLEANER! Noel Coward, who knows Guinness sells vacuum cleaners, looks quite upset (in an understated, British way of course -- everything is quite subtly done). Ralph Richardson then becomes worried that Guinness will be up to the task. "He IS a man of substance, I hope," he says to Coward. "A small businessman is no use at all!"

Noel Coward then goes back to his base, and looks into things, soon asking Guinness to visit him. By this time he is convinced everything is real because he's picked up chatter from the enemy about Guinness' discovery. The funniest thing in this visit, so subtle it could easily be missed, is when Coward welcomes Guinness out in his garden and carefully closes the gate to the terrace with a subtle hint of wanting to frustrate eavesdroppers. But the gate is a typical garden gate, made up of a few ribbons of wrought iron, and completely useless for containing sound.

We meet Ernie Kavaks relatively early, when Guinness' daughter is berating him for arresting a (presumably liberal) Doctor Mendez (I think), and, saying, ". . .no doubt you're torturing him!" Kovaks answers in a perfect Spanish accented English, "No, some people we arrest expect to be tortured, but Doctor Mendez is not in the torturable class."

The scene where Guinness challenges Kovaks to play checkers with Whiskey miniatures, Bourbon against Scotch, and purposely forces him to take piece after piece, is for the purpose of taking Kovaks' gun. Guinness doesn't own a gun, but needs one to confront the man who is killing his supposed agents, and at one point in the game begins to worry that he doesn't know how to load a gun. "Do you keep your gun loaded, Lieutenant?" he asks. Kovaks has a great line, which he delivers with great restraint. "The kind of enemies I have . . . They don't give me time to load."

There is real spy stuff going on as well, understand. People are killed, a few of whom we care about. But I remember this movie for it's FUNNY lines.

Besides The Third Man, the film of Carol Reed's that I find most interesting is Our Man In Havana: partly because of the music, which, like The Third Man, is unique and memorable; partly because anything Alec Guinness is in is going to be memorable; but also because it is almost a comedic version of The Third Man. Instead of post-war Vienna, the story is set in pre-Castro Cuba - only, it was filmed in Cuba after Castro had taken office; so it is a final glimpse of what Cuba was like before it was closed to the free world. For that reason alone, it is fascinating.

It is a spoof on spy thrillers. As with all Reed's most successful films, the story and script are by Graham Greene. Alec Guinness, who is an ex-patriot that owns a vacuum cleaner shop, is recruited by the British secret service to spy on everyone and everything that looks suspicious. He only does it for the money, to keep his daughter in horses and tack; so he makes up a lot of imaginary contacts and sub-agents. But when HQ requires results, he gets the idea of doing some drawings of secret facilities and weapons that are based on his vacuum cleaners. This creates a sensation with the home office, who send Maureen O'Hara down to assist him with the "important work" he's doing. Things get out of hand when Burl Ives, a friend of Guinness', acts like the ruse he's pulling off is real; when Ernie Kovacs, the local police captain, wants Guinness to be his counter-spy; and when Noel Coward, Guinness' British contact, tells him someone is trying to kill him. It is really a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun.

I don't know why this film has not received more attention, unless it is because it is not out on DVD yet, except in non-US format. If you ever get a chance to watch it on Turner Classic Movies, do so - it is a little gem shaped by the hand of a real master. But I trust it won't be long before it is out. It definitely deserves to be.

Waitsel Smith

I just recently saw the movie Carol Reed's 1959 "Our Man in Havana" and enjoyed the sense of irony Graham Greene (author of the book and the screen play writer for the film) communicated about Cold War politics and intrigue. The movie was actually shot in 1959 Havana, only a few months after Castro's revolution. I understand that it was not easy to get the Castro govt. to allow the shooting and they had to approve the script before giving permission. So, the movie is a great time capsule of Cuba before the embargo. I suspect many of the cars in the film are still on the road today!!! Carol Reed of "The Third Man" fame, (one of my top 10 favorite movies also written and screen play by Graham Greene) uses his actors and Havana street scenes to great effect!!! Loved Reed's cinematography.

Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) is an expatriate Englishman living in Havana in the late 1950s with his vivacious teenage daughter Milly (Jo Morrow). Jim sees that Milly has extravagant tastes and he would like nothing better than to send her to Switzerland to "finishing" school to get her away from the likes of police captain Segura (Ernie Kovacs), who is friendly with the nuns at Milly's school, and is looking for a traditional and pretty young woman to be his wife from among the graduating students.

