Our Man in Havana


cigargirl85

Recommended Posts

First published in 1958, this book is set in immediate pre-revolutionary Havana. It’s part spy novel, part farce: Wormold, the central character, is a middle-aged ex-pat vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba with a teenage daughter he doesn’t have enough money to support, who, when he finds himself accidentally recruited into the British secret service, sees an opportunity to make some extra money by pretending he is indeed a spy. He invents contacts for himself, and sends the secret service diagrams of vacuum cleaner parts under the pretence that they are secret Cuban weapons installations. Everyone, including rival secret services, believes Wormold’s fictions however, and so it all ends up becoming far too real for his liking.

I really enjoyed it (read it in a couple of days). It’s well-written, funny in parts and tense in others, and there are some nice descriptions of Havana at this turning point in history.

It’s a classic anyway guys, so well worth reading if you haven’t already. :angry:

Jen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have heard of the book but not read it. It does sound interesting, thanks for posting Jen I always wondered what it was about. :angry: For the lazy amongst us (er, that would be me...) was there a movie made of it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read the book & seen the movie. Fantastic cold war satire. Both are well worth investing the time.

agree on both counts. nice old movie with sir alec and one of my fave books from greene. superb writer.

without giving away spoilers, and it is a while since i last read it, based around cuba looking a bot like an old fashioned vaccuum cleaner. and that being misinterpreted by all and sundry. i had a feeling that the pre castro govt refused to allow filming there but that must be wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

agree on both counts. nice old movie with sir alec and one of my fave books from greene. superb writer.

without giving away spoilers, and it is a while since i last read it, based around cuba looking a bot like an old fashioned vaccuum cleaner. and that being misinterpreted by all and sundry. i had a feeling that the pre castro govt refused to allow filming there but that must be wrong.

Looking forward to borrowing the book Ken ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

was wrong. it was filmed in havana.

from wikpedia and a warning, gives away the plot to those not wanting to know.

great cast.

Our Man in Havana is a 1959 film directed by Carol Reed and starring Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara, Ralph Richardson, Noel Coward and Ernie Kovacs. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Graham Greene. The film takes the action of the novel and gives it a more comedic touch.

Plot

In pre-Castro Cuba James Wormold (Guinness), a vacuum cleaner salesman, is recruited by Hawthorne of the British Secret Service to be their Havana operative. Instead of recruiting his own agents, Wormold invents agents from men he knows only by sight, and sketches "plans" for a rocket-launching pad based on vacuum parts to increase his value to the service and to procure more money for himself and his expensive daughter Milly. Because his importance grows, he is sent a secretary named Beatrice and radioman from London to be under his command. With their arrival it becomes much harder for Wormold to maintain his facade. However, when they do, all of his imagined information begins to come true. One of his "agents" is killed, and he is himself targeted for assassination. He admits what he's done to his secretary, and is recalled to London. Rather than telling the truth to the prime minister and other military intelligence services, his commanders fabricate a story claiming his imagined machines had been dismantled, bestow honors on Wormold, and offer him a position teaching espionage classes in London. It ends with him walking away with Beatrice and his daughter.

Production

It was actually filmed in Havana. The new Cuban government was willing to have a movie made that showed the corrupt old regime along with meddling foreign spies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I've still not read the book, but did finish watching the movie - I thought it excellent. One of my favorite bits was when Hawthorne calls

Wormold to Jamaica. They're sitting outside and Hawthorne pulls closed a door so they can speak privately.

A door constructed of bamboo framing and nothing else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

This an excellent and witty book,written with great restraint.

We stayed in the Hotel Sevilla,where greene wrote it,so I had to read it while there....Cheesey,I know.

They have an excellent humidor in the hotel,and a great pool.

A great place and a great book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This an excellent and witty book,written with great restraint.

We stayed in the Hotel Sevilla,where greene wrote it,so I had to read it while there....Cheesey,I know.

They have an excellent humidor in the hotel,and a great pool.

A great place and a great book.

i think that things like that - reading the book where written - can really add to the whole experience. i read heart of darkness sitting on a boat heading up the congo river or whatever it is currently called. different time of course but gave it a certain edge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quite right,the book plays on the difference between the stiff Englishman and the exotic and flamboyant nature of Havana,which was obvious to this stayed Englishman as he was surrounded by the dancing rythm of Cuba.

Heart of darkness is another great novel,and I can only imagine reading that atmospheric book in the atmosphere of the Congo.

The other novel I read in Cuba,which I would recommend to all is The old man and the sea,by Hemmingway,another famous Havana resident.Brilliantly descriptive and gripping,just like every Hemmingway...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quite right,the book plays on the difference between the stiff Englishman and the exotic and flamboyant nature of Havana,which was obvious to this stayed Englishman as he was surrounded by the dancing rythm of Cuba.

Heart of darkness is another great novel,and I can only imagine reading that atmospheric book in the atmosphere of the Congo.

The other novel I read in Cuba,which I would recommend to all is The old man and the sea,by Hemmingway,another famous Havana resident.Brilliantly descriptive and gripping,just like every Hemmingway...

agree re hemingway. just re-read 'to have and have not' but that was not in cuba but on the med where it is more a case of 'to have and to have yacht'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
By all means check out the film on DVD.

A great cast led by Obi-wan... er, Alec Guinness, directed by Carol Reed (also directed Graham Greene's The Third Man), and filmed in Havana.

I just watched the Third Man last night. Cool movie! :2thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Community Software by Invision Power Services, Inc.