To Catch a Spy - Revision history

Kurt at 22:21, 25 January 2023

2023-01-25T22:21:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:21, 25 January 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	~~{{other uses}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = To Catch a Spy		\| name = To Catch a Spy
Line 76:		Line 73:
	Lalage was owned and operated by Captain Jack Glover of [[Dumbarton]], who in addition was an extra in the film, as was his brother Hans Glover. Tragically, Captain Glover drowned in 1982 while undertaking a boat salvage operation in the river Leven. Lalage eventually foundered off the Little Cubrae island after striking rocks during a severe storm and became a total loss.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/local-lifestyle/memory-lane-star-spotting-dumbarton-9670925\|title=Memory Lane: Star spotting on Dumbarton Quay\|first=Bill\|last=Heaney\|date=22 January 2017\|website=Daily Record}}</ref>		Lalage was owned and operated by Captain Jack Glover of [[Dumbarton]], who in addition was an extra in the film, as was his brother Hans Glover. Tragically, Captain Glover drowned in 1982 while undertaking a boat salvage operation in the river Leven. Lalage eventually foundered off the Little Cubrae island after striking rocks during a severe storm and became a total loss.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/local-lifestyle/memory-lane-star-spotting-dumbarton-9670925\|title=Memory Lane: Star spotting on Dumbarton Quay\|first=Bill\|last=Heaney\|date=22 January 2017\|website=Daily Record}}</ref>

	Calshot Salar, was owned by Dr W."Bill" Souter and operated during filming by a Canadian, Captain Robin Blair-Crawford,<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/49646577\|title=Member Profile: Robin Blair-Crawford - Find A Grave\|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref> who also had a position as an actor<ref>https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13468471/ {{User-generated source\|certain=yes\|date=May 2022}}</ref> in the movie and in addition was the lead safety diver at Loch Etive. At the insistence of her owner Calshot Salar had her original RAF number painted on the hull for the movie. After numerous adventures in both home and overseas waters Calshot Salar was sold and eventually became a houseboat at [[Shoreham-by-Sea\|Shoreham]].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.bmpt.co.uk/calshot-salar_topic840.html\|title=Calshot Salar\|website=BMPT Forum}}</ref>		Calshot Salar, was owned by Dr W."Bill" Souter and operated during filming by a Canadian, Captain Robin Blair-Crawford,<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/49646577\|title=Member Profile: Robin Blair-Crawford - Find A Grave\|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref> who also had a position as an actor<ref>https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13468471/ {{User-generated source\|certain=yes\|date=May 2022}}</ref> in the movie and in addition was the lead safety diver at Loch Etive. At the insistence of her owner Calshot Salar had her original RAF number painted on the hull for the movie. After numerous adventures in both home and overseas waters Calshot Salar was sold and eventually became a houseboat at [[w:Shoreham-by-Sea\|Shoreham]].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=http://www.bmpt.co.uk/calshot-salar_topic840.html\|title=Calshot Salar\|website=BMPT Forum}}</ref>

	==Critical reception==		==Critical reception==
	''[[TV Guide]]'' wrote the film "features a good cast, an exciting		''[[TV Guide]]'' wrote the film "features a good cast, an exciting
	speedboat chase, a few chuckles, and every spy cliche in the book";<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/catch-me-a-spy/review/2030265380/\|title=Catch Me a Spy\|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref> and ''[[Radio Times]]'' noted "a sometimes clever and witty script by the ace TV team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. However, it's rather let down by Clement's uncertain direction. Another problem is that, as a Bucharest waiter who is actually a spy, Kirk Douglas's peculiar intensity isn't best suited to a comedy. Trevor Howard and Tom Courtenay seem more at home with the spy spoof material."<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/k96zh/catch-me-a-spy/\|title=Catch Me a Spy (1971)\|website=Radio Times}}</ref>		speedboat chase, a few chuckles, and every spy cliche in the book";<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/catch-me-a-spy/review/2030265380/\|title=Catch Me a Spy\|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref> and ''[[Radio Times]]'' noted "a sometimes clever and witty script by the ace TV team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. However, it's rather let down by Clement's uncertain direction. Another problem is that, as a Bucharest waiter who is actually a spy, Kirk Douglas's peculiar intensity isn't best suited to a comedy. Trevor Howard and Tom Courtenay seem more at home with the spy spoof material."<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/k96zh/catch-me-a-spy/\|title=Catch Me a Spy (1971)\|website=Radio Times}}</ref>

	~~==See also==~~
	* [[List of American films of 1971]]

	==References==		==References==
Line 94:		Line 88:
	*{{IMDb title\|0067297}}		*{{IMDb title\|0067297}}

	~~{{Bryna Productions}}~~
	{{Clement and La Frenais}}		{{Clement and La Frenais}}

Line 102:		Line 95:
	[[Category:American spy comedy films]]		[[Category:American spy comedy films]]
	[[Category:British spy comedy films]]		[[Category:British spy comedy films]]
			[[Category:British comedy films]]
	[[Category:Bryna Productions films]]		[[Category:Bryna Productions films]]
	[[Category:Cold War spy films]]		[[Category:Cold War spy films]]

