mark.waltz Let's face it. There are some cultures and political regimes that the rest of the world (especially the lovers of peace) will never understand, and probably aren't supposed to. The lives of the people in Haiti during the regime of President Papa Doc Duvalier are explored through the presence of half a dozen outsiders who find the culture there as strange as most viewers will. Richard Burton plays a Welsh hotel owner who returns to find the government under Duvalier's control and political turmoil for many. He is surrounded by a cast of major stars in secondary roles, which includes his real-life wife Elizabeth Taylor as his married mistress, Peter Ustinov as Taylor's ambassador husband, Alec Guennis as a British Major seemingly in cahoots with the president, and for comedy relief, the team of Paul Ford and Lillian Gish as a former presidential candidate and his flighty, nosy wife. To play the Haitans, some of America's best black theatrical actors were cast, and they include Cicely Tyson, James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne and Raymond St. Jacques. In spite of the presence of all of these stars, the film is entirely too long with its focus on details that would fit perfectly into a travelogue but will seem bizarre to standard audiences.Those expecting a Liz/Dick movie will be truly disappointed; Her role is superfluous to the plot other than to give Burton a love interest. Lillian Gish's Billie Burke like matron makes references to fellow silent star John Barrymore who allegedly stayed in Burton's hotel. After being paired with Shirley Booth in "The Matchmaker", Hermoine Gingold in "The Music Man" and Maureen O'Sullivan in "Never Too Late", comic character actor Paul Ford adds Gish to his list of eccentric co-stars. In a sense, this seems more the type of movie that Otto Preminger was directing in the mid to late 1960's with its off the wall casting, bizarre plot lines and racial tensions. At least with Preminger, you could count on a little camp. Sadly, that's missing here. Whats not missing is boredom.

robb_772 After delighting audiences in director Franco Zeffirelli's 1967 hit adaptation of Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, the Burtons' popularity with audiences seemed to be on the wane as their next film, Peter Glenville's THE COMEDIANS (1967) became their first full-fledged box office disappointment. There was much publicity surrounding the political thriller as it shot in Africa (masquerading as Haiti) and the fact that Taylor accepted half her usual salary and took second billing behind Burton kept gossips wagging for months (she reportedly only took the part out of fear of being replaced with Sophia Loren). But when the film opened, critics found it slow and talky and audiences simply seemed uninterested. Although the film is never quite as interesting or as suspenseful as it could have been, I dare say that THE COMEDIANS probably plays a great deal better today without the heavy expectations of the time surrounding it.Graham Greene does a respectable job of paring down his complex novel for the screen, and director Glenville keeps the film moving at a reasonable pace in spite of its lengthy runtime of 150 minutes. The film is always interesting and occasionally gripping, although Greene and Glenville keep the audience at a relative distance which prevents the picture from striking as hard as it could have. Burton is in good form, and Alec Guinness, Paul Ford, and Lillian Gish all turn in top notch support (only Peter Ustinov feels under utilized). Unfortunately, Taylor is dreadfully miscast as a German military wife – complete with a woefully unconvincing accent – and her ill-fitting presence creates several lulls in the film as the number of scenes between her character and Burton's character are increased (in order to give the diva her proper screen time) which hampers a few long stretches of the film and slightly undermines what could have been a first-rate effort.

sol (There are Spoilers) Set in the brutal and impoverish dictatorship of 1960's Haiti where President Papa Doc Duvaliers notorious secret police the Tonton Macoute had eyes and ears in every wall and under every rock in the country.British Major Jones, Alec Guinness, thinking that he's in with the Haitian government gets the surprise of his life as he's grabbed beaten and humiliated by the Tonton as soon as he stepped off the boat. His crime? having received some $300,000.00 back in Miami for arms from the Haitian military and not delivering the goods. It turned out the major had no idea that his contact back in Miami a brigadier Pike took off with the cash. Yet he like the Haitian Col. Bische, who was the Majors contact here on the island, had to pay for Pike's crimes.While Jones in cooling off in a hot Tonton prison cell Brown, Richard Burton, who came off the same boat with the Major is back on the island to run his bankrupt hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince. Brown had been away on business in New York for three months and now can't wait to get back to Martha Pineda (Elizbeath Taylor), his not so secret love. Martha just happens to be the wife of the America Ambassador Mr. Pineda, Peter Ustinov, to Haiti. Brown is a bit taken up when he comes back home to his hotel to find the dead body a a friend and local politician Philipot in the hotel's empty swimming pool. Brown is told by the butler Joseph that he was murdered by the Tonton for saying unkindly things about Papa Doc after he got himself drunk in a seafront bar.The movie goes into a number of unrelated and boring stories with an elderly American couple the Smiths, Paul Ford & Lilian Gish,showing up at the hotel. They turned out to be the only guest there with Mr. Smith now trying to get the Papa Doc regime to buy his natural and healthy food products that he's pushing . There's also a number of bloody and stomach churning Voodoo ceremonies including the biting off the head of a live chicken and some of the people present drinking themselves blind drunk on 150% plus proof rum. This drinking orgy is done in order to conjure up the ancient spirits to do battle against the brutal Papa Doc regime.Brown even though he's having an affair with a married woman, Martha, is extremely jealous of anyone who as much as even talks to her, even Martha's Teddy Bear husband the ambassador. Which makes him anything but likable or sympathetic but a low down and creepy sleaze-ball to the audience. Even Major Jones is later seen selling out by going along with the Papa Doc boys to gain his freedom. It takes the bravery of young Henri Philopot, George Stanford, and his good friend and the Brown and Pineda family physician Dr. Magiot, James Earl Jones, to bring whatever good and courageousness there's still left in both Brown and Jones out into the open to get them to take off in the hills and mountains to do battle.Overly long, two and a half hours, movie with a lot of meaningless scenes in it that if cut out would have actually improved the film instead of water-logging it. Dick & Liz, Burton & Taylor, try to get it on all throughout the film without any real sparks flying in the some half dozen scenes that they were in together. Brown was so psychotic in his jealousy of Martha having an affair, with anyone but himself, even fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. Martha's lying to him about having an affair with that stuffy and obnoxious BS artist Major Jones, hardy her type of man to spend a evening in bed with. This was done just to snap that cranky nut-job out of his self-induced depression.Major Jones gets high on rum and drives out into the hills, with Brown behind the Wheel, to join the anti-Papa Doc Haitian resistance tells Brown, not knowing that Martha is his main squeeze, that he had it on with Martha which was just harmless juvenile-like or locker room boasting on the Major's part. It almost cost both his and Brown's life as the insanely jealous Mister Brown, hearing of the Major's imaginary conquest, stepped down hard on the gas peddle as if he wanted to drive his car off a cliff and almost ended up doing so!

moonspinner55 Talky and rather dull combination of political thriller and history lesson. When natty politico Alec Guinness is thrown into jail upon his arrival in strife-ridden Haiti, local welcoming factor Richard Burton helps him through the red tape; Elizabeth Taylor plays Burton's lover, Peter Ustinov is Taylor's husband. Rather a bit like Liz and Dick's "The V.I.P.s"--with the soap opera trimmings intact--although Guinness is very good and the location shooting is interesting. Burton hardly knows a subtle moment; he is so full of hot air that his spouting-off seems rote. Taylor looks as though her main concern was trying to stay attractive in the wilting heat. Graham Greene adapted the screenplay from his own novel, and sadly bears most of the blame for the overripe characters and dialogue. *1/2 from ****