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The V.I.P.s (film)

January 28, 2023

This article is about the 1963 film. For other uses, see VIP (disambiguation).

The V.I.P.s (also known as Hotel International) is a 1963 British comedy-drama film in Metrocolor and Panavision. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was written by Terence Rattigan, with a music score by Miklós Rózsa.

The V.I.P.s
Original film poster
Directed byAnthony Asquith
Written byTerence Rattigan
Produced byAnatole de Grunwald
StarringRichard Burton
Elizabeth Taylor
Louis Jourdan
Maggie Smith
Orson Welles
Rod Taylor
Elsa Martinelli
Margaret Rutherford
CinematographyJack Hildyard
Edited byFrank Clarke
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Production
company
De Grunwald Productions
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
13 September 1963 (United States)[1]
Running time
119 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million[2]
Box office$15,000,000[3]

It has an all-star cast, including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Louis Jourdan, Elsa Martinelli, Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor, Orson Welles, and Margaret Rutherford, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. Costumes by Pierre Cardin.

Plot

The film is set within Terminal 3 of London Heathrow Airport during a fog. As flights are delayed, the VIPs (very important people) of the title play out the drama of their lives in a number of slightly interconnected stories. The delays have caused serious hardship for most of the characters and have plunged some of them into a deep personal or financial crisis.

The central story concerns famed actress Frances Andros (Elizabeth Taylor) trying to leave her husband, millionaire Paul Andros (Richard Burton), and fly away with her suitor Marc Champselle (Louis Jourdan). Because of the fog, Andros has the opportunity to come to the airport to persuade his wife not to leave him.

The Duchess of Brighton (Margaret Rutherford) is on her way to Florida to take a job, which will pay her enough money to save her historic home. Meanwhile, film producer Max Buda (Orson Welles) needs to leave London, taking his newest protégée Gloria Gritti (Elsa Martinelli) with him, by midnight if he is to avoid paying a hefty tax bill.

Les Mangrum (Rod Taylor), an Australian businessman, must get to New York City to prevent his business from being sold. His dutiful secretary, Miss Mead (Maggie Smith), is secretly in love with him. It being a matter of great urgency, she decides to approach Paul Andros and ask him to advance a sum of money that will save Mangrum's company.

Buda spots a poster picturing the Duchess's home. She is offered a sum of money if she will permit Buda to use it as a location in a film, enough to keep the house she loves. Andros, meanwhile, about to lose the woman he loves, is spared a possible suicide at the last minute when he and his wife reconcile.

Cast

Production

Script

According to a biography of Rattigan, the idea of the film originated with the writer's experience of a flight delay due to fog at London Airport; and one of the story lines is drawn from the true story of actress Vivien Leigh's attempt to leave her husband, actor Laurence Olivier, for the actor Peter Finch, but Leigh got trapped in the VIP lounge at Heathrow due to fog.[4]

Casting

Asquith intended for Sophia Loren to play Taylor's role, remembering the box-office success of The Millionairess (1960) he did with Loren in the main role. However, Taylor, scared by the appeal Loren had for Burton, persuaded Asquith to hire her instead; "Let Sophia stay in Rome", she told him.[5]

This was the first time Australian actor Rod Taylor had played an Australian character on film. Terence Rattigan allowed him to Australian-ise some of the dialogue.[6] Stringer Davis, Rutherford's husband, appears in a tiny role as a sympathetic hotel waiter in a scene with her. Raymond Austin, a stuntman and a friend of Burton, appears in the film as Andros's driver. Television personality David Frost portrays a reporter interviewing the VIPs at the airport.

Filming

The film was shot entirely at MGM-British Studios, Borehamwood, Herts., with a few establishing shots filmed at what was then known as London Airport, later Heathrow. The terminal set was one of the largest ever constructed in the UK.

Reaction

Box office

Critical reaction to the film was mixed. It nevertheless did extremely well at the box office, helped by the enormous publicity attached to Burton and Taylor's Cleopatra, which was out on release.

