Stuff to buy, or to start dropping heavy hints about

MATTHEW FIELD, Porter Press International, £45, ISBN 978 1 907085 86 4

The film critics tend to be a bit sniffy about The Italian Job but, to our way of thinking, a film that can successfully combine Sir Noël Coward and Benny Hill in major roles has to be worth watching, even if you discount all the car (and coach) action. Of which there is a lot.

To say that The Self Preservation Society – the definitive book about the movie and how it was created – has been a labour of love for author Matthew Field would be a heinous understatement. He was just 18 when he started work on his first book about the film, The Making Of The Italian Job, and 20 when it was published in 2001. His puppyish enthusiasm endeared him to the film’s producer Michael Deeley, who helped him gain access to a huge number of people involved with its creation. That includes Sir Michael Caine, of course, who has written the foreword to this new book.

Eighteen years later, Field’s obsession has resulted in this new, doorstep-sized hardback. Even if you are very familiar with the movie, there is so much fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff revealed here that every page brings a fresh surprise. One highlight is a facsimile of screenwriter Troy Kennedy-Martin’s initial synopsis, dated 24 February 1967. The famous opening scene features a silver Iso Grifo rather than an orange Miura, and the villains who trash Charlie Croker’s Aston DB4 are Germans, not Italians. This synopsis also describes the movie’s intended ending, which was for all the stolen gold to be locked away in a Geneva bank, inaccessible to Croker’s gang and the Mafia alike – the scene with the teetering coach was a last-minute substitution to save money.

That famous coach, a six-wheeled Harrington Legionnaire, is deservedly given its own chapter; it seems unbelievable now that it was only scrapped as recently as 1990, despite its history being well known. And, of course, there’s plenty of info about the Miura and Minis, and even the Series IIA Land Rover (which disappeared off the radar in 1992).

But it’s the people stories that are perhaps the most interesting. Not just the actors (did you know that Michael Caine’s brother, Stanley Caine, played gang member ‘Coco’ in the movie?) but the crew and the backroom boys, too. Most affecting is the mini-biography of director Peter Collins, a troubled firebrand who died of cancer aged just 44.

Packed with period stills and beautifully produced by Porter Press International, this is a must-have for anyone who loves the film. Octane readers can buy the standard edition at a ten percent discount; visit www.porterpress.co.uk and use the code OCTANE10 at check-out.