I was saddened at the death in January of one of my favourite actresses - Susannah York. 'Sebastian' was one of many films she made in the '60's. It came out just as Bondmania peaked. It is about spies but strictly speaking is not a thriller, more a romantic comedy. The late Dirk Bogarde plays the titular character, a professor of mathematics so brilliant he can work out complex sums in his head in a flash. He has his very own department within the British Secret Service, devoted to code breaking. All the people under him are women, and attractive ones at that ( no fool he ). As the film opens, we see Sebastian running through the streets of Oxford for a meeting with the Prime Minister. A young woman called Rebecca Howard ( York ) almost runs him down in her Mini Moke. Once she has finished insulting him, he asks her to spell her name backwards. She does so. Then he asks how many words she can make from 'thorough'. Impressed, he offers her a job in his Department. Sebastian is a cold fish, almost like a code himself, and she is determined to crack him. He has other problems - General Phillips ( Nigel Davenport ) believes him to be a security risk, especially as he has known Communist sympathiser Elsa Shahn ( Lilli Palmer ) working in his department. Phillips decides to put Sebastian under surveillance...
Directed by the underrated ( and alas deceased ) David Greene, whose other movie credits include 'The Shuttered Room', 'Godspell', and 'The Strange Affair', 'Sebastian' is a delight from start to finish. One of the producers was the great Michael Powell. The cast are wonderful, alongside Bogarde and York there's Sir John Gielgud as the 'Head Of Intelligence', Janet Munro as 'Carol Fancy', the washed-up pop singer Sebastian is having an affair with, and Ronald Fraser as 'Toby', who forces Carol into becoming the bait of a trap involving champagne laced with L.S.D. A pre-'M.A.S.H.' Donald Sutherland appears briefly. Gerald Vaughan-Hughes's witty script came from a story by Leo Marks, himself a code breaker in World War 2. Some lush sets on view courtesy of Wilfrid Shingleton, who also worked on 'The Avengers' television series. Sebastian's department is a big open-plan room in which his girls work tirelessly to break enemy codes while their boss watches over them from the panoramic window ( with louvre shutters ) in his office. James Bond would be proud of it.
The wonderful soundtrack is by Jerry Goldsmith. I bought a C.D. of it a year or so back and was disappointed to find that at least half the film's score is not on it, such as the strident theme that accompanies Sebastian's visit to a radio telescope.
Like a lot of '60's films, it used to get shown a lot on television but has not been screened anywhere recently. I think it was last on B.B.C.-2 back in 1988 ( I know because I taped it ). Its non-appearance on D.V.D. is itself a baffling mystery worthy of investigation by Sebastian himself.
Directed by the underrated ( and alas deceased ) David Greene, whose other movie credits include 'The Shuttered Room', 'Godspell', and 'The Strange Affair', 'Sebastian' is a delight from start to finish. One of the producers was the great Michael Powell. The cast are wonderful, alongside Bogarde and York there's Sir John Gielgud as the 'Head Of Intelligence', Janet Munro as 'Carol Fancy', the washed-up pop singer Sebastian is having an affair with, and Ronald Fraser as 'Toby', who forces Carol into becoming the bait of a trap involving champagne laced with L.S.D. A pre-'M.A.S.H.' Donald Sutherland appears briefly. Gerald Vaughan-Hughes's witty script came from a story by Leo Marks, himself a code breaker in World War 2. Some lush sets on view courtesy of Wilfrid Shingleton, who also worked on 'The Avengers' television series. Sebastian's department is a big open-plan room in which his girls work tirelessly to break enemy codes while their boss watches over them from the panoramic window ( with louvre shutters ) in his office. James Bond would be proud of it.
The wonderful soundtrack is by Jerry Goldsmith. I bought a C.D. of it a year or so back and was disappointed to find that at least half the film's score is not on it, such as the strident theme that accompanies Sebastian's visit to a radio telescope.
Like a lot of '60's films, it used to get shown a lot on television but has not been screened anywhere recently. I think it was last on B.B.C.-2 back in 1988 ( I know because I taped it ). Its non-appearance on D.V.D. is itself a baffling mystery worthy of investigation by Sebastian himself.