Eric Ambler
Encyclopedia
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE
(28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an influential British
author
of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre
. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.
into a family of entertainers who ran a puppet
show, with which he helped in his early years. Both parents also worked as music hall artists. Later he studied engineering
at Northampton Polytechnic in Islington (now City University, London
), and served an apprenticeship with an engineering company. However, his upbringing as an entertainer proved dominant and he soon moved to writing plays and other works. By 1937 he was a copywriter at an advertising agency
in London. After resigning he moved to Paris
, where he met and married Louise Crombie, an American
fashion correspondent.
At that time, Ambler was politically a staunch anti-Fascist and like many others tended to regard the Soviet Union
as the only real counterweight - which was reflected in the fact that some of his early books include Soviet agents depicted positively and as sympathetic characters, the undoubted allies of the main protagonist.
Like numerous like-minded people in different countries, Ambler was shocked and disillusioned by the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. His post-war anti-Communist novel Judgment on Deltchev (1951), based on the Stalinist purge-trials in Eastern Europe, caused him to be reviled by many former Communist Party and other progressive associates.
When World War II
broke out, Ambler entered the army as a private soldier. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery
in 1941. He was soon re-assigned to photographic units, where his talents were better employed. He ended the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel and assistant director of the army film unit. After the war, he worked in the civilian film industry as a screen-writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination in 1953 for his work on the film The Cruel Sea
, adapted from the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat
. He did not resume writing under his own name until 1951, entering the second of the two distinct periods in his writing. Five of his six early works are regarded as classic thrillers. He created the 1960 American detective TV series Checkmate
.
Ambler divorced Crombie in 1958, marrying film producer and screenwriter Joan Harrison the same year. The couple moved to Switzerland in 1969 and back to Britain
16 years later. Harrison died in 1994 in London
. Ambler died in Switzerland
in 1998.
In 2008, his estate transferred all of Ambler's copyrights and other legal and commercial rights to Owatonna Media. Owatonna Media on-sold these copyrights to Coolabi Plc in 2009, but retained a master licence in radio and audio rights. These rights are commercially licensed in the UK and abroad.
(1939) (originally published under the title A Coffin for Dimitrios), which was made into a film
in 1944, and The Light of Day (1962), filmed in 1964
as Topkapi
and also lampooned in The Pink Panther
(1963). He was also a successful screenwriter
and lived in Los Angeles
in his later years. Amongst other classic movies based on his work are Journey Into Fear
(1943), starring Joseph Cotten
, and an original screenplay, The October Man
(1947). He wrote the screenplay for A Night To Remember about the sinking of the Titanic, along with many other screenplays, particularly those concerning stories and adventures at sea. He published his autobiography in 1985, Here Lies Eric Ambler.
A recurring theme in Ambler's books is the amateur who finds himself unwillingly in the company of hardened criminals or spies. Typically, the protagonist
is out of his depth and often seems for much of the book a bumbling anti-hero
, yet eventually manages to surprise himself as well as the professionals by a decisive action that outwits his far more experienced opponents. This plot is used, for example, in Journey into Fear, The Light of Day and Dirty Story
. In Ambler's books, unlike most other spy novels, the protagonist is rarely a professional spy, or a policeman or counter-intelligence operative.
(1936) Uncommon Danger (1937), US title: Background to Danger
Epitaph for a Spy (1938)
Cause for Alarm (1938)
The Mask of Dimitrios
(1939), US title: A Coffin for Dimitrios Journey into Fear (1940)
Judgment on Deltchev (1951)
The Schirmer Inheritance (1953)
The Night-Comers (1956), also published as State of Siege
Passage of Arms
(1959); Gold Dagger
Award The Light of Day (1962), also published as Topkapi; Edgar Award
for Best Novel, 1964 A Kind of Anger (1964)
This Gun for Hire
(1967), also published as Dirty Story The Intercom Conspiracy (1969), also published as The Quiet Conspiracy
The Levanter (1972); Gold Dagger
Award Doctor Frigo (1974)
Send No More Roses (1977), US title: The Siege of the Villa Lipp
The Care of Time
(1981)
removed because of libel concerns Here Lies: An Autobiography (1985); Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work, 1987
Waiting for Orders (1991), also published as The Story so Far
Intrigue: Four Great Spy Novels of Eric Ambler, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1952
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an influential British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.
