Author Len Deighton (The Ipcress File) chats with Roy Plomley on Desert Island Discs in a broadcast from June 21st, 1976. In this 30-minute program, the writer discusses his life, his books, and shares his favorite music, including Beethoven, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Ravel, Mozart, Neil Diamond, and others. His book choice was a cookbook, which won't be a surprise to fans of Deighton's gourmet spy, Harry Palmer. And asked to pick one luxury item to have on his island, he chose to have... a darkroom! Wonderful insights into Deighton's own character and the many themes found in his novels! Hear the whole interview at BBC here. Below: Len Deighton teaches actor Michael Caine how to properly break an egg.
Selected Spy Vibe posts: Road to Hong Kong, Inside Gerry Anderson, Ringo Does Goldfinger, Sixties Beat Wear, SPECTRE Announced, Popular Skullture, New Gerry Anderson Sets, New SECRET AGENT set, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Modesty Monday, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, Home Movies, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Designing Bond Books, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, 007 Audio Books Return, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Sou track Release: Conrad Elfers' score to the Harry Palmer classic, Funeral in Berlin (1966/Michael Caine), has been newly mixed for CD from the original masters and packaged in a limited edition with rare tracks by Intrada. The second
Harry Palmer film, directed by Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger), found Palmer embroiled in an espionage tale set in cold war Berlin with operatives using funeral services as cover for defectors. All tracks from the original RCA stereo album appear. Previously unreleased
material includes a pre-title sequence ("Berlin"), a second version of
"Tension Among Mortuary Men - Reprise"), the original
album opening track ("Theme From Funeral In Berlin") performed by The
Puppets, and more. Liner notes by Jeff Bond, flipper cover
design by Joe Sikoryak. Konrad Elfers conducts. 21 tracks. More details here. A 17-track CD-R version (from 2012) is also available here.
Selected Spy Vibe posts: New Gerry Anderson Sets, New SECRET AGENT set, Art of Modesty, Avengers Blu-ray update, Tokyo Beat 1964, Polaroid Spy, Modesty Monday, Feraud Mod Fashion, Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, Louis Feraud, Roger Moore Day, Home Movies, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Unseen Fleming in new 007 by Horowitz, Designing Bond Books, Foster Spies, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, 007 Audio Books Return, Harry Palmer Blu, One Million Prizes, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Blu-Ray, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Diana Rigg at 76, Gerry Anderson Doc, Mr. Hulot's Box Set, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Batman News, Monty Python Fathom Spies, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Big Fun Toys, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Mod Fashion Dolls, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Fans of the Harry Palmer movies starring Michael Caine are celebrating the release of two titles from the series on Blu-ray. The Ipcress File, the original classic made in 1965 by members of the Bond team, was released by Network on July 28th in the UK. Special features include: interview with Michael Caine, production design interview, director/editor commentary, comedy short, 1969 documentary, and more. Synopsis from Blu-ray: "British scientists are being kidnapped and
brainwashed. The group of Major Dalby (Nigel Green) in the Home Office are
given the task of finding out who is responsible and Harry Palmer (Michael
Caine) is transferred to assist. One of their few leads is an Albanian
middleman codenamed Blujay (Frank Gatliff) who seems to know far more about the
British Secret Service than he should. As Palmer investigates, he is drawn into
a dangerous game where no-one is who they seem. Just who is the beautiful Jean
(Sue Lloyd) really working for? What is the role of British spymaster Colonel
Ross (Guy Doleman)? Shadowed by the CIA and distrusted by his own side, as the
bodies pile up Palmer must keep his wits about him and trust no-one until he
can unmask the traitor in British Intelligence and solve the riddle of the
Ipcress File." Read a review of the film on my sister site, Double O Section. Read more about the style of the film on Spy Vibe's post, Through the Ipcress File. Original poster below.
The third Palmer title, Billion Dollar Brain (1967), will be released by Kino Lorber on October 7th. The only special feature listed so far is a theatrical trailer. Synopsis from Blu-ray: "Secret agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is
blackmailed into working for MI5 again on his wildest - and most dangerous -
assignment yet. An insane oil billionaire, intent on destroying Communism by
starting a new world war, is close to achieving his goal with the help of the
world's largest, and most powerful, computer. Harry is the only man who may be
able to stop him; but as he races from London to Finland to Latvia to Texas and
back, he must determine who of his supposed allies (a sexy Russian agent, a Soviet
colonel and an American mercenary) is the one he can actually trust!" Kino Blu-ray cover design below. Funeral in Berlin (1966), the second in the series, has not yet appeared on Blu-ray. This elusive title has often been out-of-print, but it's available now in the US in DVD, HD streaming, and download editions. Fans with all-region players can also pick up The Harry Palmer Collection on DVD from Amazon.uk, which includes The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain, and the 1990s additions, Midnight in St. Petersburg and Bullet To Beijing. Learn more about Harry Palmer and author Len Deighton on our sister site The Deighton Dossier.
Enter to win prizes from Spy Vibe, including vintage James Bond, The Saint, and The Avengers paperbacks. Contest ends September 17th. Details here.
Selected Spy Vibe posts: One Million Prizes, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Blu-Ray, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Diana Rigg at 76, Gerry Anderson Doc, Mr. Hulot's Box Set, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Batman News, Monty Python Fathom Spies, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Big Fun Toys, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Mod Fashion Dolls, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
As I teach my photo students every year, there are many compositional ways to create a sense of deep space in a scene. Depth-staging forces the viewer to look through a subject placed in extreme foreground to another subject far away. Depending on the elements in the image, results can be dynamic, mysterious, claustrophobic, and can evoke psychological relationships between subjects. Visually, the approach also creates the engaging effect of "frames within frames." One of my all-time favorite examples of the technique is the cult spy film, The Ipcress File (1965), starring Michael Caine. When the core team of James Bond filmmakers adapted Len Deighton's novel, director Sidney Furie and DP Otto Heller famously made over 100 shots in the film that used depth-staging. On the blog VashiVisuals, editor Vashi Nedomansky has posted an analysis of The Ipcress File that includes a 10-minute video of all 100 shots in the movie. A must-read and must-see for Spy Vibers! Link here. See video below. Many members of the James Bond movie franchise contributed to The Ipcress File, including Harry Saltzman, John Barry, Peter Hunt, and Ken Adam. The Deighton Harry Palmer movies starring Michael Caine are often out of print. There is a European Blu-ray edition of The Ipcress File that is apparently all-region. You can currently see the second installment in the series, Funeral in Berlin, streaming on Amazon. Enjoy!
Recent Spy Vibe posts: 007 SOLO cover designs, Batman Valentines cards, Saturday Cartoons: Marine Boy, Mary Quant, Patrick Macnee, Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Jon Gilbert talks Fleming, Barbarella TV series, Meet the Beatles 50th, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Batman Strips, David Bowie at 67, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Sherlock Exhibit, Fu Manchu history panel, Andy Warhol box set, Six-Million Dollar Man, Striped Light Nude, Buckminster Fuller, Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Shane Glines Batman.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
