Set in Haiti during the regime of François Duvalier (known as Papa Doc), it was filmed in Dahomey (Benin since 1975). The film tells the story of a sardonic British hotel owner and his encroaching fatalism as he watches Haiti sink into barbarism and squalor under Duvalier.
A ship arrives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Among the alighting passengers are: Major H. O. Jones (Alec Guinness), a British businessman with a letter of invitation to do business with the government; Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Paul Ford and Lillian Gish), an elderly American couple who wish to set up a vegetarian complex for education and nutrition for the locals; and the central character, a cynical, washed-up hotel owner named Brown, portrayed by Richard Burton.
Upon arrival, Major Jones presents his credentials to Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), a law enforcement officer. Noting that the official who invited Jones has been deposed and imprisoned. Concasseur and his men rough up and imprison Jones.
Brown has been bequeathed a hotel in the capital from his late British mother, and unsuccessfully tried to sell it while in New York City. Brown has an ongoing affair with Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), the German-born wife of Pineda (Peter Ustinov), the Uruguayan ambassador to Haiti.
After Martha and Brown have an argument, he goes to Mère Catherine's brothel. There he discovers Jones has been released, is a guest of Captain Concasseur and is enjoying the Brown's favourite prostitute, Marie Therese (Cicely Tyson).
Jones has gained the favour of the new regime, who are keen to receive a supply of arms. They have paid an advance, and Jones claims the weapons are impounded in a warehouse in Miami. The weapons may be imaginary and a confidence trick by Jones. The government will not allow Jones to leave the island until they are sure the weapons exist.
Mr. Smith, a former "Vegetarian Party" candidate for President of the United States against Harry S. Truman, is given a tour of the new capital, called Duvalierville. He and Mrs. Smith follow a local procession that they believe is a religious ceremony but turns out to be an audience for executions by firing squad. Captain Concasseur and his men enter Brown's hotel and beat him up until Mrs. Smith bluffs the thugs by threatening to inform her husband, the American "presidential candidate." The Smiths depart the next day.
Brown watches as the Duvalier regime seeks to put down any dissent with an iron fist. He becomes friends with Dr. Magiot (James Earl Jones), the rebel leader who was once a close friend of Brown's late mother.
As Brown becomes a reluctant participant in the planned insurrection, the rebels recruit Major Jones to provide military leadership. Jones has been regaling the other expatriates with his tales of heroism as a commando officer in the Burma Campaign. Brown hosts a meeting of the group, including Magiot, Jones, and Ambassador Pineda. But trouble ensues soon thereafter–Duvalier’s spies from the Tonton Macoute are watching Brown’s Hotel Trianon and his every step.
When the government informs Jones that they want Captain Concasseur to fly to Miami to inspect the arms Jones proposes to sell, he flees to Brown's hotel. Brown gets Jones into the Uruguayan embassy, where he pleads for asylum. He escapes by posing as Brown's female Haitian cook, wearing women's clothing and blackface.
The day after the meeting of the erstwhile rebels, three assassins confront Magiot while he’s performing surgery. They cut his throat with a scalpel. Taking Jones to a rebel rendezvous in place of Magiot, Brown suspects that Jones has become involved with Martha Pineda. Jones is drunk and brags about his conquest.
Driving carelessly up the treacherous road, Brown hits an embankment and breaks the car’s front axle. On foot, the two men arrive at a remote cemetery, the designated meeting point. They settle in for the night. Jones admits his jungle war stories were fabrications, as was his supposed conquest of Martha.
In the morning, Captain Concasseur and one Tonton Macoute accost Brown at the cemetery. Brown denies that the Major is there, talking loudly to warn Jones. But a sleepy Jones approaches anyway. Commanded to stop, Jones turns and runs, but is killed. Brown is ordered into a jeep, but shots from rebels ring out. Concasseur and his henchman drop dead.
Asked about Jones, Brown tells the two rebels: "You arrived two minutes too late." The rebels plead with Brown to take the lead, seeing this as the only hope they have left. Brown hesitates, but agrees.
The three men meet up with a ragtag group of poorly equipped rebels who believe that Brown is Jones. He gives a cynical speech in English but the rebels speak only French and Creole.
The Pinedas are leaving the island. Petit Pierre (Roscoe Lee Browne), a journalist friend of Brown, tells them about a battle between government troops and rebels. He says two rebels have been killed, one "unidentified." As the plane takes off, Martha notices smoke on a hillside of the island. It is not known if Brown has survived.
Because political conditions in Haiti made filming there impossible, location shooting took place in Dahomey (now part of the Republic of Benin). Filming also took place on the Côte d'Azur in France. A short promotional documentary titled The Comedians in Africa was released in 1967, which chronicled the difficulties encountered by the on-location crew and cast.
The film featured a group of black American actors who would become famous into the 1970s: Raymond St. Jacques, James Earl Jones, and Cicely Tyson. Of these stars, both Tyson and Jones would be nominated for Academy Awards for other performances. Other black stars in the film included Zakes Mokae, Roscoe Lee Browne, Gloria Foster, and Georg Stanford Brown.
This was the final film directed by Glenville. Three years earlier he had directed Burton in an award-winning production of Becket. Glenville previously directed the premier of Graham Greene's first play, The Living Room, at Wyndham's Theatre in April 1953.
