The Visit (1964 film)

The Visit
Original film poster
Directed by	Bernhard Wicki
Screenplay by	Ben Barzman Maurice Valency (adaptation)
Based on	The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck Julien Derode Ingrid Bergman Anthony Quinn
Starring	Ingrid Bergman Anthony Quinn Irina Demick Paolo Stoppa
Cinematography	Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by	Samuel E. Beetley Françoise Diot
Music by	Richard Arnell Hans-Martin Majewski
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	May 6, 1964 (1964-05-06) (France) October 4, 1964 (1964-10-04) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Countries	United States France West Germany Italy
Languages	English French
Box office	$1.1 million (US/ Canada)

The Visit is a 1964 international co-production film from France, Italy, Germany, and the United States, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Julien Derode, with the film's stars, Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, as co-producers.

The screenplay was by Ben Barzman, adapted by Maurice Valency from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame (literally, The Visit of the Old Lady).

Bergman and Quinn head a cast that includes Irina Demick, Paolo Stoppa, Hans Christian Blech, Romolo Valli, Valentina Cortese, Claude Dauphin, and Eduardo Ciannelli.

Plot

Karla (Claire in the play) Zachanassian (Ingrid Bergman), a fabulously wealthy woman, returns to a decaying village she had been forced to leave years earlier in disgrace. She had a child by Serge Miller (Anthony Quinn), who denied paternity. Her purpose in this "visit" is to make a deal with the inhabitants — in exchange for a vast sum of money, she wants Miller killed.

At first reluctant, they eventually accept the arrangement and Miller is condemned to death. At the last moment, Karla stops the execution and tells the citizens that they will have to live with the guilt of their murderous choice for the rest of their lives.

Cast

• Ingrid Bergman as Karla Zachannassian
• Anthony Quinn as Serge Miller
• Irina Demick as Anya
• Claude Dauphin as Bardick
• Paolo Stoppa as Doctor
• Romolo Valli as Town Painter
• Valentina Cortese as Mathilda Miller
• Eduardo Ciannelli as Innkeeper
• Jacques Dufilho as Fisch
• Leonard Steckel as Priest
• Ernst Schröder as Mayor
• Fausto Tozzi as Darvis
• Hans Christian Blech as Captain Dobrik
• Lelio Luttazzi as First Idler
• Marco Guglielmi as Chesco
• Renzo Palmer as Conductor
• Dante Maggio as Cadek
• Richard Münch as Teacher

Main themes

Dürrenmatt stresses that The Visit is a tragicomedy. However, it is a study of the darker elements of human nature. The themes of the film, as with the play, are greed, revenge and corruption and the fact that money can buy anything, even justice. Power that comes from money can lead to hate, even murder and to the collapse of ordinary morality.

Notes

• In the stage play, the character of Serge Miller (called Alfred Ill in the original text of the drama) is killed at the end. In the film, the execution is halted.
• Bergman and Quinn co-starred again six years later in the romantic melodrama A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970).

Reception

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $6,100,000 in film rentals to break even and made $2,635,000, meaning it lost money.

Awards

• Bernhard Wicki was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival
• The film received a nomination for Best Costume Design-Black and White (René Hubert) at the Academy Awards.

See also

• List of American films of 1964

External links

• The Visit at IMDb
• The Visit at AllMovie
• The Visit at the TCM Movie Database
• The Visit at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films