The film grossed $15,000,000 domestically,[3] earning $7.5 million in U.S. theatrical rentals[7] on a budget of $4 million. In addition to its North American success, it was one of the 12 most popular films in Britain in 1963.[8] It had admissions of 765,804 in France.[9]

Critical

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised The V.I.P.s as "a lively, engrossing romantic film cut to the always serviceable pattern of the old multi-character 'Grand Hotel,' and some of the other people in it are even more exciting than the top two stars. Louis Jordan, for instance."[10] Variety called the film "a smooth and cunning brew with most of the ingredients demanded of popular screen entertainment. It has suspense, conflict, romance, comedy and drama ... Its main fault is that some of the characters and by-plots are not developed enough though they and their problems are interesting enough to warrant separate pix. But that is a risk inevitable in any film in which a number of strangers are flung together, each with problems and linked by single circumstance."[11] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote "They can say it's in the tradition of MGM's Grand Hotel and 'Dinner at Eight' all they want; to me it's a grounded High and Mighty. And I do mean grounded—not only at London airport, but in the writing, directing, and some of the acting as well."[1] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "very good fun—sleek, adroit and enjoyable."[12] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "The V.I.P.s is a pretty little cinematic souffle that melts in the mind, but its flavour is spicy and sweet."[13]

The team of Asquith, De Grunwald and Rattigan later produced another portmanteau film, the dramatic The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964). Robert Murphy disapproved of both films, remarking that "Asquith spent his last years making increasingly banal prestige productions like The V.I.P.s and The Yellow Rolls-Royce".[14]

Novelization

Slightly in advance of the film's release, as was the custom of the era, a paperback novelization of the screenplay was published by Dell Books. The author was renowned crime and western novelist Marvin H. Albert, who also made something of a cottage industry out of movie tie-ins. He seems to have been the most prolific screenplay novelizer of the late '50s through mid '60s, and, during that time, the preeminent specialist at light comedy, though he adapted a few drama scripts as well. The V.I.P.s is what's known as an "inferred novelization" because, although screenwriter Terence Rattigan is not given attribution anywhere on or in the book, the copyright is assigned to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Whether this omission was an editorial error, or a marketing ploy to make Albert's novel seem to be the film's source material (with or without the complicity of Rattigan) is unknown.

In popular culture

The theme music was used as the intro to the Flemish children's TV series Johan en de Alverman.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Scheuer, Philip K. (13 September 1963). "VIPs Liz, Burton Grounded by Film". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 11.
  2. ^ Vagg 2010, p. 97.
  3. ^ a b Box Office Information for The V.I.P.s The Numbers. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  4. ^ Ryall 2005, p. 149.
  5. ^ Steverson 1992, p. 135.
  6. ^ Vagg 2010, p. 94.
  7. ^ "All-Time Top Grossers". Variety. 6 January 1965. p. 39.
  8. ^ "Most Popular Films of 1963". The Times. London, England. 3 January 1964. p. 4.
  9. ^ French box office for 1963 at Box Office Story
  10. ^ Crowther, Bosley (20 September 1963). "Screen: 'The V.I.P.s' at Music Hall". The New York Times. 28.
  11. ^ "Film Reviews: The V.I.P.s". Variety. 14 August 1963. 6.
  12. ^ Coe, Richard L. (27 September 1963). "Will Wonders Ever Cease?" The Washington Post. B9.
  13. ^ "The V.I.P.s". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (357): 144. October 1963.
  14. ^ Ryall 2005, p. 21.
  15. ^ "Johan en de Alverman (1966-1967) | Complete series | Waar keek jij vroeger naar?". Waarkeekjijvroegernaar.nl. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
Bibliography

