'The Comedians' had all the right ingredients to be a good film. It has such a talented cast, not just Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor but also Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov and Lillian Gish. It was written and adapted from his own novel by Graham Greene, considered one of the leading 20th century novelists. His work has proven not easy to adapt, there are brilliant film adaptations of his work on their own terms such as 'The Third Man' certainly but others such as this could have been a lot better.
Even with this good a cast on paper and with Greene writing the script, 'The Comedians' did disappoint me quite a lot. Can see why it was not successful financially and wasn't and generally still isn't well received. It is not unwatchable and has a good deal of notable things, but with the novel being as complex as it is this adaptation would have worked a lot better as a mini-series. Which would have been more focused and not as over-crowded. As a film though, despite things worthy of admiration, 'The Comedians' is heavily flawed and an example of a great book that should have been left alone or done as made for television or something.
Will start with what comes off well in 'The Comedians'. It is a very well made film visually, gloriously photographed and captures the already atmospheric, beautiful yet at times unforgiving locations vividly. Laurence Rosenthal's score is beautifully orchestrated and ominous. There are a few intriguing and suspenseful scenes, with the film's clear dramatic highlight being the powerful scene between Burton and Guinness.
Burton gives great intensity and brio to his character and Ustinov makes the most of his underused screen time. Paul Ford is cast against type and succeeds in creating a character that feels real, while Gish (one of the legends of the silent film era) commands the screen effortlessly. For me the two best performances came from Raymond St Jacques and Guinness, the former is frighteningly malevolent and although his role does sound odd Guinness' performance did strike me as quite profound, especially in that aforementioned scene where he does the near-impossible in upstaging Burton.
Sadly a badly miscast Taylor is another story entirely. She is all over the place in accent (which is not consistent and was like a number of approximate types of accents rolled into one) and in interpretation (looking both disengaged and with a tendency to overact) Plus her character never feels real or that crucial to the drama. Despite Burton and Taylor's relationship being so notorious at the time and in film history, to me their chemistry doesn't sizzle or have much heat or heart to it at all which is a big problem here. Peter Glenville's direction is rather leaden and struggles to balance all the different subplots and connect them together.
'The Comedians' is overlong and goes at a pedestrian pace, generating little tension and emotionally there is quite a big disconnect most of the time. Even when compressed Greene's script is too talk heavy and verbose, and the story felt both bland in atmosphere and over-stuffed. Due to trying to cram in too many subplots and under-developing nearly all of them, hence what was meant when suggesting that the film would have been better as a mini-series.
Overall, a very mixed bag here. 5/10
Even with this good a cast on paper and with Greene writing the script, 'The Comedians' did disappoint me quite a lot. Can see why it was not successful financially and wasn't and generally still isn't well received. It is not unwatchable and has a good deal of notable things, but with the novel being as complex as it is this adaptation would have worked a lot better as a mini-series. Which would have been more focused and not as over-crowded. As a film though, despite things worthy of admiration, 'The Comedians' is heavily flawed and an example of a great book that should have been left alone or done as made for television or something.
Will start with what comes off well in 'The Comedians'. It is a very well made film visually, gloriously photographed and captures the already atmospheric, beautiful yet at times unforgiving locations vividly. Laurence Rosenthal's score is beautifully orchestrated and ominous. There are a few intriguing and suspenseful scenes, with the film's clear dramatic highlight being the powerful scene between Burton and Guinness.
Burton gives great intensity and brio to his character and Ustinov makes the most of his underused screen time. Paul Ford is cast against type and succeeds in creating a character that feels real, while Gish (one of the legends of the silent film era) commands the screen effortlessly. For me the two best performances came from Raymond St Jacques and Guinness, the former is frighteningly malevolent and although his role does sound odd Guinness' performance did strike me as quite profound, especially in that aforementioned scene where he does the near-impossible in upstaging Burton.
Sadly a badly miscast Taylor is another story entirely. She is all over the place in accent (which is not consistent and was like a number of approximate types of accents rolled into one) and in interpretation (looking both disengaged and with a tendency to overact) Plus her character never feels real or that crucial to the drama. Despite Burton and Taylor's relationship being so notorious at the time and in film history, to me their chemistry doesn't sizzle or have much heat or heart to it at all which is a big problem here. Peter Glenville's direction is rather leaden and struggles to balance all the different subplots and connect them together.
'The Comedians' is overlong and goes at a pedestrian pace, generating little tension and emotionally there is quite a big disconnect most of the time. Even when compressed Greene's script is too talk heavy and verbose, and the story felt both bland in atmosphere and over-stuffed. Due to trying to cram in too many subplots and under-developing nearly all of them, hence what was meant when suggesting that the film would have been better as a mini-series.
Overall, a very mixed bag here. 5/10