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''To Catch a Spy'' is a 1971
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...
directed by
Dick Clement Dick Clement (born 5 September 1937) is a retired English writer, director and producer. He became known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais for television series including ''The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely La ...
and starring
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
,
Marlène Jobert Marlène Jobert (born 4 November 1940) is a French actress and author. Life and career Jobert was born in Algiers, French Algeria, to Charles Jobert, born in Dijon, Côte-d’Or, who served in the French Air Force, and his wife, Jewish Éliane ...
,
Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage and screen actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved leading man star status in the film '' Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by '' The Third M ...
, Richard Pearson,
Garfield Morgan Thomas Timothy Garfield Morgan (19 April 1931 – 5 December 2009) was an English actor who appeared mostly on television and occasionally in films. He had a regular role in ''The Sweeney'' as Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins. Early lif ...
,
Angharad Rees Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...
and
Robert Raglan Robert Raglan (7 April 1909 – 18 July 1985) was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in ''Dad's Army'' as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as ''Fabian of the Yard'' (1954 ...
. It was written by Clement and
Ian La Frenais Ian La Frenais (born 7 January 1937) is a retired English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including '' The Likely Lads'', ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', ' ...
. The story is based on the 1969 novel ''
Catch Me a Spy ''Catch Me a Spy'' is a 1969 comedy spy thriller novel by George Marton and Tibor Meray. Adaptation In 1971 it was turned into the film ''To Catch a Spy'', also released as ''Catch Me a Spy'', starring Kirk Douglas, Marlène Jobert and Trevor ...
'' by George Marton and
Tibor Méray Tibor Méray (6 April 1924 – 12 November 2020) was a Hungarian journalist and writer, worked for various newspapers ('' Szabad Nép'', ''Csillag'') during the Communist regime. He was a war correspondent for ''Szabad Nép'' (official daily of t ...
. It was a co-production between Britain, the United States and France, which was filmed in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. It was also part filmed on
Loch Awe Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha''; also sometimes anglicised as Lochawe, Lochaw, or Lochow) is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Lo ...
and
Loch Etive Loch Etive (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eite'') is a 30 Kilometre, km loch, sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km (19 miles) long and fr ...
, Scotland, where the gunboat scenes were filmed, and featured Kirk Douglas running through a herd of Highland cattle which were owned by David Fellowes. It was also released as ''Catch Me a Spy'' and ''Keep Your Fingers Crossed''.


Plot

Fabienne, a young French-born British
schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
marries and heads to
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
in the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
for their
honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds after their wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple ...
. Her husband is arrested by secret police and soon turns out to have been detained by
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
intelligence as a spy. She intends to head to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
to try and help him, but instead is drugged and sent on a plane back to England by a seemingly suspicious
waiter Waiting staff (British English, BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a Bar (establishment), bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food an ...
. Back in London she lobbies her uncle, the
Shadow Foreign Secretary The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK official opposition shadow cabinet th ...
and his friend the head of
British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...
, to help get her husband back. He explains that they have deliberately arrested her husband in order to have a bargaining chip to exchange for a top Soviet agent who has recently been unmasked by the British. Unbeknownst to Fabienne her husband, a corrupt businessman, is in league with the Soviet intelligence and has married her on their instructions. The exchange in Germany goes wrong, however, when during the handover the Soviet spy - laden down with
capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
consumer goods from the
West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
- sinks through the
ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
and drowns. As the British now have nobody to exchange for her husband, Fabienne sets out to capture an enemy agent on her own initiative. She manages to trap a man in a
trench coat A trench coat is a variety of coat made of Waterproof fabric, waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the Trench warfare, trenches, hence the nam ...
who has been following her all day, only for him to prove to be an incompetent British agent ordered to trail her for her own security by his chiefs. When Andrej the Bucharest waiter remerges, having been caught rummaging through her room and demanding she hand over a
microfilm A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...
that he inserted into her luggage when he had her drugged in Bucharest, she decides he will be the ideal person to exchange. However, before she can take action they both end up being abducted by enemy agents, only escaping in the
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
countryside. He reveals to her that he is not really a spy, but he makes money smuggling
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s of books by
Soviet dissidents Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union (USSR) in the period from the mid-1960 ...
to the West. Because the Soviets want to get their hands on him, they plant evidence in his hotel room indicating that he is one of their spies.
Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
arrest him and agree to a new prisoner exchange, over Fabienne's protests. The final exchange on a lake on the East German border descends into chaos and a
motor boat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard motor, inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, contain ...
chase.


