"The Mask of Dimitrios", by Eric Ambler

Novel, 1939

Spy thriller, whose touch of paranoia and the shadowy role of bankers give it a more contemporary edge - with only a few twists and adjustments, this could be a late 60s Pynchony romp or a story for our own times. Some lovely descriptive touches and an establishment of the world of espionage on some rather sordid activity and a cast of fairly undesirable characters. Nonetheless and despite bogging down towards the end, this is a cracking look at the grime of a Europe trying to work through the early part of the twentieth century. 

"Journey into Fear", directed Norman Foster

Movie, 1943

Atmospheric, gloomy film which creaks in places with its lack of subtlety and 'few too many characters', but delivers a huge chunk of entertainment nonetheless. Some of the action scenes are a real treat, not least the nightclub scene towards the beginning and the excellent finale, although the tension is occasionally undercut with some over-simplified caricatures. A feeling of anarchy, claustrophobia and underhandedness is, however, gloriously put across - if the film had a little more depth, it could have been a monster.

"Hotel Reserve", directed by Lance Comfort, Mutz Greenbaum and Victor Hanbury

Movie, 1944

Movie dramatisation of Eric Ambler's Epitaph for a Spy, whose departures from the book rather let it down. A young James Mason is good value, but a little switched on and glamorous as the bungling 'hero' Vadassy and the amateurish antics in the novel, which give it its tension, are rather smoothed out. Still, there's a dreamy interplay and set and some great support acting in a film which is still curious and well worth watching. Possibly ripe for a remake, but still colourful enough and with a contemporary resonance. 

"Epitath for a Spy", by Eric Ambler

Novel, 1938

Effective, nicely paced and well-told story of a man's dilemma and problems after he's arrested under suspicion of spying against the French just before the Second World War. The careless and bungling nature of the protagonist and the fact he's played by many of the other characters in the book give a refreshing feel to the book, although there's also some ill ease at the slightly metaphysical dilemma the hero finds himself in. A smooth, entertaining book, at once familiar in its form, though refreshingly differing it at the same time.