Officials of the Cuban Interior Ministry were hurt that British moviemakers thought it necessary to ask permission to film Our Man in Havana in Cuba's capital. "Giving written permission," the ministry ruled, "would look like the Batista days, when everybody needed permission for everything." Reassured, Kingsmead Productions flew in Alec Guinness, Noel Coward, Burl Ives and Maureen O'Hara, plus camera crews and equipment. Graham Greene, who wrote both the script and the novel—about a feckless vacuum-cleaner salesman (Guinness) who takes on a part-time job as a British agent in Batista's Cuba (TIME, Oct. 27)—came along to watch. Director Carol (The Key)...
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