222 thoughts on “Michael Caine Movies”

1. Anon – The Betrayal of Sir Mike
   June 13, 2020 at 6:06 am

   PART 4

   13/The moral of the Part 3 story is that the now Knight of the English Realm Sir Mike [an arch-Conservative by the way] night wish to forget his humble days as a walk-on [initially TV] teaboy and unintentionally let reference to it slip out in 3 of your post. Conversely even if he comes out and ‘pretends’ he wasn’t in it he will still be credited with it in MY databases. “When the legend’s more suitable than the truth print the legend!” [The Man who shot Liberty Valance starring Wayne/Stewart [1962].

   14/Because whilst Olivier might still be Britain’s most prestigious thespian as an ACTOR it is arguable that after Sir Sean the greatest worldwide box office attraction ever to emerge out of the subordinate British cinema is Sir Mike; and it pleases me in a fairy-tale sense to think that his first appearance on any screen should be as a humble teaboy. From the film buff’s perspective that if true is not mere trivia in the normal sense but knowledge of it is historically more important that knowing about Willis in Split or – dare Mr Roy even think it? – being aware that Brando was in Superman Returns. Meanwhile-

   “Well the people held their breath
   When they heard about Jesse’s death (yeah)
   And they wondered how poor Jesse came to die (how did he die?)
   It was one of his own guys, called Little Robert Ford
   And he shot Jessie James on the sly.”

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2. 8/When I was moving up the ranks in the Northern Ireland Civil Service my 3 Big Bosses used to celebrate monthly pay day by going out for a meal together at a swanky hotel; and being Randy Scott/Cary Grant type tight wads they would not simply split the bill in 3 equal ways but would argue about who got peas instead of bacon etc and start comparing the individuals prices of what one got against the other’s choices.

   9/On one occasion the debate became so long and heated and was attracting the attention of other customers that the hotel manager finally told the 3 Big Bosses that if they didn’t settle up soon he would send for the police; whereupon Big Big Boss promptly paid and collected from the other 2 next day at the office.

   10/Years later I got promoted to the post of No 2 Boss’ assistant and became very friendly with him; and in the meantime Big Big Boss had moved further up the ladder and had become the very top man in an entire government department – ie 2nd to only the political Minister. No 2 Boss [nicknamed Big D] was retiring and it was decided that Big Big Boss would do the honours by handing Big D his retirement present.

   11/Big Big Boss sent for me and said “Bob you’ve been pretty close to Big D in recent years and I want to throw a few funny anecdotes into my presentation speech. Are there any you can think of?” I replied “Well Permanent Secretary there was the time that you and Big D and Paddy argued over a hotel bill and the manager nearly set the police on you for causing a disturbance. But maybe Big D wouldn’t want to be reminded of that.” The Permanent Secretary looked at me oddly said “I don’t think I’d like to be reminded of THAT either Bob!”

   12/I was reminded or Larry’s Lord Wellington saying to Lady Caroline Lamb with whom he had just slept in the 1972 film of that name “Madam I cannot sponsor your husband [William Lamb] at court. HE is considered a buffoon whereas I am a SERIOUS Man!”

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3. Anonymous
   June 13, 2020 at 5:56 am

   4/In Items 2 and 3 of your reply to me Sir M has anyway possibly been forgetful when he mentions A Hill in Virginia as being his first experience with the movies. As IMDB makes clear Teacher Beware was made before ‘Hill’ [but not released in the USA until a year later] but like the Morning Departure part was an uncredited [and maybe again non-speaking] role and he now dismisses such “trivia”; or it could be though that he is ‘ashamed’ of those parts – see Part 3 for possible detailed explanation.

   5/SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DOG THAT DIDN’T BARK IN THE NIGHT. Certainly in what you have quoted Sir Mike does not say he wasn’t in Morning Departure and has never as far as I personally am aware contradicted any of the references to his being in that movie; but in a roundabout way he maybe tells us that he WAS in it.