However, Jim owns a vacuum cleaner shop which barely pays the bills. Therefore, Jim accepts an offer from Hawthorne (Noel Coward) a Secret Service official based in Jamaica charged with recruiting a group of secret agents to report on Cuban military activities for a monthly stipend. Jim's closest friend, a former German army officer, Dr. Hasselbacher, (Burl Ives) suggests that the best secrets are known to no one, so Jim decides to pretend to have a list of agents and provide fictional tales for the benefit of the bosses in London. Hasselbacher opines that Jim would not be doing anything immoral because countries feel obligated to play a game and spy on each other, and it might has well be him who gets paid.

Jim decides to manufacture a list of agents culled from the local country club and provides fictional tales of futuristic looking weapons being built in the mountains, (in reality, drawings of his vacuum cleaners) for the benefit of his masters in London. Some other reports are inspired by comic strips. He is soon seen as the best agent in the Western Hemisphere by the spy boss C (Ralph Richardson) who is deeply impressed, and C decides to send him a support staff.

Soon Beatrice Severn (Maureen O'Hara) arrives in Havana, sent by C to be his "bookkeeper" and assistant. Beatrice finds Jim romantically attractive. When she begins to catch on to the deceptions, she keeps quiet despite misgivings. There are others who get suspicious of Wormold at the Agency. One agent comments to C that the drawings look like parts of a vacuum cleaner, enlarged. Hawthorne hears this while he is behind C, and realizes what Guinness is sending, but he keeps quiet. Meanwhile, Captain Segura is aware, after hearing of Jims approaches to local fellows, that Jim was recruiting spies, but he bides his time, as his interest is getting Jim's consent for him to marry Milly. Milly accepts some courting, but her interests are rather with her horse rather than marrying. Additionally, Dr. Hasselbacher, tempted by Jim's reports of easy money in exchange for false information, also starts to sell lies, judging that no significant harm results from the deception.

Wormolds originally harmless fraud eventually becomes dangerous. As British Intelligence agencies begin to take his work seriously, so does the other side, and thus Wormold is a wanted man, dead or alive. Hawthorne has Jim go to Jamaica for consultations, where he warns him that Jim's discovery of military secrets is so impressive that the other side's agents have decided to silence him by assassination, most likely by poisoning at a banquet Jim has to attend as part of his vacuum cleaner business. Hawthorne instructs Jim in a variety of techniques to avoid being poisoned by food or drink.

Jim manages to figure out the assassin is none other than a friendly man he met on the flight to Kingston, but he is unable to prevent the murder of his friend Dr. Hasselbacher. Jim tells the assassin they will be going to a couple of semi clandestine night clubs, giving their names, but in fact he goes to others, so the ambushers are sent to the wrong place, the assassin is isolated, and Jim shoots him. The next day, however, after Jim and Milly attend Dr. Hasselbachers funeral, Captain Segura orders Jim deported, and he must return to London.

He tells all details of what he has done to Beatrice, who decides to quit the spy business and return to London with him. Meantime, Beatrice and Milly have become friends, Milly accepts Beatrice as a future stepmother. Jim goes to a meeting with C and other spy bosses in London. While he is waiting to be seen, the officials discuss what they should do with him. To reveal to the Prime Minister and the other top brass that Jim concocted all his intelligence would have a damaging effect on their intelligence agency, so they come up with a solution. A story is fabricated, claiming the hardware that Jim's agent had seen had since been dismantled. Wormold is told he is to receive an O.B.E, and the secret service offers him a position teaching espionage classes to new recruits in London. With this money, he can afford to send Milly to the fancy school in Switzerland.

As a retired Army officer and an adjunct professor of history, I loved Greene's sense of humor and irony about the "great game" intelligence services played during the Cold War. I am sure that more than once events as told in "Our Man in Havana" have happened. My personal experience with military intelligence (long considered an "oxymoron" among soldiers) leads me to conclude that much of the spying that went on did little to provide necessary information to make any of us safer!

It is scandalous that this fine film has been withheld from DVD and VHS, Region 1 release in the United States. What possibly could be the problem? It couldn't be because of the director, the same Carol Reed of The Third Man, The Fallen Idol, A Kid for Two Farthings, Oliver, and scores of other fine films. It couldn't be because of the superb cast of Alec Guinness, Maureen O'Hara, Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs, Ralph Richardson, and Noel Coward. It certainly would not be because of the same infallible textures by photographer Oswald Morris which brought oohs and aahs for Kubrick's 1962 Lolita and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Surely there could be no argument that novelist Graham Greene's screenplay could be any less entertaining than his book. Given such a superb company, and the undeniable fact that this is an eye-popping, first-rate production, one wonders for the reason of its exile.