THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Don Chaffey
SCREENWRITER: Don Chaffey, Jay Garrison
FILM STARS: Robert Ryan, Stewart Granger, Nadia Gray, Katherine Woodville, Marius Goring, Robert Rietty
COUNTRY: Great Britain – Yugoslavia
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Morris West
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Pan
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1964
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The Big Story
NOTES
GENRE: Political Thriller
WORDS: The most significant change between novel and film is the locale. The book is set in Italy though the film is set in a small unnamed Balkan state (perhaps changed because it was filmed along the then Yugoslavian (now Croatia, and parts of Slovenia) coastline). Robert Ryan is always great and Stewart Granger makes a convincing dictator. The film was mid-budget (which mostly went on the cast I suspect). There are elements of guerrilla filmmaking which you occasionally see in (lower budgeted) English language films filmed on location in non-English speaking countries. “Guerrilla” shooting essentially means shooting a film in public with no permits and in most cases, no permission from any property owners. I doubt that would have happened in Communist Yugoslavia but there certainly weren’t controlled exterior sets. The locals are, quite clearly out to see the Hollywood stars, cameras be damned, and clearly some have been recruited for small roles, acting ability be damned. Robert Ryan is the star though Stewart Granger whose Hollywood career has faded was fresh off his Old Surehand sauerkraut western (a German western) success (a European hit) which was also filmed in Croatia (and other parts of Yugoslavia).
This is an early Morris West novel, but like all his novels it’s an easy, and entertaining, read with (a lot) more than meets the eye. Amongst the cat and mouse shenanigans (Ryan’s reporter is trying to expose the corrupt local dictator) there are thematic hints on power, corruption and guilt. West was, perhaps, Australia’s most successful novelist.
The front cover looks like a back cover and the back cover looks like the front. Fall fans will instantly recognise something very Hex Enduction Hour.
I’m not sure how you did it but you have managed to to get a Fall reference in!