Several of the characters were based on historic people. The newspaper columnist Petit Pierre, for instance, was based on Aubelin Jolicoeur.[4]
Reception
The film was poorly received, despite the all-star cast.[3] On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 27% based on reviews from 11 critics.[5]
Variety described the film as "plodding, low-key, and eventually tedious".[6]Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that "the movie tries to be serious and politically significant, and succeeds only in being tedious and pompous", and denounced the "long, very wordy discussions". He said that "the atmosphere of the Caribbean is invoked convincingly".[7]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, praising the atmosphere and some individual scenes, but writing:
"Mr. Greene's characteristic story of white men carrying their burdens cheerlessly and with an undisguised readiness to dump them as soon as they can get away from this God-forsaken place is no great shakes of a drama. It is conventional and obvious, indeed, and is rendered no better or more beguiling by some rather superfluous additions of amorous scenes".[8]
François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 1957 general election on a populist and black nationalist platform. After thwarting a military coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became more autocratic and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute, indiscriminately tortured or killed Duvalier's opponents; the Tonton Macoute was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing any form of dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult.
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.
Lillian Diana Gish was an American actress. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", and is credited with pioneering fundamental film performance techniques. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gish as the 17th greatest female movie star of Classic Hollywood cinema.
Cecily Louise "Cicely" Tyson was an American actress known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson received various awards including three Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Tony Award, an Honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award.
The Tonton Macoute or simply the Macoute, was a Haitian paramilitary and secret police force created in 1959 by dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Haitians named this force after the Haitian mythological bogeyman, Tonton Macoute, who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunny sack before carrying them off to be consumed for breakfast. The Macoute were known for their brutality, state terrorism, and assassinations. In 1970, the militia was renamed the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale. Though formally disbanded in 1986, its members continued to terrorize the country.
The Comedians (1966) is a novel by Graham Greene. Set in Haiti under the rule of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his secret police, the Tontons Macoutes, the novel explores political repression and terrorism through the figure of an English hotel owner, Brown.
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play of the same name by Lottie Blair Parker. There were two earlier silent versions and one sound version in 1935 starring Henry Fonda. Griffith's version is particularly remembered for its climax in which Gish's character is rescued from doom on an icy river.
Robin W. J. Langford was an English actor, writer and director. His acting work included with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company in Stratford-upon-Avon; at the Moscow Arts Theatre in Russia at the age of 12; and in his first film, The Comedians, at the age of 12, as Elizabeth Taylor’s son. He subsequently played many film and television roles, as well as directed in the theatre.
Barnacle Bill is a 1957 Ealing Studios comedy film directed by Charles Frend and starring Alec Guinness. It was written by T. E. B. Clarke. Guinness plays an unsuccessful Royal Navy officer and six of his maritime ancestors.
Peter Glenville was an English theatre and film director, and actor. He was a prominent director of stage plays on the West End and Broadway in the 1950s. He was nominated for four Tony Awards for his American plays.
The BET Honors were established in 2008 by the Black Entertainment Television network to respect the lives and achievements of African-American luminaries. The awards will be presented annually and broadcast on BET during Black History Month.
The Republic of Dahomey, simply known as Dahomey, was established on 4 December 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Prior to attaining autonomy, it had been French Dahomey, part of the French Union. On 1 August 1960, it attained full independence from France.
The River Niger is a 1976 film adaptation of the 1972 Joseph A. Walker play of the same title. The film was directed by Krishna Shah, and starred James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, and Louis Gossett Jr. The film had a limited commercial release in 1976 and has rarely been seen in later years. The soundtrack is by War, including the theme song "River Niger".
His Double Life is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy drama film directed by Broadway theatrical impresario and first time film director Arthur Hopkins with directorial input from the experienced William C. deMille, Cecil's older brother. It stars Roland Young and Lillian Gish.
Flare Path is a play by Terence Rattigan, written in 1941 and first staged in 1942. Set in a hotel near an RAF Bomber Command airbase during the Second World War, the story involves a love triangle between a pilot, his actress wife and a famous film star. The play is based in part on Rattigan's own wartime experiences, and was significantly reworked and adapted for film as The Way to the Stars.
Du Barry Was a Lady is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, and Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. It is based on the 1939 stage musical of the same name. Shot in Technicolor, the film was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Haitian cinema includes the films and filmmakers of Haiti. The Haitian diaspora is active in the industry. Oppressive dictators and economic struggles have limited production.
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize or Gish Prize is given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life." It is among the most prestigious and one of the richest prizes in the American arts. The 2019 winner Walter Hood received $250,000. The founders Dorothy Gish (1898–1968) and Lillian Gish (1893–1993) were sisters, famous as actresses from the silent era of film and mid-century theatre. About the prize, established in Lillian Gish's will, she said: "It is my desire, by establishing this prize, to give recipients of the prize the recognition they deserve, to bring attention to their contributions to society and encourage others to follow in their path." It was established in 1994 by the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize Trust and is administered by JPMorgan Chase Bank.
The Trip to Bountiful is a play by American playwright Horton Foote. The play premiered March 1, 1953, on NBC-TV, before being produced on the Broadway stage from November 3, 1953, to December 5, 1953.
On 28–29 July 1958, Alix "Sonson" Pasquet, accompanied by two fellow Haitian military officers and five American soldiers of fortune, attempted to overthrow Haitian President François Duvalier by seizing an army barracks in Port-au-Prince and rallying like-minded troops for an attack on the Presidential palace. Hoped-for support failed to materialize and all eight of the insurgents were killed by troops loyal to Duvalier.
1 2 Parish, James Robert; Mank, Gregory W.; Stanke, Don E. (1978). The Hollywood Beauties. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers. p.344. ISBN978-0-87000-412-4. OCLC4003425. In a role originally intended for Sophia Loren in The Comedians (1967), Elizabeth [Taylor] appeared in support of [Richard] Burton.
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