Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[struth]

Next, ...The Ipcress File, 1965.






One night early in 1964, Michael Caine was having dinner with his flatmate Terence Stamp at the Pickwick Club on the edge of Soho, when a waiter handed him a note from Canadian film producer Harry Saltzman, who was dining with his family following an outing to the cinema.

Would Caine like to join them for a quick coffee?

The two men didn’t know one another, but the film Saltzman had just seen was Zulu, about the 1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift, from which he recognised Caine as the pompous British army lieutenant Gonville Bromhead.

It was a supporting role but Saltzman reckoned that the 30-year-old actor was on the road to major stardom and wanted to accelerate his journey.

Caine walked across the restaurant, heart pounding, thinking that Saltzman, who by then had co-produced the first three Bond films, might be about to offer him a part alongside his pal Sean Connery in the next 007 movie.

Instead, Saltzman asked him if he’d read Len Deighton’s Cold War spy thriller about brainwashing and atomic secrets, The Ipcress File, published just a couple of years earlier? Caine replied, truthfully, that he was half-way through it.

‘Good,’ said Saltzman, then asked if he wanted to play the lead in the film version?

Taken aback, Caine said yes. ‘Good,’ replied Saltzman. And would he also like a seven-year-contract? Again, Caine said yes. And would he like to have lunch the next day at Les Ambassadeurs?

Once more, Caine said yes, then walked back to his table in a daze and told Stamp what had happened. He had just been turned from a supporting player into a movie star.

‘But you’ve only been gone two minutes,’ said Stamp.

[Macca]

Great story.

[walpurgis]

He had just been turned from a supporting player into a movie star

He deserved it too.

[struth]

Operation Petticoat, 1959. Good cast in this comedy





In the film the submarine is on a constant quest to reach a submarine repair ship to restore her operational status again. In real life Tony Curtis served on the submarine repair ship USS Proteus during WW2. It was alleged his enlistment in the Pacific Submarine Force was inspired by the film Destination Tokyo (1943), starring Cary Grant.

A submarine based at Cavite, the USS Seadragon, did go on patrol with a red paint job. Her original black paint was damaged by fire in the air raid, and ended up peeling off while she was on patrol. She ended up sinking three Japanese ships during the time her paint was peeling, leading Tokyo Rose to make broadcasts about "Red pirate submarines."

The "sinking" of a truck was inspired by a real incident that happened in 1944. On August 9, USS Bowfin (SS-287) followed four Japanese ships into Minami Daito Harbor. She fired her six bow torpedoes at the moored ships, hitting three and sinking two of them, but one torpedo went astray and hit a pier. A bus parked on it was blown up and thrown into the water by the explosion.

[struth]

The Adjustment Bureau, 2011. from a Phillip K. Dick story.



Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo played God in the original cut of the film. According to Shohreh Aghdashloo herself in a Los Angeles Times interview, she was replaced by the studio because she was raised a Muslim and the studio wasn't ready for Muslim to portray God in a movie. Her exact quote: "Oh, my God, I loved that role. As actors, we all know we're at the mercy of the editing table, but not to this extent, never had I experienced it. The director, George Nolfi, decided I should play God. Everything went great until I got a call from the director who was asking to have lunch with me. He was on the verge of crying. He said, the distribution company believes that you cannot play this role....That's right, although if I'm asked what religion I am, I say I was raised a Muslim. I don't introduce myself as a Muslim woman, but I guess the distribution company put the dots together and felt it's too early for this."

[Macca]

terrible film but Emily Blunt.

[struth]

terrible film but Emily Blunt.

not terrible.. might not be great, but its got emily in it for a start

[Barry]

Not the best of films - but, as you say, it's got Emily Blunt in it. So not all bad.

[Barry]

Next, ...The Ipcress File, 1965.

A great film and a darned sight better than the overlong and over-complicated offering on ITV.

[struth]

Looper, 2012.



The second of three films that star Emily Blunt, which involve characters trying to change the future. The first was The Adjustment Bureau (2011), and the third was Edge of Tomorrow (2014).