Life
Ambler was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
into a family of entertainers who ran a puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
show, with which he helped in his early years. Both parents also worked as music hall artists. Later he studied engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
at Northampton Polytechnic in Islington (now City University, London
City University, London
City University London , is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute and became a university in 1966, when it adopted its present name....
), and served an apprenticeship with an engineering company. However, his upbringing as an entertainer proved dominant and he soon moved to writing plays and other works. By 1937 he was a copywriter at an advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
in London. After resigning he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he met and married Louise Crombie, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion correspondent.
At that time, Ambler was politically a staunch anti-Fascist and like many others tended to regard the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as the only real counterweight - which was reflected in the fact that some of his early books include Soviet agents depicted positively and as sympathetic characters, the undoubted allies of the main protagonist.
Like numerous like-minded people in different countries, Ambler was shocked and disillusioned by the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. His post-war anti-Communist novel Judgment on Deltchev (1951), based on the Stalinist purge-trials in Eastern Europe, caused him to be reviled by many former Communist Party and other progressive associates.
When World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, Ambler entered the army as a private soldier. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in 1941. He was soon re-assigned to photographic units, where his talents were better employed. He ended the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel and assistant director of the army film unit. After the war, he worked in the civilian film industry as a screen-writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination in 1953 for his work on the film The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (film)
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
, adapted from the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat
Nicholas Monsarrat
Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
. He did not resume writing under his own name until 1951, entering the second of the two distinct periods in his writing. Five of his six early works are regarded as classic thrillers. He created the 1960 American detective TV series Checkmate
Checkmate (TV series)
Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue...
.
Ambler divorced Crombie in 1958, marrying film producer and screenwriter Joan Harrison the same year. The couple moved to Switzerland in 1969 and back to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
16 years later. Harrison died in 1994 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Ambler died in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1998.
In 2008, his estate transferred all of Ambler's copyrights and other legal and commercial rights to Owatonna Media. Owatonna Media on-sold these copyrights to Coolabi Plc in 2009, but retained a master licence in radio and audio rights. These rights are commercially licensed in the UK and abroad.
Writing career
Ambler's best known works are probably The Mask of DimitriosThe Mask of Dimitrios
The Mask of Dimitrios is an American film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same name written by Eric Ambler . Ambler is known as a major influence on writers and an inventor of the modern thriller genre...
(1939) (originally published under the title A Coffin for Dimitrios), which was made into a film
The Mask of Dimitrios
The Mask of Dimitrios is an American film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same name written by Eric Ambler . Ambler is known as a major influence on writers and an inventor of the modern thriller genre...
in 1944, and The Light of Day (1962), filmed in 1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
as Topkapi
Topkapi (film)
Topkapi is a heist film made by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by the emigre American film director, Jules Dassin...
and also lampooned in The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (1963 film)
The Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...
(1963). He was also a successful screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and lived in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in his later years. Amongst other classic movies based on his work are Journey Into Fear
Journey into Fear (1943 film)
Journey into Fear is an American spy film based on the Eric Ambler novel of the same name. The 1943 film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer....
(1943), starring Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
, and an original screenplay, The October Man
The October Man
The October Man is a 1947 mystery film starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, based on a novel by Eric Ambler, who also adapted it and produced...
(1947). He wrote the screenplay for A Night To Remember about the sinking of the Titanic, along with many other screenplays, particularly those concerning stories and adventures at sea. He published his autobiography in 1985, Here Lies Eric Ambler.
