A Touch of Larceny

Born and raised in France, British director Guy Harrison learned his craft as an assistant director apprenticing with the likes of Julien Duvivier (“Anna Karenina” 1948), Carol Reed (“The Fallen Idol” 1948, “Outcast of the Islands” 1951), Orson Welles (“The Third Man” 1949) and John Huston (“The African Queen” 1951). A competent craftsman, he showed early promise with “Manuela/The The Stowaway Girl” (1957) and “A Touch of Larceny” (1961), both of which he co-scripted. But time revealed him to be at his best with spy movies such as the underrated “Funeral in Berlin” (1966) and his four James Bond pictures. Hamilton helmed the superb “Goldfinger” (1964) and reteamed with Sean Connery’s Bond for “Diamonds Are Forever” (1971). In 1973 and 1974, he guided Roger Moore through his paces in Moore’s first attempts at playing 007 in “Live and Let Die” and “The Man with the Golden Gun”. Hamilton’s work in the series demonstrated clearly the director’s economy and cynical wit. Following his Bond run, he tackled Agatha Christie, directing two adaptations, “The Mirror Crack’d” (1980), set in contemporary times and featuring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, and the period Hercule Poirot mystery “Evil Under the Sun” (1982), which featured dazzling Egyptian locations. Hamilton returned to the action genre with the pleasant, if derivative, “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins…” (1985), with Fred Ward. For the first time in close to three decades, he co-wrote the script for his final directing project (to date), the comedy “Sauf votre respect/Try This One for Size” (1989). —TCM