   6/Because if he was not in MD then before Teacher Beware he had no screen roles WHATSOEVER in movies or TV but in item 3 of your reply to me you quote him saying: “A miracle- I couldn’t believe it. Who would have me in a film? I hadn’t even had a SPEAKING part in TELEVISION yet”. My capitals – but if he had not been in Morning Departure why would HE emphasize “speaking”?

   7/As I have said above Morning Departure was made for and shown on television and then released in the cinemas and if he had not been in it surely he would have said something like “I hadn’t even been in television before.” Is this a clue that Larry’s Great Detective Singen Lord Merridew from Sleuth should be chasing-down? – though between us possibly you and I will get to the bottom of the matter yet!

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4. The Betrayal of Sir Mike
   June 13, 2020 at 5:49 am

   HI ROBERT FORD: “Oh look” said the woman at the parade. “everybody’s out of step but my wee Johnnie?” Excellent research on your part. Thank you for your courtesy on at least taking the matter seriously and going to the trouble of researching it. However –

   1/ WHOA BIKE! IMDB DOES list Sir M in the cast of Morning Departure – I invite you to check it out again. You regularly quote IMDB as your own trivia source – should your viewers now be suspect of it as a reliable source given that you have also washed your hands off Wikipedia for quoting Mike in MD? [Please don’t get round to saying that Joel Hirschhorn is not a totally reliable source. Draw the line somewhere!]

   2/Morning Departure was first made for television and then later in 1950 given cinematic showings. That and the fact that Caine had a walk-on part [non speaking] in it is possibly why it is often not mentioned as one of Sir Mike’s movies

   3/IMDB also stresses that it was a movie AND television debut for Sir M. The Kent England theatre advertisement that I quoted was for a stage version of Morning Departure way back in 1958 when Sir Mike had just started to do the cinematic rounds in movies such as Teacher Beware [aka Panic in the Classroom]/A Hill in Virginia/and How to Murder a Rich Critic and his career background details would have been fresh in everybody’s minds and the theatre would have been keen to highlight the fact that Britain’s new Golden Boy find was in the screen version of the play.

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5. Cogerson
   June 12, 2020 at 9:24 pm

   Hey Bob. There are way more references to A Hill In Korea as being Michael Caine’s first movie.
   1. Michael Caine very briefyl worked for Rank Movies…he was an office boy….his job lasted a few weeks….and he was fired for smoking in the men’s bathroom. This was in 1952, two years after Morning Departure was made. Caine talks about his short time at Rank in both of his books The Elephant to Hollywood and What’s It All About.
   2. From Caine’s The Elephant to Hollywood page..”Who would have thought that it was my experience as a soldier in Korea that would lead to my first exposure to the movie business” Page 40. “In my first film I managed to forget just eight lines – and I only had to deliver them at a rate of one a week.” Both quotes are talking about A Hill In Korea.
   3. From What’s It All About… “A miracle- I couldn’t believe it. Who would have me in a film? I hadn’t even had a speaking part in television yet”. – Once again he is talking about his first movie experience….on A Hill In Korea.
   4. IMDb cast for Morning Departure – does not list Michael Caine.
   5. The Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz – lists Michael Caine’s film debut as 1956’s A Hill In Korea.
   6. Joel Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars which lists bit parts and cameos lists Michael Caine’s film debut as 1956’s A Hill In Korea.
   7. Michael Caine’s wikipedia page – “Caine’s first film role was as one of the privates in George Baker’s platoon in the 1956 film A Hill in Korea.”.
   8. I just checked all my movie books….VideoHound, Rotten Tomatoes, Video Detective, Starglazer and others…all say his first movie is 1956’s A Hill in Korea.
   9. I even cracked open my 1950 The Film Daily 1950 Yearbok….and Michael Caine is not listed in the cast. Nor is Maurice Micklewhite.
   10. So all the sources I trust say he was not in Morning Departure/Operation Disaster….and a couple of sources I do not know…say he is….and those sources have lots of errors in their articles.
   So…I am pretty sure….and I know Michael Caine is sure….that A Hill In Korea is his first movie

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