Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

SimonJack While this film has serious and somber moments in a couple of places, it is one of the best spy spoof movies ever made. It's based on the novel of the same title by Graham Greene. Director Carol Reed did a superb job with the film's cast in polishing the comedy of the plot. The story is slow and deliberate at the start, and the comedy is very tongue-in-cheek. The humor comes in the situations and the scheming by Jim Wormold, played by Alec Guinness. His deadpan expressions are particularly suited for the satire of this plot. Wormold is an expatriate British citizen who's been a resident of Havana, Cuba, for 15 years. He owns a vacuum cleaner store. The cast for this wonderful satire couldn't have been better chosen. Guinness is in the lead role as the British secret service's recruited man in Havana. Burl Ives plays his best friend, Dr. Hasselbacher, himself an expatriate from Germany. He's also been living in Havana a long time. After Wormold confided the British offer to the doctor, Hasselbacher suggested that he create an imaginary network of agents and make up things to report to agent 59200, his boss. That role is played hilariously by Noel Coward as Hawthorne. He is the head of British operations in the Caribbean. From the first moment one sees Coward's character, early in the film, you know you're in for a delightful time. His expression is even funnier than Wormold's. Coward is serious and dour. With his suit, bowler hat and umbrella, he stands out like a sore thumb amid the street throngs of Havana. He doesn't blend in with the populace, and his brisk, deliberate walking pace makes him all the more easy to spot – and follow. Enter the chief of police, Capt. Segura, played by Ernie Kovacs. This is one of those roles in which Kovacs' character is calm and unruffled, and it, too, is particularly apropos for a spy spoof. At the head of the whole British "intelligence" operation – in the London home office, is Ralph Richardson as "C." Other characters fill in the secret service bunch in London. The rest of the cast are all superb, especially those with parts in Cuba. Jo Morrow plays Wormold's daughter, Milly. Maureen O'Hara plays the British agent, Beatrice Severn, whom London sends to help Wormold. Fredy Mayne is hilarious as Prof. Sanchez whom Wormold tries to recruit initially. Paul Rogers plays Hubert Carter, Wormold's would-be assassin. This is one very funny film that lampoons the British secret service mercilessly. The satire continues to build right to the end with a surprise finish that caps the mockery beautifully. Again, most of the humor is in the scheming, plotting and situations rather than in the dialog. The script at the end, though, has a running pun that wraps it up nicely. After Wormold has been given the boot by the Cuban police, and is in London with Severn, Hawthorne says to C, "The loss of those two will create quite a vacuum." C, "What?" Hawthorne, I'm most frightfully sorry, sir. I really didn't intend to make a pun. I only thought, perhaps, that if we are to make a clean sweep …"The movie was filmed in Cuba and England. The Havana scenes are around Cathedral Square and the Havana Biltmore Yacht and Country Club. It's interesting to see photos around the square after the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). Cam shots today show very little human traffic and activity, and deterioration of the buildings. The movie prologue quickly points out that the story takes place and the movie was made there in the days "before the recent revolution." The movie came out in 1959, just after the end of the revolution that installed Fidel Castro at the head of a communist government. Thus, the Cuban filming would have been shot before July 1953. So, besides its wonderful satire of British espionage and government offices, "Our Man in Havana" gives some snapshots of life and street scenes in the once vibrant capital of Cuba. At one point, Wormold says to Carter, "Everything is legal in Cuba." Indeed, besides its high society and cultural side, the Havana of the mid- 20th century was known as a place where morals were subdued in favor of pleasure. This is a very clever satire, even though it's on the dark side in places. It's one of the best adult films (because of its content) that spoof government "intelligence" operations. It makes a fine addition to any film library.

SnoopyStyle Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly (Jo Morrow). He runs a small vacuum cleaner shop while Milly is busy shopping. The latest being a horse. So he takes a job from British secret agent Hawthorne (Noel Coward) to recruit people for his spy network. He is hopeless in the effort. So his friend Dr. Hasselbacher (Burl Ives) suggests inventing everything. He even delivers a drawing of secret machinery based on a vacuum cleaner.This takes quite a few fun pointed jabs at the spy world. Hawthorne is conspicuously English. He is possibly the worst spy. This is the perfect antidote for a James Bond thriller. Alec Guinness is brilliant playing this seriously letting all the jokes come naturally. All the while, there is a threat of danger that is all too real.

secondtake Our Man in Havana (1959)A lovely movie, funny and trenchant in its own way, and a precursor to Dr. Strangelove with its wry criticism of the Cold War and government ineptness. In this case, it isn't the atom bomb at hand, but the spread of communism into the colonies--though, to be fair, I don't think the word communism ever comes up. Anyway, the simple trick of a recently hired agent trying to save his minor reputation by inventing things right and left, and having the upper levels not see through it, is hilarious. Yes it's implausible as shown, but the idea isn't so far fetched, and Alec Guiness, the protagonist, pulls it off with droll, steady humor and cleverness. Cuba, of course, was in upheaval, and the truth of the revolution in the hills became a dramatic revolution shortly before filming took place. For political reasons, a note declares at the start that the film is set before Castro's takeover, so the corruption shown would be attributed to the overthrown government. A terrific background is given at the TCM site here (www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=143178). The writing, by Graham Greene, is first rate, and keeps the farce in perfect balance, even with some of the secondary actors (Burl Ives, Noel Coward) hamming it up slightly. The director is the legendary Carol Reed (The Third Man) and between Guiness and him (and Greene), the movie has a British tilt--indeed, it was filmed mostly in Havana with followup work in Shepparton Studios, London. It's completely fun, well filmed, and if at times frivolous, maybe that's just a tonic for the times, and the real life drama of 1959 Cuba.

JohnWelles "Our Man in Havana" is a underrated, but brilliant film. Alec Guinness as ever, is excellent, as is Noel Coward and Ralph Richardson.The re-voles around Jim Wormold(Alec Guinness) as a vacuum cleaner salesman in pre-revolutionary Havana. Here he meets Hawthorne(Ralph Richardson) a recruiter of spys. He wants Wormold to spy for Britain, and to recruit a "network" of secret agents. Having no idea on how to recruit an agent, Wormold simply invents a list of spys, and makes up information his "spys" are supposed to have discovered. Of course it all gos terrible wrong, and at the end of it, you suddenly realise you have been watching an extremely funny black comedy.A must see film.