Our Man in Havana (1959)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Graham Greene (novel)
Graham Greene (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 February 1960 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Comedy

Plot:

Jim Wormold is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly...

Plot Keywords:

Vacuum Cleaner | Cuba | British Secret Service | Police | Secretary

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 9

10:30 PM

TCM

Cast

Alec Guinness	...	Jim Wormold
Burl Ives	...	Dr. Hasselbacher
Maureen O'Hara	...	Beatrice Severn
Ernie Kovacs	...	Capt. Segura
Noel Coward	...	Hawthorne (as Noël Coward)
Ralph Richardson	...	'C'
Jo Morrow	...	Milly Wormold
Grégoire Aslan	...	Cifuentes (as Gregoire Aslan)
Paul Rogers	...	Hubert Carter
Raymond Huntley	...	General
Ferdy Mayne	...	Prof. Sanchez
Maurice Denham	...	Admiral
José Prieto	...	Lopez (as Jose Prieto)
Duncan Macrae	...	MacDougal
Gerik Schjelderup	...	Svenson

Runtime:

USA:111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Havana, Cuba

Company:

Kingsmead Productions

Trivia:

Ernie Kovacs reportedly smoked 25 Cuban cigars every day.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the sequence where Wormold seeks revenge on Carter, Wormold stands in an alley way, with a window behind him to his left. He shoots at Carter, misses him, and walks quite a distance down the alley while putting on his jacket. Carter then pulls out a gun, shoots twice at Wormold who is walking away. Suddenly, the scene cuts back to Wormold back in his original location standing in the alley way with the same distinctive window behind him to his left. He is now without the jacket he had just been seen putting on while walking away. Wormold then shoots Carter.

Quotes:

Jim Wormold: Do you know what they say about Captain Segura?
Milly Wormold: I know, he beats his prisoners, but he never touches me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hersenschimmen (1988)

Soundtrack:

¿Domitila, dónde vas?

Noel Coward and his Ensemble

The novel was infinitely darker than the film. Satire is never casually light-hearted; it has a serious purpose. But this film is touched by the hand of slapstick artist Ernie Kovacs and, in an entirely different comedic way, Noel Coward. As many reviewers have noted, Alec Guinness seems at a loss in more ways than one to bring together all the different strands of entirely disparate story lines that are woven around him. The parts are indeed greater than the whole.

The one scene that I have carried with me, lo, these many years is the one where Sir Noel is having a confidential tête-à-tête with Sir Alec in a tropical garden surrounded by a rattan shell, and he suddenly shushes Sir Alec and cautiously moves to close the putative entry door. One of the best sight gags ever.

The sad thing about "Our Man in Havana" is that it came out the same year that Cuba traded in one tyrant for another. And there is nothing funny at all about either Fulgencia Bautista or Fidel Castro. I recommend the excellent film "Before Night Falls" for those persuaded that the latter was the lesser of two evils.

In short, one has to choose the comedic elements over the political ones in order to enjoy the film. And that means essentially anchoring it to the role of Noel Coward and everyone else who falls in his shadow.