The High Bright Sun (1964)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

The High Bright Sun is a 1964 British action film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, George Chakiris and Susan Strasberg. It is set in Cyprus during the EOKA uprising against British rule in the 1950s. It was based on a 1962 novel by Ian Stuart Black.

Production

It was the first British feature film to depict the Cyprus Emergency. However, there had been a number of British TV plays on the subject prior to that including One Morning Near Troodos (1956), Arrow in the Air (1957), Air Mail from Cyprus (1958), Incident at Echo Six (1958) and The Interrogator (1961).

Film rights to Black's novel were bought by Betty Box under the aegis of the Rank Organisation. Black was hired to do the screenplay. Later on, Box hired Bryan Forbes to do some additional work on the script, saying "he was paid rather a lot of money, I thought, for what he eventually produced". Box said this mostly consisted of a 12-minute scene between Denholm Elliott and Bogarde, and a few extra lines of dialogue.

In February 1964 Rank announced it would make eight films at a cost of £4.5 million, including The High Bright Sun which was to star an American and two British actors.

Shirley Anne Field was originally announced for the female lead but Rank wanted an international name. Box and Thomas tried Jane Fonda, Jean Seberg and Lee Remick but they turned the role down; Susan Strasberg was cast. George Chakiris played the second male lead.

It was said to be the most expensive film made by the team of Box and Thomas and the most ambitious film they had ever done. George Chakiris was paid $100,000, Strasberg $50,000 and Bogarde £30,000. Uniformed extras were provided from the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment based in Malta. Eli Wallach was mentioned as possible casting but ended up not appearing in the final film.

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