222 thoughts on “Michael Caine Movies”

1. Hello Bruce.
   I was wondering if you could tell me the domestic box office rentals for the films “ZULU”
   (1964) and “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED” (1976). Please reply if you know.
   Thank You.

   Reply

   1. Hey Lyle….great to hear from you. Hmmmm….let me see. First lets look at the easy one….The Eagle Has Landed. Variety reports it’s rentals at $4,500,000. As for Zulu….that one is way more complicated. I do not have a rental number for that one…as it never made Variety’ Top Grossers page. I have the box office “gross” at a little over $4,000,000….which would be about $1,400,000 in rentals but that comes from re-release numbers as well. It was a big success overseas versus here in the states. Hope that helps.

      Reply

2. MORNING DEPARTURE 1946 – MORNING DEPARTURE [Operation Disaster] 1950

   1946 CAST LIST – 1950 CAST LIST
   STAMFORD Nigel Patrick/ ARMSTRONG John Mills
   OAKLEY John Stevens/ OAKLEY Peter Hammond
   McFEE Ronald Adam/ McFEE Andrew Crawford
   STOKER SNIPE Anthony Hudson/ STOKER SNIPE Richard Attenborough***
   JAMES Kenneth More/ JAMES Kenneth More
   TEABOY Maurice Micklewhite/ TEABOY Maurice Micklewhite
   MANSON Nigel Patrick in 1950 version

   ADDITIONAL TRIVIA

   1/*** Lord Dickie doesn’t seem to have been in 1946 TV movie according to those cast lists.

   2/The film version also has additional characters, due to the insertion of flashback scenes and scenes from the rescue operation on the surface.

   Reply

3. FOOTNOTE: There has been much confusion over the credits for Morning Departure [aka Operation Disaster] with many people seeming assuming [as certainly I did] that the 1946 TV movie and the 1950 cinema release were one and the same- ie a TV production being re-released on the big screen. They were though definitely two distinctly separate productions with seemingly only Kenneth More playing the same role in both of them unless Sir Maurice was in both versions as some sources suggest.

   However James Canon last year wrote a lengthy article based on a series of interviews with Caine/Micklewhite but James doesn’t mention the latter being in the 1946 version under either name.

   “Caine’s love of acting only grew from there [Acting School] as he gained some valuable experience in those drama classes. Alongside that, the future star had also taken his first steps in the world of work, trying his hand as a file clerk for London movie companies. Then, in 1950 his career took a very exciting turn.

   That year, Caine made his movie house debut in a film titled Morning Departure. And while it was only a small role, there would be many more opportunities to come in the future.”

   The two separate cast lists are set out in Part two for the purposes of comparison and the differences are striking. I may have started the ball rolling in creating the impression that the two versions were the same product. If so I sincerely apologize. “When I’m wrong I SAY I’m wrong.” [Jake Houseman Dirty Dancing 1987]

   Reply

4. Hey Bob….thanks for dragging these comments from the Attenborough page to the Caine page….you are the man.

   So….the British tv show movie is not the same as the movie made in 1950….the British tv movie is not available to buy….so we may never know the answer for sure. So it looks like we will be in opposite corners on this issue for awhile. Me and Sir Mike in one corner and you in another…lol.

   Once again, thanks for moving the comments.

   Reply

   1. HI BRUCE: Thanks for the response.

      It is all so confusing. The 1946 version was what is called a “television play” which was released under the banner “TV movie” or at least is called that today; and the 1950 movie was described as being “the same source as the TV movie.

      It’s possible that if Sir Maurice did make a fleeting appearance even he couldn’t tell you precisely WHAT he was in ! !

      As I understand it in the 1946 TV version Nigel Patrick was the star and was top billed but when the 1950 version was released in the cinemas Sir Dickie and Sir Johnnie had become the more important and their two names alone were above the title on posters [and maybe the screen]

      Anyway whilst these exchanges maybbe went on a bit too long and can now be concluded [unless Steve comes up with more magic!] they did at least enable us to get the comments on Sir M’s page through the 200 barrier.

      Reply

      1. Hey Bob….Glad Sir Michael has over 200 comments here. Thanks again for bringing these comments over. I think, a 13 year old appearing on television would be something he would never forget. Heck I appeared in a television commercial for an amusement park when I was 7….and I remember almost every detail of that experience. Good stuff.

         Reply

         1. HI BRUCE

            Sorry I expressed myself poorly earlier. When I said that “It’s possible that IF Sir Maurice did make a fleeting appearance even he couldn’t tell you precisely WHAT he was in” I meant that he may not have been sure how to describe the project – a TV play; a TV movie; or an ultimate theatrical movie. IMDB insists that he was in both the TV presentation and the big screen release –

            “Did You Know?
            Trivia
            Movie and television debut of Sir Michael Caine (Teaboy). See more »”

            Also you said in your earlier 1.16 pm post today that we would have to leave “Me [ie you]and Sir Mike in one corner and you [ie me Bob] in another…lol.” Well: “Nobody puts Bobby in a corner.”***

            Even those who cared ultimately found out ‘Who Shot JR?”;but we may never know the precise answer to the Micklewhite/Morning D confusion. Anyway I have enjoyed our friendly debate about the matter – and we even managed to suck in Steve. Somebody should be “writing that down” as he usually avoids these controversies unless I feign a direct attack on his action and super heroes/his sci-fi idols/or his slashers!

            ***PS In Belfast “corner boys” used be be ridculed because they loafed around street corners swearing and makin a nuisance of themselves.

            Reply

            1. Hey Bob….I agree….good friendly debate. Thanks for explaining corner boys. Good stuff.

5. STEVE I have to say that [whilst I have always accepted at face value within reason what seemly well-run and respected sites tell me] if Sir Maurice is NOT in MD I will have trouble in future accepting unswervingly from outside sources any piece of trivia that I am not sure of from my own knowledge or which has not been definitively confirmed in some way.

   As someone [I think it may have been Gary Cooper in Marlon Brando Senior’s 1961 movie production The Naked Edge] once said “Trust is like virginity: you’ve either got it or you haven’t.” When it was revealed during the Watergate scandal that the paranoid Richard Nixon had been secretly taping all conversations held in The White House even his own party was aghast and Republican Big Beast Senator Barry Goldwater told him “Mr President in future if you ask me the time I’m simply going to point to my watch without speaking!”

   It’s all very well to say that as WH indicates “we all make mistakes”; but so many normally supposed authentic sources have credited Sir M with MD that you would have thought that at least one or two would have sought confirmation especially when his role if it does exist is very minor.

   Critics are often accused of “herding” – ie one of them watches a movie and the rest just parrot the gist of his/her review without seeing the production for themselves. It could be that such a practice has been in play regarding the coverage of MD on the various sites; and that if WH had not been so well-read on Sir Micklewhite Bruce too would maybe have accepted without question what Wiki and IMDB are saying. As it is he will not easily relinquish his status of this site’s “Micklewhite expert” – he is our Joel if you like in matters relating to Sir Maurice!

   Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.