Richard Burton and Michael Caine - their parallel films explored

Michael Caine and Richard Burton - their 'parallel' film roles explored 

During the years 1965 - 76, Richard Burton and Michael Caine appeared in a number of films that followed similar themes. So, let's take a look at the similar but different outcomes. 

The spy that came in from the cold v Funeral in Berlin

A pair of interesting 1960's films to dissect - the 1965 Spy who came in from the cold was a real noir film starring Richard Burton, shot in monochrome which gave it added drabness and dramatic effect, versus Funeral in Berlin starring Michael Caine, a later 60's film shot in colour.

Cover for the DVD of The Spy who came in from the cold -

which was based on a John Le Carre story

Taking the spy film genre, we have two very different performances here - Richard Burton plays to the hilt a worn out and disillusioned Secret Service operator Alec Leamas, whose agents and contacts have being intercepted and knocked off with a too frequent regularity. He leaves the service to all intents and purposes and is pursued for what he knows. More than that you'll have to see the film to find out!

Burton being head hunted by Micheael Hordern's character Ash

Michael Caine's Funeral in Berlin sees his portrayal of Harry Palmer, a cockney wide boy / cashiered soldier pushed into espionage as an alternative to prison, is the other end of the scale. Palmer is detailed to assist a Russian Commander to defect to the West and pursues that agenda.

Richard Burton in Spy, gives a commanding performance as Alec Leamas, working with Claire Bloom (an actress he had appeared with before) and with a supporting cast of actors including Michael Hordern (later to work with Burton on Where Eagles dare, more on this later), Robert Hardy and various other well known faces of the time. It is a gritty performance and well worth watching and looking at the underpinning story that is going on in the film.

DVD cover for Funeral in Berlin

Michael Caine as the optimistic Palmer carries his film as the main performance, I didn't choose the Ipcress file as a comparison because 'Funeral' and Burton's 'Spy' were both centred on the Berlin connection.

The body move scene in Funeral

Unreconstructed war damaged East Berlin locations 

lent a lot of atmosphere to the story

Damaged Berlin shots are fascinating to look at in detail

From the earlier Ipcress file, with Gordon Jackson, 

Palmer is still unmistakeably as Palmer was

Michael Caine playing a more 'poppy' and upbeat performance than Burton's is a lighter viewing experience, but behind that bonhomie, Harry Palmer is a skilled operator in what was a dangerous game that some operatives did not get escape from.

Get Carter v Villain

Michael Caine in Get Carter

Richard Burton in Villain

A departure for both actors at the end of the 1960's decade was to come in their Gangster films. 

For Burton, he played very much against type as the lead character Vic Dakin, about as far away from his roots as could be imagined. Michael Caine did the same in his role in Get Carter.

Gritty old London - locations such as  Nine Elms here provide authenticity 
a lot of this area has now been redeveloped out of all proportion to this open look 

Both players displayed their talent to show us how they could play egomaniacal and psychopathic characters - roles they had not brought to the screen previously. 

Burton as Vic Dakin a London crime lord and homosexual, was about as far detached from Burton's real life persona or previous films as you could get, but he played it much like a Shakespearean tragedy, and although the film is in my view underrated, it is worth watching, the soft colour film stock adds something to the atmosphere.

Great camera angle work adds to the gravitas of the film

By the subject nature, there are moments of violence in it and you can see as the film progresses that the criminals have bitten off more than they can chew.

Colin Welland, Nigel Davenport and Ian McShane

Film poster for Villain

The violence in the film ensured an 18 certificate

Get Carter in context placed Michael Caine away from his London area and transplanted him to Newcastle, where he was seeking answers to who killed his brother. Like Villain, Caine is out of place and type, but he really brings his own talent to make the film work. 

The Lag's car of choice the Mk2 Jaguar featured in both of our comparison films

With Geraldine Moffat -  

the hard nut in the sharp suit was the new breed of top drawer criminal

The back street locations add to the film

Although Get Carter is favoured (as a better film than Villain), it has great theme music too, both films have their merits when you consider how the lead actors both played far away from their usual ground the end result is good. Many of these films are worth watching first for the actors and another time for the locations.