Cast

*
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
as Andrej *
Marlène Jobert Marlène Jobert (born 4 November 1940) is a French actress and author. Life and career Jobert was born in Algiers, French Algeria, to Charles Jobert, born in Dijon, Côte-d’Or, who served in the French Air Force, and his wife, Jewish Éliane ...
as Fabienne *
Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage and screen actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved leading man star status in the film '' Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by '' The Third M ...
as Sir Trevor Dawson *
Tom Courtenay Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he achieved prominence in the 1960s as part of actors of the British New Wave. Courtenay has received numerous acco ...
as Baxter Clarke *
Patrick Mower Patrick Mower (born Patrick Archibald Shaw; 12 September 1938) is an English actor. He is often known for his portrayal of Rodney Blackstock in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', a role he first played in 2000. Mower has extensively appeared ...
as John Fenton *
Bernadette Lafont Bernadette Lafont (; 28 October 1938 – 25 July 2013) was a French actress who appeared in more than 120 feature films. She has been considered "the face of French New Wave". In 1999 she told ''The New York Times'' her work was "the motor of my e ...
as Simone *
Bernard Blier Bernard Blier (; 11 January 1916 – 29 March 1989) was a French character actor. Life and career Blier was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute, was posted at the time. His rotund featu ...
as Webb *
Sacha Pitoëff Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director. Early life and education Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents ...
as Stefan * Richard Pearson as Haldane *
Wilfrid Brambell Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' ...
as Beech *
Garfield Morgan Thomas Timothy Garfield Morgan (19 April 1931 – 5 December 2009) was an English actor who appeared mostly on television and occasionally in films. He had a regular role in ''The Sweeney'' as Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins. Early lif ...
as the husband *
Angharad Rees Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...
as Victoria *
Isabel Dean Isabel Dean (born Isabel Hodgkinson, 29 May 1918 – 27 July 1997) was an English stage, film and television actress. Life and career Born in Aldridge, Staffordshire, Dean studied painting at Birmingham Art School. In 1937, she joined the Ch ...
as Celia *
Jonathan Cecil Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil (22 February 1939 – 22 September 2011), known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English actor. Early life Cecil was born on 22 February 1939,''Burke's Peerage'', vol. 3 (London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 2003), p. 350 ...
as British attaché *
Robin Parkinson Christopher Robin Parkinson (25 October 1929 – 7 May 2022) was an English actor known for his comedy roles. He was the second actor to portray Monsieur Ernest Leclerc in Allo 'Allo!'' (22 episodes: series 7 to 9), after the death of Dere ...
as British officer *
Jean Gilpin Jean Gilpin (born ) is an English actress. Early life Gilpin was born in London. Her father worked for the United Nations and she thus lived in various locations while growing up, such as China, Cuba, France, Switzerland, Thailand, the Congo, ...
as ground stewardess *
Robert Raglan Robert Raglan (7 April 1909 – 18 July 1985) was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in ''Dad's Army'' as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as ''Fabian of the Yard'' (1954 ...
as ambassador *
Bridget Turner Bridget Joanna Turner (22 February 1939 – 27 December 2014) was an English actress. Turner played a radical English teacher, Judy Threadgold, opposite Alun Armstrong's woodwork teacher in Alan Plater's '' Get Lost!'' for Yorkshire Television ...
as woman in plane *
Trevor Peacock Trevor Edward Peacock (19 May 1931 – 8 March 2021) was an English actor and songwriter. He made his name as a theatre actor, including for his roles in Shakespeare. He later became known for playing Jim Trott in the BBC comedy series ''The V ...
as man in plane * Clive Cazes as Rumanian in plane *
Ashley Knight Ashley Knight (born 19 August 1959 in Sutton, Surrey, England) is a British actor notable for child roles including Young Claudius in '' I Claudius''; Jim Hawkins in ''Treasure Island'', and Ken in '' Metal Mickey''. His film appearances includ ...
as 1st schoolboy * Philip DaCosta as 2nd schoolboy * Robert Gillespie as man in elevator *
Sheila Steafel Sheila Frances Steafel (26 May 1935 – 23 August 2019) was a British actress, who was born in Johannesburg, but lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom. Life and career Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, trained at the Webber Dougla ...
as woman in lift * Bunny May as lift operator * Fiona Moore as Russian birl * Bernice Stegers as Russian girl * Dinny Powell as 1st heavy * Del Baker as 1st heavy *
Ishaq Bux Ishaq Bux (15 June 1917 – 2 September 2000) was an Indian actor. His first screen appearance was in BBC TV's ''The English Family Robinson'', in 1957. On stage, he appeared with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in Tony Harrison ...
as Arab at party *
Cheryl Hall Cheryl Hall (born 23 July 1950) is a British retired actress. She is best known for playing Shirley Johnson in the British sitcom ''Citizen Smith'' (1977–1979) and had a recurring role as Sadie in ''The Bill'' (1984–1988). Biography One o ...
as Clarke's girlfriend


