The Sweet and the Bitter (1967 film)

Last updated

The Sweet and the Bitter, also known as Savage Justice, is a 1967 Canadian film directed by James Clavell. [1]

Contents

Cast

Production

In 1962 Clavell signed a two-picture deal with Panorama, a Canadian company, to produce and direct Circle of Greed in April and The Bitter and the Sweet in June. The former was not made. [2] The film was the first production from a Canadian Company, Commonwealth, established by Oldřich Václavek, a Czech immigrant to Canada. The budget of CA $325,000 was raised from Canadian sources. [3]

Filming started 4 June 1962 in Vancouver at Commonwealth's Hollyburn Studios (later known as Panorama Studios). [4] [5]

"I want to tell a story", said Clavell at the time. "If my story doesn't hold people, doesn't touch their emotions, then it is of no use. I go to the theatre and watch the reactions of the audience to my lines. They are quick to respond if a line is right. If they don't, I know something is wrong. King Rat is my first published novel and to write it I used what I had learned." [6]

Clavell enjoyed Vancouver and bought a house there. It was there he wrote King Rat. [7]

The film was a "production nightmare". The producers and the studio owners wound up in a five-year legal battle that resulted in RCA stripping $350,000 worth of sound equipment from the dubbing stage. The studio would be barely used over the next few years, making only The Trap (1966), The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), The Hitchhiker (TV Series) (1985,1986) and The Littlest Hobo . [8]

Reception

The film was not released until 1967. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Clavell</span> Novelist (1921–1994)

James Clavell was an Australian-born British writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known as the author of his Asian Saga novels, a number of which have had television adaptations. Clavell also wrote such screenplays as those for The Fly (1958), based on the short story by George Langelaan, and The Great Escape (1963), based on the personal account of Paul Brickhill. He directed the popular 1967 film To Sir, with Love, for which he also wrote the script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Corman</span> American film director, producer, and actor (born 1926)

Roger William Corman is an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are low-budget cult films including some which are adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capucine</span> French model and actress (1928–1990)

Capucine was a French fashion model and actress known for her comedic roles in The Pink Panther (1963) and What's New Pussycat? (1965). She appeared in 36 films and 17 television productions between 1948 and 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Raft</span> American actor (1895–1980)

George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is remembered for his gangster roles in Quick Millions (1931) with Spencer Tracy, Scarface (1932) with Paul Muni, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with James Cagney, Invisible Stripes (1939) with Humphrey Bogart, and Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon; and as a dancer in Bolero (1934) with Carole Lombard and a truck driver in They Drive by Night (1940) with Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Bogart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inga Swenson</span> American actress (1932–2023)

Inga Swenson was an American actress and singer. She appeared in multiple Broadway productions and was nominated twice for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances as Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade and Irene Adler in Baker Street. She also spent seven years portraying Gretchen Kraus in the ABC comedy series Benson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet MacGibbon</span> American actress (1905–1987)

Harriet Elizabeth MacGibbon was an American film, stage and television actress best known for her role as the insufferably snobbish, "blue-blooded Bostonian" Mrs. Margaret Drysdale in the sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.

John Lee Mahin was an American screenwriter and producer of films who was active in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was known as the favorite writer of Clark Gable and Victor Fleming. In the words of one profile, he had "a flair for rousing adventure material, and at the same time he wrote some of the raciest and most sophisticated sexual comedies of that period."

<i>King Rat</i> (film) 1965 war film by Bryan Forbes

King Rat is a 1965 American war film written and directed by Bryan Forbes and starring George Segal and James Fox. They play Corporal King and Flight Lieutenant Marlowe, respectively, two World War II prisoners of war in a squalid camp in Singapore. Among the supporting cast are John Mills and Tom Courtenay. The film was adapted from James Clavell's novel King Rat (1962), which in turn is partly based on Clavell's experiences as a POW at Changi Prison in Singapore in the latter part of the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Cummings</span> American actor (1910–1990)

Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Pasternak</span> American film producer

