The Promise | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Hayes |
Written by | Michael Hayes |
Based on | a play by Aleksei Arbuzov |
Produced by | Anthony B. Unger Henry T. Weinstein |
Starring | John Castle Ian McKellen |
Edited by | John Trumper |
Music by | Iwan Williams |
Production companies | Howard & Wyndham Films and Television |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | less than £200,000 [1] |
The Promise is a 1969 British drama film based on a play by Russian playwright Aleksei Arbuzov. Set in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, it is the story of a love triangle involving three young people caught up in the Siege of Leningrad. The film follows the main protagonists in the post-war years in an attempt to show the lasting effects of that relationship. It featured Ian McKellen's film debut.
The film was on the British Film Institute's BFI 75 Most Wanted list of lost films until a mislabelled copy was found in the British Film Institute's archive after an audit. [2] [3] [1]
Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. With a career spanning more than sixty years, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
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The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled in 2010 by the British Film Institute of the most sought-after British feature films not held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota quickies and B-movies to lavish prestige productions of their day. The list includes lost works by major directors and those featuring top-name actors; also films that were top box-office successes in their time but have since disappeared, and works that are believed to be historically significant for some aspect of style, technique, subject matter or innovation.
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Reveille is a 1924 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson. It follows some British soldiers during and after the First World War, though Pearson wrote in a January 1924 letter to his cast and crew:
There is no story, as such. I hate the well-made Story with its Exposition, Denouement, Crisis, etc., as material for my elusive Screen. I confess I cannot write one.
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Murder Will Out is a 1939 British crime film directed by Roy William Neill, starring John Loder, Jane Baxter and Jack Hawkins, and released by Warner Brothers.
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Hammer the Toff is a 1952 British second feature crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley and Patricia Dainton. The film was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by John Creasey, the 17th in the series featuring upper-class sleuth Richard Rollinson, also known as "The Toff".
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