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2023-01-25T22:08:13Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 17:08, 25 January 2023
(No difference)

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1970s French films

2022-09-24T02:13:54Z

External links: add Category:1970s French films

New page

{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = To Catch a Spy
| image = "To_Catch_a_Spy"_(1971).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Original British quad poster by [[Arnaldo Putzu]]
| director = [[Dick Clement]]
| producer = [[Pierre Braunberger]] [[Steven Pallos]]
| writer = Dick Clement [[Ian La Frenais]]
| based_on = ''[[Catch Me a Spy]]'' by George Marton & [[Tibor Méray]]
| music = [[Claude Bolling]]
| cinematography = [[Christopher Challis]]
| editing = [[John Bloom (film editor)|John Bloom]]
| starring = [[Kirk Douglas]] [[Marlène Jobert]] [[Trevor Howard]] [[Tom Courtenay]]
| studio = {{Unbulleted list|[[The Bryna Company]]|Ludgate Films|Capitole Films|Les Films de la Pléiade}}
| distributor = [[Rank Film Distributors]]
| released = 6 September 1971
| runtime = 94 minutes
| country = United Kingdom France United States
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''To Catch a Spy''''' is a 1971 [[comedy film|comedy]] [[spy film]] directed by [[Dick Clement]] and starring [[Kirk Douglas]], [[Marlène Jobert]], [[Trevor Howard]], [[Richard Pearson (actor)|Richard Pearson]], [[Garfield Morgan]], [[Angharad Rees]] and [[Robert Raglan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067297/|title=Keep Your Fingers Crossed|date=3 September 1971|via=IMDb}}</ref> It was written by Clement and [[Ian La Frenais]]. The story is based on the 1969 novel ''[[Catch Me a Spy]]'' by George Marton and [[Tibor Méray]].

It was a [[co-production (filmmaking)|co-production]] between Britain, the United States and France, which was filmed in [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]. It was also part filmed on [[Loch Awe]] and [[Loch Etive]], Scotland, where the gunboat scenes were filmed, and featured Kirk Douglas running through a herd of Highland cattle which were owned by David Fellowes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/fcatch.html|title=To Catch a Spy - Scotland the Movie Location Guide|website=www.scotlandthemovie.com}}</ref> It was also released as '''''Catch Me a Spy''''' and '''''Keep Your Fingers Crossed'''''.

==Plot==
Fabienne, a young French-born British [[schoolteacher]] marries and heads to [[Bucharest]] in the [[Eastern Bloc]] for their [[honeymoon]]. Her husband is arrested by secret police and soon turns out to have been detained by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] intelligence as a spy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/28944|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113215557/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/28944|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-01-13|title=Catch Me a Spy (1972)}}</ref> She intends to head to [[Moscow]] to try and help him, but instead is drugged and sent on a plane back to England by a seemingly suspicious [[waiter]].

Back in London she lobbies her uncle, the shadow [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]] and his friend the head of [[British Intelligence]], to help get her husband back. He explains that they have deliberately arrested her husband in order to have a bargaining chip to exchange for a top Soviet agent who has recently been unmasked by the British. Unbeknownst to Fabienne her husband, a corrupt businessman, is in league with the Soviet intelligence and has married her on their instructions. The exchange in Germany goes wrong, however, when during the handover the Soviet spy - laden down with [[capitalist]] consumer goods from the [[Western Bloc|West]] - sinks through the [[ice]] and drowns.

As the British now have nobody to exchange for her husband, Fabienne sets out to capture an enemy agent on her own initiative. She manages to trap a man in a [[trench coat]] who has been following her all day, only for him to prove to be an incompetent British agent ordered to trail her for her own security by his chiefs. When Andrej the Bucharest waiter remerges, having been caught rummaging through her room and demanding she hand over a [[microfilm]] that he inserted into her luggage when he had her drugged in Bucharest, she decides he will be the ideal person to exchange. However, before she can take action they both end up being abducted by enemy agents, only escaping in the [[Scotland|Scottish]] countryside. He reveals to her that he is not really a spy, but he makes money smuggling [[manuscript]]s of books by [[Soviet dissidents]] to the West.

Because the Soviets want to get their hands on him, they plant evidence in his hotel room indicating that he is one of their spies. [[Special Branch (Metropolitan Police)|Special Branch]] arrest him and agree to a new prisoner exchange, over Fabienne's protests. The final exchange on a lake on the [[Inner German border|East German border]] descends into chaos and a [[motor boat]] chase.

