‘ALFIE’, 1966 – A RARE COLLECTION OF VINTAGE CONTACT SHEETS (70)

An important collection of 70 black and white contact sheets, majority featuring the main cast including Michael Caine, Julia Foster, Shelley Winters, Eleanor Bron, Vivien Merchant and Jane Asher, majority taken on set during filming, some shots 5.5 x 5.5 cm., others 2.5 x 3.5 cm., majority of pages complete, each page – 26 x 20 cm., in contemporary plastic sleeves contained in a red hard back binder.

Sold Without Copyright

Condition Report:

Overall very good

Footnote: Lewis Gilbert regarded Alfie as his ‘breakthrough’ film.  The chapter devoted to the film in his autobiography is entitled ‘The Film That Changed My Life’.  In it he recounts how it was his wife Hylda who, following a chance encounter at her hairdressers with the actress Margaret Courteney (who was appearing in Alfie at the Mermaid Theatre), went to see the play and immediately realised it would be a great vehicle for a film.  Gilbert saw the play on the strength of his wife’s recommendation and recalls…. the subject fascinated me….because Alfie was a new kind of hero….he had a cockiness and an energy that was mirrored in the real life of the 1960s….

 Alfie broke numerous box office records on its release and was lauded by the critics as a result the film shot Lewis Gilbert and his unknown lead Michael Caine to international stardom. Alfie was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including: Best Picture for Lewis Gilbert and Best Actor in a leading role for Michael Caine. It won 3 BAFTAs including Best British Actor for Michael Caine; and was nominated for 3 others including Best British Film for Lewis Gilbert. At Cannes Lewis Gilbert won the Jury Special Prize and was nominated for the Palm d’Or. The film also won 4 Golden Globes including Best Director for Lewis Gilbert and Best Actor for Michael Caine and was nominated for 3 others.

 In a recent interview for The Guardian  newspaper with Xan Brooks, 18 October 2021, Michael Caine’s remarked: “Alfie is probably the best film I ever made”. 

Literature: GILBERT, Lewis All My Flashbacks The Autobiography of Lewis Gilbert, Sixty Years A Film Director, Reynolds & Hearn, London, 2010

Bellmans is grateful to Wallace and Hodgson for their assistance with cataloguing the Lewis Gilbert Film Script and Production Archive.