A DANDY IN ASPIC (1968)

Another ‘60s Cold War spy thriller, very John Le Carré SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, adapted by Derek Marlowe from his own novel, tries to get by on atmosphere, an air of dread, and a nearly abstract plot as Laurence Harvey’s double-agent hunts up a Communist mole in the British service . . . himself. Yikes! Since producer/director Anthony Mann died toward the end of the shoot, and Harvey took over, it’s hard to know how effective it could have been. As it stands, pretty murky stuff much of the way, and a subplot involving Mia Farrow (is it romance or set up?) that goes absolutely nowhere. What works best is the chrome-plated sheen cinematographer Christopher Challis manages on location (London; Berlin) and in cool, modular public spaces (so different from the Nouveau Vague chic he just gave Stanley Donen on TWO FOR THE ROAD). And what’s intriguing, if not quite fulfilled (Mann has the devil of a time maintaining tone), are odd comic grace notes sent at the most unlikely moments by a slightly eccentric cast (Tom Courtenay, Peter Cook, Lionel Stander). Were they intended? Some obviously, others hard to tell with Harvey, or whomever took charge of ‘post’ after Mann died, running scared of the possibilities. Too bad, on screen, the spy genre had splintered into 007 extravaganzas, broad parody or hushed grey bureaucratic pencil pushers. A remix was in order. Faults and all, as a SPY vs. SPY ‘Fixer-Upper,’ DANDY is pleasingly off-balance.