==Cast==
* [[Kirk Douglas]] as Andrej
* [[Marlène Jobert]] as Fabienne
* [[Trevor Howard]] as Sir Trevor Dawson
* [[Tom Courtenay]] as Baxter Clarke
* [[Patrick Mower]] as James Fenton
* [[Bernadette Lafont]] as Simone
* [[Bernard Blier]] as Webb
* [[Sacha Pitoëff]] as Stefan
* [[Richard Pearson (actor)|Richard Pearson]] as Haldane
* [[Wilfrid Brambell]] as Beech
* [[Garfield Morgan]] as The Husband
* [[Angharad Rees]] as Victoria
* [[Isabel Dean]] as Celia
* [[Jonathan Cecil]] as British Attaché
* [[Robin Parkinson]] as British Officer
* [[Jean Gilpin]] as Ground Stewardess
* [[Robert Raglan]] as Ambassador
* [[Bridget Turner]] as Woman in Plane
* [[Trevor Peacock]] as Man in Plane
* [[Clive Cazes]] as Rumanian in Plane
* [[Ashley Knight]] as 1st Schoolboy
* Philip DaCosta as 2nd Schoolboy
* [[Robert Gillespie]] as Man in Elevator
* [[Sheila Steafel]] as Woman in lift
* Bunny May as Lift Operator
* Fiona Moore as Russian Girl
* [[Bernice Stegers]] as Russian Girl
* Dinny Powell as 1st Heavy
* Del Baker as 2nd Heavy
* [[Ishaq Bux]] as Arab at Party
* [[Cheryl Hall]] as Clarke's Girlfriend

==Production==
It was shot at [[Twickenham Studios]] and [[location shooting|on location]] in [[London]], [[Loch Leven (Kinross)|Loch Leven]] and in [[Bucharest]]. The school football match was shot at [[Vincent Square]].<ref>James p.99</ref> The film's sets were designed by the [[art director]] [[Carmen Dillon]]. It was made as a [[co-production (film)|co-production]] between several companies including [[Kirk Douglas]]'s own [[Bryna Productions]].

The "gunboats" in the film were:- Lalage, a 70 ft WW2 Fairmile harbor defense launch, the East German boat, and the Calshot Salar, a 60 ft WW2 Royal Air Force "three leg" pinnace, the British boat.

Lalage was owned and operated by Captain Jack Glover of [[Dumbarton]], who in addition was an extra in the film, as was his brother Hans Glover. Tragically, Captain Glover drowned in 1982 while undertaking a boat salvage operation in the river Leven. Lalage eventually foundered off the Little Cubrae island after striking rocks during a severe storm and became a total loss.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/local-lifestyle/memory-lane-star-spotting-dumbarton-9670925|title=Memory Lane: Star spotting on Dumbarton Quay|first=Bill|last=Heaney|date=22 January 2017|website=Daily Record}}</ref>

Calshot Salar, was owned by Dr W."Bill" Souter and operated during filming by a Canadian, Captain Robin Blair-Crawford,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/49646577|title=Member Profile: Robin Blair-Crawford - Find A Grave|website=www.findagrave.com}}</ref> who also had a position as an actor<ref>https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13468471/ {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date=May 2022}}</ref> in the movie and in addition was the lead safety diver at Loch Etive. At the insistence of her owner Calshot Salar had her original RAF number painted on the hull for the movie. After numerous adventures in both home and overseas waters Calshot Salar was sold and eventually became a houseboat at [[Shoreham-by-Sea|Shoreham]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bmpt.co.uk/calshot-salar_topic840.html|title=Calshot Salar|website=BMPT Forum}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
''[[TV Guide]]'' wrote the film "features a good cast, an exciting
speedboat chase, a few chuckles, and every spy cliche in the book";<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/catch-me-a-spy/review/2030265380/|title=Catch Me a Spy|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref> and ''[[Radio Times]]'' noted "a sometimes clever and witty script by the ace TV team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. However, it's rather let down by Clement's uncertain direction. Another problem is that, as a Bucharest waiter who is actually a spy, Kirk Douglas's peculiar intensity isn't best suited to a comedy. Trevor Howard and Tom Courtenay seem more at home with the spy spoof material."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/k96zh/catch-me-a-spy/|title=Catch Me a Spy (1971)|website=Radio Times}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 1971]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Simon James. ''London Film Location Guide''. Anova Books, 2007.

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0067297}}

{{Bryna Productions}}
{{Clement and La Frenais}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:To Catch A Spy}}
[[Category:1971 films]]
[[Category:1970s spy comedy films]]
[[Category:American spy comedy films]]
[[Category:British spy comedy films]]
[[Category:Bryna Productions films]]
[[Category:Cold War spy films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in East Germany]]
[[Category:Films set in West Germany]]
[[Category:Films set in Scotland]]
[[Category:Films set in Bucharest]]
[[Category:Films shot in London]]
[[Category:Films shot in Bucharest]]
[[Category:Films shot in Scotland]]
[[Category:Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios]]
[[Category:French spy comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language French films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Dick Clement]]
[[Category:Films directed by Dick Clement]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ian La Frenais]]
[[Category:1971 comedy films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Claude Bolling]]
[[Category:Films about educators]]
[[Category:Films about vacationing]]
[[Category:Films about marriage]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:1970s French films]]