Where Eagles Dare v The Eagle has landed

Ingrid Pitt, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure and Richard Burton

Michael Caine with fellow Luftwaffe invaders in the church scene

In our last comparison, we have Burton and Caine playing the part of special forces soldiers from opposing sides but in the uniform of the enemy side(mostly), with Burton as a British soldier impersonating a German and Caine as a German impersonating a Free Polish officer.

Where Eagles dare

A DVD cover for the film

In Where Eagles dare, Burton plays a similar in someways character to his Leamas in Spy, war weary and seen it all. 

Burton is to rescue an American Officer who the Germans have captured, who they believe holds vital military plans, when he is in reality a low ranking soldier who just looks like the officer he is meant to be. Burton has to snatch back the phoney officer before the Germans understand who he really is.

Michael Hordern was an ex- Naval man from WW2,  he had

previously acted with Burton in the spy who came in from the cold

The added complication is that there is a leak in the team sent on this job and Burton has to find out who it is in the team and where the leak comes from.

Again Michael Hordern pops up in a film with Burton, Hordern having been a naval officer during WW2. His immortal line 'Broadsword calling Danny Boy' lives on!

Burton calling 'Danny Boy', 

(Michael Hordern's radio call sign.)

Burton did see service in the RAF in 1943 to 1947, so he is playing against service type here in real life to a degree, but this experience lends itself to making his portrayal of a commander more realistic, he knew warfare from first hand experience.

Ingrid Pitt with Richard Burton during filming

It is quite a long film for the premise but well worth watching. Making her feature film debut is Ingrid Pitt (later to be a major Hammer films star), born in Poland in 1937 to a German born Russian father! Clint Eastwood in his pre Spaghetti western and Dirty Harry season plays an American Lt Schaeffer and Mary Ure gets billing on the poster, playing Burton's love interest.

Burton does tend as the main character to dominate the film, but he is the central role and he does nail this one.

The Graff and Stift bus used to get away in the close of the film.
It was later parked in a yard behind the Chertsey railway station in the early 70's

The Eagle has landed

The Eagle has landed Film poster

The premise of this film is that Michael Caine plays a Colonel Steiner of the Luftwaffe. His mission is to be landed in England and to eliminate Winston Churchill, who is staying at a large country house in Norfolk.

Still from the film

The twist is that Churchill is already somewhere else at a secret meeting, an actor has been drafted in to take Churchill's place. (This blends both of the films under comparison where the decoy is not what they are supposed to be in reality).

Michael Caine as Steiner, the Luftwaffe group leader

For Steiner's men, it is a fool's errand as the intended target is not where he is supposed to be, but they do not know that. 

Luftwaffe soldiers disguised as Free Polish soldiers -

the location is Mapledurham, Oxfordshire

The Eagle has landed is supposedly based on true events, of invasion. Indeed, this was said to be the case at a place in Suffolk called Shingle street, where it is believed that in 1940 German troops wearing British uniforms captured at Dunkirk, staged a daring commando raid to capture the Bawdsey radar station. They were foiled because Enigma traffic had been intercepted and the British knew exactly what was planned.

For the record, Michael Caine had seen active military service in Korea (as had Clint Eastwood) so they were able to play their roles with real experience to draw on in these films. 

A pair of good films here.

Overall we can see from the film comparisons of the two actors how they both came from similar impoverished backgrounds, changed their names and were very successful actors. 

Sadly for Richard Burton, he could have likely gone onto other successful film roles had he not died relatively early. His narration on the War of the Worlds album in 1974 is classic and fitted the bill perfectly. I doubt anyone else could have done this better. 

Michael Caine now Sir, has continued to make films and racked up decades of work for us to enjoy. One of his recent works Harry Brown, almost goes back into Get Carter territory and he comes across in interviews as someone unaffected by his fame.