Joseph Herman Pasternak was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producing many successful musicals with female singing stars like Deanna Durbin, Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell, as well as swimmer/bathing beauty Esther Williams' films. He produced Judy Garland's final MGM film, Summer Stock, which was released in 1950, and some of Gene Kelly’s early breakthrough roles. Pasternak worked in the film industry for 45 years, from the later silent era until shortly past the end of the classical Hollywood cinema in the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Hutton</span> American actor (1934–1979)

Dana James Hutton, known as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, starting with Where the Boys Are. He is the father of actor Timothy Hutton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edd Byrnes</span> American actor and singer (1932–2020)

Edward Byrne Breitenberger, known professionally as Edd Byrnes, was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the television series 77 Sunset Strip. He also was featured in the 1978 film Grease as television teen-dance show host Vince Fontaine, and was a charting recording artist with "Kookie, Kookie ".

Charles K. Feldman was a Hollywood attorney, film producer and talent agent who founded the Famous Artists talent agency. According to one obituary, Feldman disdained publicity. "Feldman was an enigma to Hollywood. No one knew what he was up to – from producing a film to packaging one for someone else."

<i>Tai-Pan</i> (film) 1986 film by Daryl Duke

Tai-Pan is a 1986 adventure drama film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on James Clavell's 1966 novel of the same name. While many of the same characters and plot twists are maintained, a few smaller occurrences are left out. Filmed under communist Chinese censorship, some portions of Clavell's story were considered too offensive to be filmed as written and considerable changes were made.

John Paxton was an American screenwriter.

<i>The Last Valley</i> (film) 1971 film directed by James Clavell

The Last Valley is a 1971 film directed by James Clavell, an historical drama set during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). While war ravages southern Germany, a mercenary leader and a teacher stumble upon a valley untouched by the war. Based upon the novel The Last Valley (1959), by J. B. Pick, the cinematic version of The Last Valley, directed by James Clavell, was the final feature film photographed with the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process until it was revived to make the film Baraka in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert L. Lippert</span> American film producer

Robert Lenard Lippert was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in San Francisco, and at his height, he owned a chain of 139 movie theaters.

<i>Baby Face Nelson</i> (film) 1957 film by Don Siegel

Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 American film noir crime film based on the real-life 1930s gangster, directed by Don Siegel, co-written by Daniel Mainwaring—who also wrote the screenplay for Siegel's 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers—and starring Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon as Dillinger, Anthony Caruso, Jack Elam, John Hoyt and Elisha Cook Jr.

<i>Johnny Allegro</i> 1949 film by Ted Tetzlaff

Johnny Allegro is a 1949 American film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring George Raft. An ex-gangster (Raft), temporarily working as a federal agent, runs afoul of a counterfeiting crime lord (Macready) who enjoys hunting. It was one of several thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s.

The Desperate Hours is a 1967 TV film. It was an adaptation of the 1954 novel The Desperate Hours.

References

  1. Mcilquham, R. (Jul 31, 1975). "Tempo/People-health". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest   169368401.
  2. "FILMLAND EVENTS: Curtis' 'Playboy' Goes to Columbia". Los Angeles Times. Jan 11, 1962. p. B9.
  3. "MACLEAN'S REVIEWS". Maclean's. No. 75. Jul 28, 1962. p. 49. ProQuest   1437755567.
  4. Scheuer, P. K. (Apr 27, 1962). "Roberts to produce his own adaptation". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest   168114922.
  5. "Canadian Features to Go". Variety . 9 May 1962. p. 5.
  6. Hansen, H. (Aug 12, 1962). "There's a 'thin red line' winding among the pinups". Chicago Daily Tribune. ProQuest   183001142.
  7. Clark, G. (Sep 8, 1994). "Cancer claims author clavell: Publishing phenomenon and former west van resident dies in europe". The Province. ProQuest   267511380.
  8. Loynd, R. (Dec 22, 1968). "'Park' a lark in vancouver". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest   156152464.
  9. "SWEET AND THE BITTER, the". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 34. 1967. p. 158. ProQuest   1305838748.