A recurring theme in Ambler's books is the amateur who finds himself unwillingly in the company of hardened criminals or spies. Typically, the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is out of his depth and often seems for much of the book a bumbling anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
, yet eventually manages to surprise himself as well as the professionals by a decisive action that outwits his far more experienced opponents. This plot is used, for example, in Journey into Fear, The Light of Day and Dirty Story
Dirty Story (Ambler)
Dirty Story is a 1967 novel by Eric Ambler. The book continues the story of Ambler's anti-hero, the half-caste petty criminal Arthur Abdel Simpson who took part in a daring Istanbul robbery in Ambler's earlier The Light of Day. In this book, Simpson takes up a career as a mercenary for a cynical...
. In Ambler's books, unlike most other spy novels, the protagonist is rarely a professional spy, or a policeman or counter-intelligence operative.
Novels
The Dark Frontier
The Dark Frontier is Eric Ambler's first novel, about whose genesis he writes: "[…] Became press agent for film star, but soon after joined big London advertising agency as copywriter and "ideas man". During next few years wrote incessantly on variety of subjects ranging from baby food to...
(1936)
The Mask of Dimitrios
The Mask of Dimitrios is an American film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same name written by Eric Ambler . Ambler is known as a major influence on writers and an inventor of the modern thriller genre...
(1939), US title: A Coffin for Dimitrios
Passage of Arms
Passage of Arms is a novel by Eric Ambler, written in 1959. It is a fast paced thriller about the discovery of a cache of arms abandoned by communist insurgents in the jungle of Malaya, and the transfer of the arms via Singapore to Indonesia. The book is structured as a story within a story within...
(1959); Gold Dagger
Gold Dagger
The Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.For its first five years, the organization's top honor was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award....
Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for Best Novel, 1964
Dirty Story (Ambler)
Dirty Story is a 1967 novel by Eric Ambler. The book continues the story of Ambler's anti-hero, the half-caste petty criminal Arthur Abdel Simpson who took part in a daring Istanbul robbery in Ambler's earlier The Light of Day. In this book, Simpson takes up a career as a mercenary for a cynical...
(1967), also published as Dirty Story
Gold Dagger
The Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.For its first five years, the organization's top honor was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award....
Award
The Care of Time
The Care of Time is the last novel by British spy fiction writer Eric Ambler. It deals with the theme of international terrorism, using alleged hitherto-unpublished memoirs of Russian terrorist Sergey Nechayev as a plot device....
(1981)
Collections
John Bodkin Adams
John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...
removed because of libel concerns
- The Intrusions of Dr. Czissar
- The Army of Shadows
- The Blood Bargain
- Journey into Fear
- A Coffin for Dimitrios
- Cause fo Alarm
- Background to Danger
Short stories
- The Army of the Shadows (1939) in The Queen's Book of the Red CrossThe Queen's Book of the Red CrossThe Queen's Book of the Red Cross was published in November 1939 in afundraising effort to aid the Red Cross during World War II.The book was sponsored by Queen Elizabeth, and itscontents were contributed by fifty British authors and artists....
as Eliot Reed (with Charles Rhodda)
- Skytip (1950)
- Tender to Danger (1951), also pulished as Tender to Moonlight
- The Maras Affair (1953)
- Charter to Danger (1954)
- Passport to Panic (1958)
Literature
- Eric Ambler, edited by the Filmkritiker-Kooperative. München: Verlag Filmkritik 1982. (= Filmkritik; Jg. 26, 1982, H. 12 = Gesamtfolge; 312).
- Gerd Haffmans (ed.): Über Eric Ambler. Zeugnisse von Alfred Hitchcock bis Helmut Heissenbüttel. Zürich: Diogenes 1989. (= Diogenes-TB; 20607) ISBN 3-257-20607-0.
- Ronald J. Ambrosetti: Eric Ambler. New York: Twayne Publ. u.a. 1994. (= Twayne's English authors series; 507) ISBN 0-8057-8369-5.
- Stefan Howald: Eric Ambler. Eine Biographie. Zürich: Diogenes 2002. ISBN 3-257-06325-3
- Peter Lewis: Eric Ambler. New York: Continuum 1990. ISBN 0-8264-0444-8