The Harry Palmer Files — 028 — When Harry Met James pt. II.i
Through July, or at least until I run out of things about which to talk, we’ll be looking at the Harry Palmer series of novels (in which the character doesn’t actually have a name), their author — Len Deighton, the films based on them, the star of those films — Michael Caine, and the television movies that followed. I will be re-reading the whole series of novels, re-watching the films, and giving my thoughts on all I encounter. I’ll inevitably be drawing heavily on the collection of Kees Stam, author of The Harry Palmer Movie Site, and Rob Mallows, creator of the Deighton Dossier, and other odds and ends that I’ve turned up over the years.
As our friends at the HMSS Weblog point out, today is the 45th anniversary of the passing of author Ian Fleming. As we’ve noted here before, any discussion of 60s spies starts with Fleming and his creation, James Bond. Though others (Greene, Buchan, Ambler) before him wrote espionage novels, it was the popularity of OO7 that led to creations as widely disparate as Alphaville, The Prisoner and Danger: Diabolik entering the annals of popular culture.
Whatever one’s view on Bond, it cannot be denied that Fleming has a place in the conversation. Thus our continuing discussion of Fleming during a series devoted to Len Deighton. Today’s post is short, but I wanted to share a photo that I’ve…well, I pretty much swiped it from our friend Rob of The Deighton Dossier, after he posted it at the In Appreciation of Len Deighton Facebook group.
Fleming and Deighton from Funeral in Berlin slip-on
I tried to clean up the picture a little (I probably made it look worse), but if you want to see the original, please do join the Facebook group and have a look around. Rob says that this photograph was taken at the luncheon arranged by Peter Evans that we discussed previously. This blurb comes from a 1/3 wraparound on the first edition of Funeral in Berlin. From what I gather, this is an extremely rare marketing piece, and we’re thankful for Rob for sharing it!
What a cool picture! Two of the genre’s giants hanging out together — it’d be like a picture of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler together! Thanks for posting this.