External links

January 28, 2023
film, this, article, about, 1963, film, other, uses, disambiguation, also, known, hotel, international, 1963, british, comedy, drama, film, metrocolor, panavision, directed, anthony, asquith, produced, anatole, grunwald, distributed, metro, goldwyn, mayer, fil. This article is about the 1963 film For other uses see VIP disambiguation The V I P s also known as Hotel International is a 1963 British comedy drama film in Metrocolor and Panavision It was directed by Anthony Asquith produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer The film was written by Terence Rattigan with a music score by Miklos Rozsa The V I P sOriginal film posterDirected byAnthony AsquithWritten byTerence RattiganProduced byAnatole de GrunwaldStarringRichard BurtonElizabeth TaylorLouis JourdanMaggie SmithOrson WellesRod Taylor Elsa Martinelli Margaret RutherfordCinematographyJack HildyardEdited byFrank ClarkeMusic byMiklos RozsaProductioncompanyDe Grunwald ProductionsDistributed byMetro Goldwyn MayerRelease date13 September 1963 United States 1 Running time119 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudget 4 million 2 Box office 15 000 000 3 It has an all star cast including Richard Burton Elizabeth Taylor Louis Jourdan Elsa Martinelli Maggie Smith Rod Taylor Orson Welles and Margaret Rutherford who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture Costumes by Pierre Cardin Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Script 3 2 Casting 3 3 Filming 4 Reaction 4 1 Box office 4 2 Critical 5 Novelization 6 In popular culture 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksPlot EditThe film is set within Terminal 3 of London Heathrow Airport during a fog As flights are delayed the VIPs very important people of the title play out the drama of their lives in a number of slightly interconnected stories The delays have caused serious hardship for most of the characters and have plunged some of them into a deep personal or financial crisis The central story concerns famed actress Frances Andros Elizabeth Taylor trying to leave her husband millionaire Paul Andros Richard Burton and fly away with her suitor Marc Champselle Louis Jourdan Because of the fog Andros has the opportunity to come to the airport to persuade his wife not to leave him The Duchess of Brighton Margaret Rutherford is on her way to Florida to take a job which will pay her enough money to save her historic home Meanwhile film producer Max Buda Orson Welles needs to leave London taking his newest protegee Gloria Gritti Elsa Martinelli with him by midnight if he is to avoid paying a hefty tax bill Les Mangrum Rod Taylor an Australian businessman must get to New York City to prevent his business from being sold His dutiful secretary Miss Mead Maggie Smith is secretly in love with him It being a matter of great urgency she decides to approach Paul Andros and ask him to advance a sum of money that will save Mangrum s company Buda spots a poster picturing the Duchess s home She is offered a sum of money if she will permit Buda to use it as a location in a film enough to keep the house she loves Andros meanwhile about to lose the woman he loves is spared a possible suicide at the last minute when he and his wife reconcile Cast EditElizabeth Taylor as Frances Andros Richard Burton as Paul Andros Louis Jourdan as Marc Champselle Elsa Martinelli as Gloria Gritti Margaret Rutherford as The Duchess of Brighton Maggie Smith as Miss Mead Rod Taylor as Les Mangrum Orson Welles as Max Buda Linda Christian as Miriam Marshall Dennis Price as Commander Millbank Richard Wattis as Sanders David Frost as Reporter Ronald Fraser as Joslin Robert Coote as John Coburn Michael Hordern as Airport Director Martin Miller as Dr Schwutzbacher Lance Percival as B O A C Official Joan Benham as Miss Potter Peter Sallis as Doctor Stringer Davis as Hotel Waiter Clifton Jones as Jamaican Passenger Moyra Fraser as Air Hostess Uncredited Cast Duncan Lewis as Hotel Receptionist Raymond Austin as Rolls Royce Chauffeur Cal McCord as Visitor Virginia Bedard as Knebworth House visitor Jill Carson as Air Hostess Ann Castle as Lady Reporter Rosemary Dorken as Airport Announcer Betty Trapp as Waitress Maggie McGrath as Waitress Lewis Fiander as Third Reporter John Blythe as Barman Richard Briers as Meteorological Official Richard Caldicot as Hotel Representative Reginald Beckwith as Head Waiter Terence Alexander as Captain Frank Williams as Assistant to Airport Director Clifford Mollison as Mr River the Hotel Manager Gordon Sterne as Official Joyce Carey as Mrs Damer Angus Lennie as Meteorological Man Peter Illing as Mr DamerProduction EditScript Edit According to a biography of Rattigan the idea of the film originated with the writer s experience of a flight delay due to fog at London Airport and one of the story lines is drawn from the true story of actress Vivien Leigh s attempt to leave her husband actor Laurence Olivier for the actor Peter Finch but Leigh got trapped in the VIP lounge at Heathrow due to fog 4 Casting Edit Asquith intended for Sophia Loren to play Taylor s role remembering the box office success of The Millionairess 1960 he did with Loren in the main role However Taylor scared by the appeal Loren had for Burton persuaded Asquith to hire her instead Let Sophia stay in Rome she told him 5 This was the first time Australian actor Rod Taylor had played