Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - A great book by / about a truly extraordinary, gifted man. You might also like John Miller's Book, Peter Ustinov, The Gift Of Laughter.

2 - Hey, glad you liked it! It took a little while to get used to the writing style as it was not one I had come across before, but once you were in you were hooked. I really liked some of the ideas he perpetrated, you could see the start of his motives for the move to working for UNICEF etc.

If you really want to see him in one of his best roles, try Death on the Nile - a cast of well knowns and he really does play Poirot well. The movie is definitely dated now, but if you can cope with that then go for it - well worth the watch, for all the comedy they got in. The Indian steward is well worth entry the effort on his own (think of Gupta in that wonderful film whose name expacpes me, but who drives his faithful engine Victoria and saves the Maharaja's son from his enemies) and the Tango scene with Angela Lansbury is just FABULOUS.

3 - I just saw one of his earlier films "Topkapi" and it was pretty good. Here's one of the reviews from IMDB:

Classic Jewel Heist ■ la Jean Reno set in Istanbul, 14 June 2003

Author: homme_des_foules from Princeton, Kentucky


With beautiful camerawork in Istanbul and Greece and an equally intriguing plot, Jules Dassin brings to the screen a film worthy to be considered alongside his masterpieces "Du rififi chez les hommes" and "Naked City". Peter Ustinov follows up his Oscar-winning performance in "Spartacus" with a second award for best supporting actor, while playing a "schmo"--a lowly, disgraceful, British rogue living in Greece as the self-proclaimed "un-crowned king of the nightlife": Arthur Simon Simpson. Getting involved in much more than he bargained for, Simpson enters a ring of double-crosses as an informer for Turkish Intelligence while still hoping to line his pockets with filthy lucre.

The show, however, is stolen by the seductive, raspy-voiced Elizabeth Lipp, played by Greek beauty Melina Mercouri (who was also in the starring role of Dassin's "Phaedra" two years earlier--as well as "Pote tin Kyriaki" (1960), "La Legge" (1958), and "Celui qui doit mourir" (1957)--and whom the director would marry two years later). The curvy enchantress draws in Walter Harper (Maximilian Schell) and Cedric Page (Robert Morley I), offering them their cut on the biggest heist ever--the theft of the sultan's jewel-encrusted dagger from the Istanbul Museum.

However, there is a problem. The museum is impenetrable, equipped with a state-of-the-art alarm system that requires a strong man to hoist an acrobat from above the museum and slowly lower him into the treasure trove while avoiding security (■ la "Mission Impossible" and "Oceans Eleven"). An unattended, even ironic, ending makes this film a classic in the genre as the d■nouement keeps the viewer attached to the screen all the way up to the credits.

Not quite the masterpiece of a "Bob le Flambeur" or "Rififi", this film is in the top ten of its genre and is crucial in its intrigue and influence on future heist ("casse") films. Highly enjoyable, with the right balance of humor, suspense and allure (thanks to Melina Mercouri) to establish it as a touchstone in the genre, Dassin's caper is a cinema classic.