Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor find themselves together just a year after arguably their best film together, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Sadly, The Comedians is not one of the best films they ever made as a pair, nor is it one of the best film adaptations of a Graham Greene novel (even though Greene himself penned the screenplay). There are still pleasures to be had from a viewing of The Comedians, such as some very strong acting and amazing photography by the great Henri Decae. Plus, of course, the film is set in a time and place that have been very rarely visited in cinematic terms, so the political turmoil of 1960s Haiti lends the film a sense of freshness. Alas, the story takes too long to unfold and is done is such a low-key style that it frequently lapses into tedium. No Graham Greene story should ever be looked upon as tedious.
A disillusioned white hotelier named Brown (Richard Burton) returns to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to save his troubled hotel business. But the ruthless regime of Papa Doc Duvalier has strangled the life out of Haiti, and Brown finds himself returning to a country in dire political turmoil. As he steps off the boat, Brown witnesses a British visitor named Jones (Alec Guiness) being seized by officials and dragged away to be beaten. Then a dead body turns up in his hotel swimming pool a local politician who has made a drunken rant against Papa Doc's regime and been killed by the Tonton (Haitian secret police). Brown is determined to keep out of the political troubles but events conspire to drag him into the struggle. The deterioration of his affair with married woman Martha Pineda (Elizabeth Taylor) has Brown looking for adventure, perhaps to impress her, but more likely to find something to fill the void in his life when they inevitably break up. He helps the British guy Jones, who introduces himself as a soldier-of-fortune/arms dealer and seems to be playing the Haitian government soldiers off against the island's guerillas. Jones is eventually exposed as a compulsive liar, a 'nobody' without a shred of military experience. His tall tales have put him in a real dilemma Papa Doc's men want him dead because they perceive him as a threat, the guerrillas want him to supply them with arms (something he can't do) in their fight for freedom! Brown's involvement with Jones drags him deeper into the struggle, forcing him to take a political standpoint and face up to his inner demons.
The Comedians suffers from a lot of inter-related subplots that don't work cinematically. In the book these subplots added layers to the story, but on film they slow down an already heavy-going narrative, making it very hard to plough through the movie. A good example of this is the American couple played by Paul Ford and Lillian Gish key players in the novel, but so peripheral in the film that they might as well have been omitted for the sake of narrative drive. Taylor is also flawed in this film she flits in and outs of accents, her love scenes with Burton seem stifled, and her character makes no sense. Burton and Guiness emerge with the acting honours here, especially in the fabulously acted scene where Jones confesses his various lies and connivances. The film has memorable music by Laurence Rosenthal, and looks terrific throughout thanks to the afore-mentioned Henri Decae cinematography. But Peter Glenville's direction is remarkably staid, and seems virtually at odds with the powerful and urgent themes than underpin the story. Worth a look, but it's unlikely you'll come back to the film once you've satisfied your curiosity.
A disillusioned white hotelier named Brown (Richard Burton) returns to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to save his troubled hotel business. But the ruthless regime of Papa Doc Duvalier has strangled the life out of Haiti, and Brown finds himself returning to a country in dire political turmoil. As he steps off the boat, Brown witnesses a British visitor named Jones (Alec Guiness) being seized by officials and dragged away to be beaten. Then a dead body turns up in his hotel swimming pool a local politician who has made a drunken rant against Papa Doc's regime and been killed by the Tonton (Haitian secret police). Brown is determined to keep out of the political troubles but events conspire to drag him into the struggle. The deterioration of his affair with married woman Martha Pineda (Elizabeth Taylor) has Brown looking for adventure, perhaps to impress her, but more likely to find something to fill the void in his life when they inevitably break up. He helps the British guy Jones, who introduces himself as a soldier-of-fortune/arms dealer and seems to be playing the Haitian government soldiers off against the island's guerillas. Jones is eventually exposed as a compulsive liar, a 'nobody' without a shred of military experience. His tall tales have put him in a real dilemma Papa Doc's men want him dead because they perceive him as a threat, the guerrillas want him to supply them with arms (something he can't do) in their fight for freedom! Brown's involvement with Jones drags him deeper into the struggle, forcing him to take a political standpoint and face up to his inner demons.
The Comedians suffers from a lot of inter-related subplots that don't work cinematically. In the book these subplots added layers to the story, but on film they slow down an already heavy-going narrative, making it very hard to plough through the movie. A good example of this is the American couple played by Paul Ford and Lillian Gish key players in the novel, but so peripheral in the film that they might as well have been omitted for the sake of narrative drive. Taylor is also flawed in this film she flits in and outs of accents, her love scenes with Burton seem stifled, and her character makes no sense. Burton and Guiness emerge with the acting honours here, especially in the fabulously acted scene where Jones confesses his various lies and connivances. The film has memorable music by Laurence Rosenthal, and looks terrific throughout thanks to the afore-mentioned Henri Decae cinematography. But Peter Glenville's direction is remarkably staid, and seems virtually at odds with the powerful and urgent themes than underpin the story. Worth a look, but it's unlikely you'll come back to the film once you've satisfied your curiosity.