an Australian character on film Terence Rattigan allowed him to Australian ise some of the dialogue 6 Stringer Davis Rutherford s husband appears in a tiny role as a sympathetic hotel waiter in a scene with her Raymond Austin a stuntman and a friend of Burton appears in the film as Andros s driver Television personality David Frost portrays a reporter interviewing the VIPs at the airport Filming Edit The film was shot entirely at MGM British Studios Borehamwood Herts with a few establishing shots filmed at what was then known as London Airport later Heathrow The terminal set was one of the largest ever constructed in the UK Reaction EditBox office Edit Critical reaction to the film was mixed It nevertheless did extremely well at the box office helped by the enormous publicity attached to Burton and Taylor s Cleopatra which was out on release The film grossed 15 000 000 domestically 3 earning 7 5 million in U S theatrical rentals 7 on a budget of 4 million In addition to its North American success it was one of the 12 most popular films in Britain in 1963 8 It had admissions of 765 804 in France 9 Critical Edit Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised The V I P s as a lively engrossing romantic film cut to the always serviceable pattern of the old multi character Grand Hotel and some of the other people in it are even more exciting than the top two stars Louis Jordan for instance 10 Variety called the film a smooth and cunning brew with most of the ingredients demanded of popular screen entertainment It has suspense conflict romance comedy and drama Its main fault is that some of the characters and by plots are not developed enough though they and their problems are interesting enough to warrant separate pix But that is a risk inevitable in any film in which a number of strangers are flung together each with problems and linked by single circumstance 11 Philip K Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote They can say it s in the tradition of MGM s Grand Hotel and Dinner at Eight all they want to me it s a grounded High and Mighty And I do mean grounded not only at London airport but in the writing directing and some of the acting as well 1 Richard L Coe of The Washington Post called it very good fun sleek adroit and enjoyable 12 The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote The V I P s is a pretty little cinematic souffle that melts in the mind but its flavour is spicy and sweet 13 The team of Asquith De Grunwald and Rattigan later produced another portmanteau film the dramatic The Yellow Rolls Royce 1964 Robert Murphy disapproved of both films remarking that Asquith spent his last years making increasingly banal prestige productions like The V I P s and The Yellow Rolls Royce 14 Novelization EditSlightly in advance of the film s release as was the custom of the era a paperback novelization of the screenplay was published by Dell Books The author was renowned crime and western novelist Marvin H Albert who also made something of a cottage industry out of movie tie ins He seems to have been the most prolific screenplay novelizer of the late 50s through mid 60s and during that time the preeminent specialist at light comedy though he adapted a few drama scripts as well The V I P s is what s known as an inferred novelization because although screenwriter Terence Rattigan is not given attribution anywhere on or in the book the copyright is assigned to Metro Goldwyn Mayer Whether this omission was an editorial error or a marketing ploy to make Albert s novel seem to be the film s source material with or without the complicity of Rattigan is unknown In popular culture EditThe theme music was used as the intro to the Flemish children s TV series Johan en de Alverman 15 See also Edit Film portal1963 in film List of British films of 1963 List of drama filmsReferences Edit a b Scheuer Philip K 13 September 1963 VIPs Liz Burton Grounded by Film Los Angeles Times Part IV p 11 Vagg 2010 p 97 a b Box Office Information for The V I P s The Numbers Retrieved 5 September 2013 Ryall 2005 p 149 Steverson 1992 p 135 Vagg 2010 p 94 All Time Top Grossers Variety 6 January 1965 p 39 Most Popular Films of 1963 The Times London England 3 January 1964 p 4 French box office for 1963 at Box Office Story Crowther Bosley 20 September 1963 Screen The V I P s at Music Hall The New York Times 28 Film Reviews The V I P s Variety 14 August 1963 6 Coe Richard L 27 September 1963 Will Wonders Ever Cease The Washington Post B9 The V I P s The Monthly Film Bulletin 30 357 144 October 1963 Ryall 2005 p 21 Johan en de Alverman 1966 1967 Complete series Waar keek jij vroeger naar Waarkeekjijvroegernaar nl 28 April 2014 Retrieved 19 November 2016 BibliographyRyall Tom 2005 Anthony Asquith Manchester University Press ISBN 978 0 7190 6452 4 Steverson Tyrone 30 July 1992 Richard Burton a bio bibliography Greenwood Press ISBN 978 0 313 27650 7 Vagg Stephen 2010 Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood BearManor Media ISBN 978 1 59393 511 5 External links EditThe V I P s at IMDb The V I P s at AllMovie The V I P s at the TCM Movie Database The V I P s at the American Film Institute Catalog The V I P s at Box Office Mojo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The V I P s film amp oldid 1132263738, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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