Like this blog, A Dandy in Aspic starts in medias res. Well, that’s not quite true. It starts with a stylish 60ies opening title sequence, in which a puppet is jerked around by red and blue disembodied hands until it gets completely entangled in its strings. Said puppet, the audience soon understands, is Eberlin (Laurence Harvey), a British spy who is also a double agent for the Soviet Union. That’s not a spoiler; not only does the film reveal this within the first 20 minutes, it’s also plastered all over the back cover of the DVD (not to mention the original poster, embedded on the right). On orders from Moscow, Eberlin (né Krasnevin) has killed a British agent, with whose funeral the film begins in a lovely match cut from dropping body to dropping coffin. His british superiors suspect a mole within their ranks and task Eberlin with ferreting him out.
The storyline reminds me of another Cold War spy thriller, No Way Out (1987) starring Kevin Costner. I admittedly last saw it many years ago, but from what little I remember, it is a (stereo)typically American affair, and indicative of the time it was made in: lots of action, lots of gratuitous sex, and lots of suspense as to the identity of the mole, with the inevitable big twist at the end. Despite the plot similarity, there is apparently no direct connection between the two films; Out is a remake of a 40ies film noir, though one completely unrelated to espionage[1]. In any case, where Out is somewhat stereotypically 80ies American, Dandy is stereotypically 60ies British[2]: Continue reading
Soliloquies under the influence of tulips 