The Green Helmet

The Green Helmet is a 1961 British film starring Bill Travers, Ed Begley and Sid James. The film is centred on a British motor racing team. It is based on a novel by Australian author Jon Cleary.[2]

The Green Helmet
Directed byMichael Forlong
Produced byCharles F. Vetter
Written byJon Cleary
Based onnovel by Jon Cleary
StarringBill Travers
Ed Begley
Sid James
Music byKen Jones
CinematographyGeoffrey Faithfull
Edited byFrank Clarke
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • 1961 (1961)
LanguageEnglish
Budget$378,000[1]
Box office$950,000[1]

Plot outline

The novel starts at France's 24-hour Le Mans race when British champion racing driver Greg Rafferty crashes his car. The plot then follows Rafferty as he continues to race while also concealing his fears.

Cast

Original novel
The Green Helmet
AuthorJon Cleary
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Genreaction
PublisherCollins, Sydney
Publication date
1957
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages253pp
Preceded byJustin Bayard 
Followed byBack of Sunset 

It was based on a novel which had been published in 1957.

Background

Cleary had written a book about Australian politics, The Mayor's Nest, but his English publisher was worried it would not appeal to an international audience, and suggested a book on motor racing.[3]

Cleary and his wife had lived in Italy for a year and became familiar with the motor races there such as the Mille Miglia. He had not written in six months, so moved to Valencia, a small town in Spain where he rented a villa. He wrote the novel in twenty days at a chapter a day.[4][5]

Reception

The book became a best seller on its publication in 1957. Cleary says Readers Digest paid an advance of 20,000 pounds for their editions.[3][6]

Production

Film rights were bought by MGM, who hired Cleary to adapt his own novel. He said, "They bought it on the strength that some American producer who was an alcoholic which they didn’t know he’d read the book... This producer said he had something between 20 and 25000 feet of the most spectacular motor racing. And he ran about a thousand feet of it and it was spectacular. What they didn’t know was the other 24,000 was just nothing."[3]

The director was Michael Forlong, a New Zealander from television. This was his first film. The head of MGM's British operation was Lawrence Bachmann.[3]

The star was Bill Travers who Cleary said "was a charming likeable bloke but he was miscast" and who asked Cleary not to write "any long speeches because I can’t handle them.”[3]

Travers was six feet four which meant they had to design a car around him. The technical adviser was Stirling Moss. Ed Begley was imported from America. Cleary said Walters was a beauty queen who had been signed to MGM "and she was charming and friendly and everybody liked her, she was an absolute dish to look at...and she couldn’t change expression."[3] South African Sid James was cast as an Australian although Cleary says he spoke in "an Afrikaaner accent. They put him in because he looked right for the part and he was always good at working class characters."[3]

Although most of the movie was set in Italy, it was shot in Wales.[3] It was completed by January 1961.[7]

Reception

Critical

The New York Times called it "a noisy diatribe against speed car racing" in which Travers "looks unhappy" and Begley "delivers every cliche in the script with embarrassing enthusiasm."[8]

Box office

Cleary disliked the final film and said "They got their money back on it but only just."[3] According to MGM records the film earned $375,000 in the US and $575,000 internationally, making a profit of $124,000.[1]

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References
  1. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. GREEN HELMET, The Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 28, Iss. 324, (Jan 1, 1961): 64.
  3. Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History at National Film and Sound Archive
  4. MYSTERY MAN; JON CLEARY / WRITER Features: [Late Edition] Stephens, Tony. Sydney Morning Herald; 15 Nov 1997: 3.
  5. Hetherington, John (31 December 1960). "Jon Cleary - Worth a Couple of Brigades to Authors". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 10.
  6. "The Author". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 October 1960. p. 14.
  7. VIEW FROM A LOCAL VANTAGE POINT By A.H. WEILER. New York Times 1 Jan 1961: X5.
  8. 'Morgan the Pirate' and 'The Green Helmet' on Double Bill Archer, Eugene. New York Times 20 July 1961: 32.
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