A comprehensive online resource about writer Len Deighton

_{The films}

In many ways, it has been the films as much as his books that have impressed Len Deighton on the national consciousness. In particular, the three iconic films from the sixties - The IPCRESS File, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain - with Michael Caine playing Harry Palmer are stories which shook up the spy film genre and created indelibe cinematic images which are now inseparable from the books that inspired them.

Despite these successes, Deighton's relationship with the big screen has been mixed. While the Harry Palmer films were cinematic successes, other films were relative failures at the box office, films such as Only When I Larf or Spy Story. Indeed, Deighton's own poor results when he turned his hand to film-making directly - first as scriptwriter on the failed Bond movie Warhead and then as producer of Oh! What a Lovely War! - rather put him off the film business for much of his career.

Deighton clearly sets high standards for his adaptations. On TV, when the ITV adaptation of Game, Set and Match - with Ian Holm as Bernard Samson - failed to match Deighton's expectations, he prevented further broadcasts.

Use the section menu on the left to navigate around the different sections, and the drop-down menu bar on the right to find individual films.

(c) R Mallows 2009