Michael Caine: A Class Act - Christopher Bray

THE AUTHOR
Christopher Bray graduated in Film and Literature at Warwick University. He's written about films and books for the Observer, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, Independant, New Statesman, Spectator, etc. This is his first book.

BIOGRAPHY OR FILM BUFF'S CRITIQUE?
A critical filmography and biography. The personal biography takes second stage to the analysis - nay deconstruction - of Caine's performances in every ...
...favourite Caine film/s will be here, from his earliest to 'Mona Lisa' (which arguably heralded his 'comeback'), to 'Last Orders', the 'Quiet American' etc, as well as many you may never have heard of. It's a film buff's book, but also a Caine buff's book. Bray interleaves biography with social history, showing how Caine's initial circumstances, his escape from these, and his later film roles, reflect wider social changes in the latter 20th century. ... more

THE AUTHOR
Christopher Bray graduated in Film and Literature at Warwick University. He's written about films and books for the Observer, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, Independant, New Statesman, Spectator, etc. This is his first book.

BIOGRAPHY OR FILM BUFF'S CRITIQUE?
A critical filmography and biography. The personal biography takes second stage to the analysis - nay deconstruction - of Caine's performances in every film he appeared in, up to publication date. Your favourite Caine film/s will be here, from his earliest to 'Mona Lisa' (which arguably heralded his 'comeback'), to 'Last Orders', the 'Quiet American' etc, as well as many you may never have heard of. It's a film buff's book, but also a Caine buff's book. Bray interleaves biography with social history, showing how Caine's initial circumstances, his escape from these, and his later film roles, reflect wider social changes in the latter 20th century. Specifically, Bray is talking about class, and its filmic and literary representations, hence the title of this book. Bray insists that unlike the many biographies, his book is not just about Micklewhite/ Caine the bloke, but 'Michael Caine', the phenomena served up in film and popular culture.

A GOOD READ?
Very. Bray still relies heavily on previously published Caine biogs. Maurice Micklewhite was born in Rotherhithe in 1933, to working class parents (his father was a porter at Billingsgate). A pretty child, he became teachers pet, and also a mummy's boy whose mother beat his bullies, and later sorted out the violent carers he first endured when evacuated during WWII. Caine developed rickets. When the family moved away from the Blitz to Norfolk Caine lived initially - very happily - on a farm and later at The Grange, where his mother was Cook. Bray surmises he 'probably' got a taste for the good life here. Winning the equivalent of the 11+, he returned to London to grammar schools in Hackney and Bermondsey.

After national [active] service in Korea, Caine returned to England and resumed his interest in theatre and film. Determined to act, he secures a job in rep at Horsham as assistant stage manager with occasional walk-on parts. It's made clear this practical experience of stage-craft, where to stand, where to look, how to move, provided Caine with clear advantages when it came to auditions for later work, as well as acting itself.

Caine saw his world, ie that of working class or 'ordinary' people, was ill portrayed in most productions, and preferred the realist styles of American books and films to the stiff-upper-lipped types in most British films. Class conflict informs many of his parts, and his knowledge of this conflict informed the way he chose to play them, from accents to gestures (or lack of them). He realised early that different classes display different body language, and that underplaying rather than frantic overacting via gestures, whether a toff or a cockernee type, bring realism to the part. This restrained technique is contrasted that of other actors sometimes considered for the same roles, such as Lawrence Harvey, and Richard Harris (with whom he endured some bitter rivalry). Although Caine's declared goal (largely successful) of accurately representing working class people in film makes him something of a class warrior, he is by no means left wing when it comes to economics. Like many born poor who later become rich, he feared a return to poverty.

Caine's early career was not easy; between the usual biographical details (early ill-fated marriage etc) Bray charts Caine's career, analysing his performances and the wider cultural context of the movies. Social change enabled the young actor who so easily identified with roles written by Osborne and Pinter to subvert traditional depictions more easily. By the mid 1960s an alternative, working class, hero: smart, fashionable, with a few bob to spend, could be as attractive as the proper English gent of yesteryear. Caine among others could exploit this. In 'Alfie' Caine manages, with subtle expression and body language as well as the voice-to-camera device, to inject some humanity into a very unpleasant character, exposing Alfie's vulnerability. Caine's real-life womanising is presented as largely as a clever bit of PR before and after the film to make himself and the film appear more authentic. Bray compares the kitchen-sinkish, insolent, under-paid Brit Harry Palmer, with suave James Bond skooting around the international jet set, in a pleasing counterpoint.

These well-documented if not always original observations make the book worthwhile, and provide more insight into the film world than the usual film anecdotes. His take on 'The Italian Job' exposes the xenophobia behind the chirpy Brit Lads' escapade. He is also spot on about 'Get Carter', that stylish yet callous indictment of organised crime in drugs and property development. However Bray's analysis of 'Dressed to Kill' contains a gratuitous swipe at 'northern' feminists who objected to this cheap slasher move, released during Peter Sutcliffe's Yorkshire murders. Bray tries to argue that the film is a pro-feminist critique of bourgeois gender expectations. Even without a glance at today's headlines, his conclusion is as insensitive as it is specious.

Bray faces off critics who complain Caine "always plays himself" with Caine's own assertion that he has rarely played a character whose biography is anything like his own. Bray agrees with those complain about Caine's willingness to appear in turkeys for the money - but makes the point that even in the direst of movies, Caine manages to put something extra into the role. His performances are always better than the film deserves, and thereby the film only benefits whereas he, arguably, has been cheated. Bray finishes by saying that Caine does himself a disservice by playing up to his critics instead of challenging them - as his work does, given careful observation.

In sum, 'Michael Caine' is explored closely and cogently. But as well as the crass pop at feminists, above, there is too much speculation. As an adult Caine discovered he had a secret older half-brother who suffered from epilepsy. Like so many with this illness in those days, he was incarcerated in a home for 'mental defectives'. Their mother's oblique references to her visits to this institution lead to Bray contemplating what kind of subliminal messages the young Caine might have picked up. Was child Caine influenced by Tarzan, or Errol Flynn in 'Robin Hood'? Do I know? Despite these faults, this is a must for all Caine fans.
Extensive notes to chapters, Filmography, Bibliography, and Index.
B/W photos and film stills.

PUBLISHER AND PRICE DETAILS
Faber and Faber, 2005. I bought the hardback for £15, it is now out in paperback at around 5.99 - as usual Internet sites and bookshops will have their own deals. Have not seen this in WH Smith but it may have sold out for Xmas. 

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