The Prague Coup

In this perfect intersection of film noir and espionage fiction, Fromental (365 Penguins) imagines what might have happened on Graham Greene’s real-life research trip to Vienna and Prague in the winter of 1948, when he was scripting The Third Man. His film company tasks Elizabeth Montagu, former actress and ex-spy, to be his guide in the occupied Austrian capital, but she is quick to discover that Greene seems to have more clandestine business than simple filmmaking. Montagu tags along with Greene to a cabaret/brothel and the rat-infested sewers where adulterated penicillin is sold. Americans, Brits, former Nazis, and Russians play their parts as the scene changes to Prague, a city “overtaken by a slow insurrection,” where the action rises to a crescendo. Hyman (The Black Dahlia) provides artwork reminiscent of detailed woodblock or lino prints in a palette of dim tones to match the atmosphere of the piece. Each image is like an exquisite still life; the panels are devoid of motion individually but convey the action in sequence. This example of art imitating life should captivate lovers of spy fiction or Cold War history. (Dec.)