The Harry Palmer Files — 030 — Comparing IPCRESS film & novel (pt. 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.
First, a pair of quick notes. First, I hope you all are reading Horse Under Water, as I am, to prepare for our next round of conversation. Second, Mark Simonson was kind enough to provide a few more typeface suggestions for yesterday’s post. If you want to make your own Dalby Domestic Employment Bureau sign, give the post a look-see.
As noted in our recent review of The IPCRESS File, scenes involving the foreign locations in the novel were rewritten to take place in London. Today, I’ve spliced together a selection from the audiobook (read by Robert Whitfield) and the film that demonstrate how the screenwriters approached the relocation. In the book, this scene is an action-packed bust out set on a night road in Lebanon. This scene also demonstrates the differences between the Dalby of the novel, who gets right into the thick of things with sticky bombs in hand, and the Dalby of the film, who for the most part stays in the car.
The novel presents the take-back of Raven as a violent surgical strike in the midst of the desert, whereas the film shows careful, choreographed procedure in a London carpark. Which do you prefer? Take a look:
