Showtime – Feb 1965
The High Bright Sun
Tony Crawley talks to Betty Box and Ralph Thomas about the film which, some say, is their best ever
IN the shade – if you could find any – the temperature was over 90 degrees. Under the sun, where it’s much hotter, red-faced Britons toiled manfully as they did their bit towards making the film. Some moved cameras, recording equipment and studio props back and forth. Others were bowed over scripts, sweat dropping from their brows as they studied.
In the centre of this organized confusion two people worked the longest, yet managed to look the coolest. By the camera, under his panama hat, eyes smiling behind pink-tinted glasses, was director Ralph Thomas. Not far away, seated as she checked through pages of accounts, was producer Betty Box.
Any doubt about what their respective duties might involve was promptly dismissed by Betty’s comment: “The director tells the story and the producer counts the cost.”
And the film they were making? The heat gives you a clue. Rarely has a film been more aptly titled, as those who went on location will tell you. The film is The High Bright Sun though, I have it on good authority, the adjectives were often changed by technicians unwisely touching the scorching cameras. (“You could fry an egg on them,” Ralph often said. It was no exaggeration.)
Ralph told this, their most expensive story, with actors Dirk Bogarde, George Chakiris, Susan Strasberg, Colin Campbell and Denholm Elliott in the leading roles. Having counted the cost, Betty was working on a £350,000 budget. The result is, what many people call, their finest film.
The High Bright Sun is a story of Cyprus. It’s not a political view of the island’s troubles, not a propaganda vehicle for any one of the three sides involved. It is an adventure story with the turmoil as an explosive back-cloth.
“It’s just entertainment,” said Betty when we talked about the film. “There’s no message.”
“The action is spectacular,” added Ralph. “And throughout we have kept a high degree of authenticity.”
This authenticity is the result of top-level co-operation from the British Army (“We drove one of their trucks over a precipice – paid for it, of course!”), and an anonymous British Intelligence officer who was, it turns out, in a situation very similar to that of the character played by Dirk Bogarde in the film.
Despite its authenticity, however, the film was made in Italy. Why? I put the question to Betty and Ralph when we met at Pinewood Studios.
“It would have been wonderful if we could have filmed in Cyprus,” Betty said. “But we never considered it because we knew that Makarios would want to vet our script. I prefer working with Ralph as my director – not Makarios!
“We wanted to make a fair and balanced film. No politics, no propaganda. Just an honest story set in Cyprus as it was around 1958, before Independence. It seemed pretty obvious that the Makarios regime would not allow this.”
“In any case,” Ralph added, “the trouble between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots began to flare up again around the time we started filming; and we certainly didn’t want to find ourselves in the middle of a battle.”
After a 300-mile search they found their “Cyprus” in Italy. It was in an area called Manfredonia, far south near the Gargano peninsula.
“The photographs we took matched the shots we had of Cyprus. Many couldn’t tell the difference between them. In fact, the soldiers we had in the film , who had been stationed in Cyprus a few weeks before, couldn’t believe it. The only difference they found was that the local people would mix and be friendly with them.”
With their stars and a team of 100 technicians, work started under the savage sun last June. Salaries for the team took a large slice of Betty’s £350,000; the rest went on fares, hotel accommodation, phone calls to Pinewood (“It was impossible to get through – I had less trouble when filming in India”), food and refreshments (water was scarce), wages for extras and many other things.
One of the extras proved a problem. “A boy insisted a French unit had paid him £100 for kissing a girl,” Betty recalled. “He wanted the same again, but he didn’t get it!”
Dirk Bogarde, who is said to be tougher and more ruthless than ever before in a film, made a great impression on the Italians. His Rolls-Royce delighted them.
Susan Strasberg was dubbed “La Elegante Elfin”, because of her size (she looks like a ballet dancer) and her habit of carrying around a sunshade all day, every day.
In the film she plays an American girl of Cypriot extraction, drawn by accident into the revolution.
“We needed a girl who spoke American yet had that Mediterranean look,” explained Betty. “Susan was perfect in the part.”
It was, however, George Chakiris who made the biggest impression on the local people. They knew him from his films, particularly his Italian production, Bube’s Girl.
Giving advice, as well as acting in the film, were two Cypriot actors who are well-known in English films: Paul Stassino and George Pastell.
They, and many others, have helped to make The High Bright Sun.
It sounds an exciting and unusual film. That sweat in the heat of Italy could prove to have been well worth while for everyone concerned.
