Waltz of the Toreadors (film)
Waltz of the Toreadors | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Guillermin |
Written by | Jean Anouilh (play) |
Screenplay by | Wolf Mankowitz |
Starring | Peter Sellers |
Cinematography | John Wilcox |
Edited by | Peter Taylor |
Music by | Richard Addinsell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Continental Distributing |
Release dates | 12 April 1962 (World Premiere, London) |
Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | UK |
Language | English |
Waltz of the Toreadors is a 1962 film directed by John Guillermin and based on the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh with the location changed from France to England.[1][2] It stars Peter Sellers and Dany Robin.[3] It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, in 1963.[4]
The film had its World Premiere on 12 April 1962 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London's West End.[5]
Plot
This is the end of a glorious military career: General Leo Fitzjohn retires to his Sussex manor where he will write his memoirs. Unfortunately, his private life is a disaster: a confirmed womanizer, Leo has infuriated his wife Emily, now a shrewish and hypochondriac woman, all the more bitter as she still loves him. The General has two plain-looking daughters he dislikes and an attractive French mistress, Ghislaine, with whom he has had a platonic affair for seventeen years. When Ghislaine resurfaces, determined to complete her love with him and to get rid of Emily, Leo is at a loss what to do...
Cast
- Peter Sellers as General Leo Fitzjohn
- Dany Robin as Ghislaine
- Margaret Leighton as Emily Fitzjohn
- John Fraser as Lieutenant Robert Finch
- Cyril Cusack as Dr. Grogan
- Prunella Scales as Estella Fitzjohn
- Denise Coffey as Sidonia Fitzjohn
- Jean Anderson as Agnes
- Raymond Huntley as Ackroyd, Court President
- Cardew Robinson as Midgley the Undertaker
- John Glyn-Jones as Jenkins the Innkeeper
- John Le Mesurier as Reverend Grimsley
- Vanda Godsell as Mrs. Emma Bulstrode, Dress Shop Proprietor
Reception
The film was the 11th most popular movie at the British box office in 1962.[6]
In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote, "Mr. Sellers, still in his thirties, plays the comically stiff and paunchy role of a retired British Army general with a still-eager eye for the girls, and he does it with detail so deft and devilish that he adds another jewel to his crown."[7]
References
- ^ "Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)".
- ^ "Waltz of the Toreadors". Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ "Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) - John Guillermin - Cast and Crew - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
- ^ The Times, online archive 12 April 1962, page 2 (subscription required)
- ^ "Money-Making Films Of 1962" The Times [London, England] 4 January 1963: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012. (subscription required)
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9907E0DD143BE53BBC4C52DFBE668389679EDE