A Warm December | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sidney Poitier |
Written by | Lawrence Roman |
Produced by | Melville Tucker |
Starring | Sidney Poitier Esther Anderson Yvette Curtis Johnny Sekka George Baker Earl Cameron |
Cinematography | Paul Beeson |
Edited by | Pembroke J. Herring Peter Pitt |
Music by | Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson |
Production company | |
Distributed by | National General Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,641,000 [1] |
Box office | $1,600,000 (US/ Canada rentals) [2] |
A Warm December is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sidney Poitier and starring him in the lead role as Dr. Matt Younger. It also stars Jamaican actress Esther Anderson as Catherine, Matt's love interest. Anderson's performance as an African princess won her an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in 1973. The film is also notable for an appearance of Letta Mbulu singing, with an African choir, "Nonqonqo" by Miriam Makeba. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson wrote and conducted the score. [3]
The story was influenced by Roman Holiday and Love Story. [4] A Warm December was shot at Pinewood Studios.
Dr. Matt Younger is a recently widowed American who takes his daughter Stefanie on a month-long vacation in London. While there, he meets Catherine, the niece of African Ambassador George Oswandu. Catherine is involved in negotiations with the Soviet Union to build a vital hydroelectric project in her country. As the pair begin to develop feelings for one another, Dr. Younger learns that the two men following Catherine are not the sinister characters he suspected. One is a bodyguard sent by her uncle, the other is a doctor monitoring the sickle cell disease that will end her life all too soon. She herself says that she is in the December of her life. When Dr. Younger proposes, Catherine must decide between not only love and loyalty to her country, but also seizing the time that remains to her and saddling the man she loves with her inevitable death. In the end, she refuses, thanking him for a "warm December". [3] [5]
Sidney Poitier was a Bahamian-American actor, film director, activist, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first Black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. In 1999, he was ranked among the "American Film Institute's 100 Stars". Poitier was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
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