Production

It was shot at
Twickenham Studios Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...
and on location in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, Loch Leven and in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
. The school football match was shot at
Vincent Square Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England. It is London's largest privately-owned square, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
Carmen Dillon Carmen Dillon (25 October 190812 April 2000) was an English film art director and production designer who won an Oscar for the Olivier version of ''Hamlet'' (1948). Life Dillon was born in Hendon to Irish-born Joseph Thomas Dillon and his wife ...
. It was made as a co-production between several British, American, and French companies, including
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
's
Bryna Productions Bryna Productions (later renamed The Bryna Company) is an American independent film and television production company established by actor Kirk Douglas in 1949. The company also produced a handful of films through its subsidiaries, Michael Produ ...
, Nat Wachsberger's two film production companies, England-based Ludgate Films and France-based Capitole Films, as well as
Pierre Braunberger Pierre Braunberger (29 July 1905, Paris – 16 November 1990, Aubervilliers) was a French producer, executive producer, and actor. Biography Born into a family of physicians, Braunberger at the age of seven was already determined not have ...
's French film production company Les Films de la Pléiade. In May 1971,
Rank Film Distributors The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Unit ...
picked up the option to distribute ''To Catch a Spy'' in the United Kingdom, while Films Around the World would do the same for the American market. The "gunboats" in the film were:- Lalage, a 70 ft WW2 Fairmile harbor defense launch, the East German boat, and the Calshot Salar, a 60 ft WW2 Royal Air Force "three leg" pinnace, the British boat. Lalage was owned and operated by Captain Jack Glover of
Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...
, who in addition was an extra in the film, as was his brother Hans Glover. Tragically, Captain Glover drowned in 1982 while undertaking a boat salvage operation in the river Leven. Lalage eventually foundered off the Little Cubrae island after striking rocks during a severe storm and became a total loss. Calshot Salar, was owned by Dr W."Bill" Souter and operated during filming by a Canadian, Captain Robin Blair-Crawford, who also had a position as an actor in the movie and in addition was the lead safety diver at Loch Etive. At the insistence of her owner Calshot Salar had her original RAF number painted on the hull for the movie. After numerous adventures in both home and overseas waters Calshot Salar was sold and eventually became a houseboat at Shoreham.


Critical reception

''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' wrote the film "features a good cast, an exciting speedboat chase, a few chuckles, and every spy cliche in the book"; and ''
Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...
'' noted "a sometimes clever and witty script by the ace TV team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. However, it's rather let down by Clement's uncertain direction. Another problem is that, as a Bucharest waiter who is actually a spy, Kirk Douglas's peculiar intensity isn't best suited to a comedy. Trevor Howard and Tom Courtenay seem more at home with the spy spoof material."


See also

*
List of American films of 1971 This is a list of American films released in 1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) ...


References


Bibliography

* Simon James. ''London Film Location Guide''. Anova Books, 2007.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:To Catch A Spy 1971 films 1970s spy comedy films American spy comedy films British spy comedy films Bryna Productions films Cold War spy films Films based on British novels Films set in London Films set in East Germany Films set in West Germany Films set in Scotland Films set in Bucharest Films shot in London Films shot in Bucharest Films shot in Scotland Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios French spy comedy films Films produced by Kirk Douglas English-language French films Films with screenplays by Dick Clement Films directed by Dick Clement Films with screenplays by Ian La Frenais 1971 comedy films Films scored by Claude Bolling Films about educators Films about vacationing Films about marriage 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s British films 1970s French films English-language spy comedy films