Kurt at 19:03, 5 February 2023

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	~~{{Short description\|1963 film by Anthony Asquith}}~~
	~~{{about\|the 1963 film\|other uses\|VIP (disambiguation)}}~~
	~~{{EngvarB\|date=September 2013}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=February 2022}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The V.I.P.s		\| name = The V.I.P.s
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	* {{AFI film\|id=21550\|title=The V.I.P.s}}		* {{AFI film\|id=21550\|title=The V.I.P.s}}
	* {{mojo title\|vips\|The V.I.P.s}}		* {{mojo title\|vips\|The V.I.P.s}}

	~~{{Terence Rattigan}}~~
	~~{{Anthony Asquith}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Vips, The}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Vips, The}}
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	[[Category:1960s English-language films]]		[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
	[[Category:1960s British films]]		[[Category:1960s British films]]
			[[Category:British comedy-drama films]]
			[[Category:British comedy films]]

Kurt: 1 revision imported

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en>MallonsTalons at 01:42, 8 January 2023

2023-01-08T01:42:09Z

New page

{{Short description|1963 film by Anthony Asquith}}
{{about|the 1963 film|other uses|VIP (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The V.I.P.s
| image = The V.I.P.s film poster.jpg
| caption = Original film poster
| alt =
| director = [[Anthony Asquith]]
| producer = [[Anatole de Grunwald]]
| writer = [[Terence Rattigan]]
| starring = [[Richard Burton]] [[Elizabeth Taylor]] [[Louis Jourdan]] [[Maggie Smith]] [[Orson Welles]] [[Rod Taylor]] [[Elsa Martinelli]] [[Margaret Rutherford]]
| music = [[Miklós Rózsa]]
| cinematography = [[Jack Hildyard]]
| studio = De Grunwald Productions
| editing = [[Frank Clarke (editor)|Frank Clarke]]
| distributor = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| released = 13 September 1963 (United States)<ref name="lat" />
| runtime = 119 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = $4 million{{Sfn|Vagg|2010|p=97}}
| gross = $15,000,000<ref name="numbers">[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1963/0VIPS.php Box Office Information for ''The V.I.P.s''] [[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]. Retrieved 5 September 2013.</ref>
}}

'''''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]].

It has an [[Ensemble cast|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 [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow Airport]] during a fog. As flights are delayed, the VIPs ([[Very Important Person|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==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [[Elizabeth 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 (actor)|Ronald Fraser]] as Joslin
* [[Robert Coote]] as John Coburn
* [[Michael Hordern]] as Airport Director
* [[Martin Miller (actor)|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

{{col-2}}
'''Uncredited Cast'''
* [[Duncan Lewis (actor)|Duncan Lewis]] as Hotel Receptionist
* [[Ray Austin (director)|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 (actor)|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 (actor)|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. Damer
{{col-end}}

==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 [[Heathrow Airport|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.{{sfn|Ryall|2005|p=149}}

===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.{{sfn|Steverson|1992|p=135}}

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.{{Sfn|Vagg|2010|p=94}} [[Stringer Davis]], Rutherford's husband, appears in a tiny role as a sympathetic hotel waiter in a scene with her. [[Ray Austin (director)|Raymond Austin]], a [[Stunt performer|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 (1963 film)|Cleopatra]]'', which was out on release.

The film grossed $15,000,000 domestically,<ref name="numbers"/> earning $7.5 million in U.S. theatrical rentals<ref>{{cite magazine|title=All-Time Top Grossers|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=6 January 1965|page=39}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Most Popular Films of 1963|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London, England|date=3 January 1964|page=4}}</ref> It had admissions of 765,804 in France.<ref>[http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com.au&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/france-1963-c22750377/3&usg=ALkJrhi5v2HCsuIzWh5qVPG7zCilvsQ8aw French box office for 1963] at Box Office Story</ref>

===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 (1932 film)|Grand Hotel]],' and some of the other people in it are even more exciting than the top two stars. Louis Jordan, for instance."<ref>Crowther, Bosley (20 September 1963). "Screen: 'The V.I.P.s' at Music Hall". ''[[The New York Times]]''. 28.</ref> ''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."<ref>"Film Reviews: The V.I.P.s". ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]''. 14 August 1963. 6.</ref> 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 (1933 film)|Dinner at Eight]]' all they want; to me it's a grounded ''[[The High and the Mighty (film)|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."<ref name="lat">Scheuer, Philip K. (13 September 1963). "VIPs Liz, Burton Grounded by Film". ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Part IV, p. 11.</ref> Richard L. Coe of ''The Washington Post'' called it "very good fun—sleek, adroit and enjoyable."<ref>Coe, Richard L. (27 September 1963). "Will Wonders Ever Cease?" ''[[The Washington Post]]''. B9.</ref> ''[[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."<ref>{{cite journal |date=October 1963 |title=The V.I.P.s |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=30 |issue=357 |page=144 }}</ref>

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''".{{sfn|Ryall|2005|p=21}}

==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 Albert|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]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waarkeekjijvroegernaar.nl/series-en-programma-s/2204-johan-en-de-alverman31 |title=Johan en de Alverman (1966-1967) | Complete series | Waar keek jij vroeger naar? |website=Waarkeekjijvroegernaar.nl |date=2014-04-28 |access-date=2016-11-19}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Film}}
*[[1963 in film]]
*[[List of British films of 1963]]
*[[List of drama films]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography
* {{cite book|last=Ryall|first=Tom|title=Anthony Asquith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBDe8ZjGva8C&pg=PA149|year=2005|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-6452-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Steverson|first=Tyrone|title=Richard Burton: a bio-bibliography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymRZAAAAMAAJ|date=30 July 1992|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-27650-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Vagg|first=Stephen|title=Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlBscAAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=BearManor Media|isbn=978-1-59393-511-5}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0057634}}
* {{amg movie|52111}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=94609}}
* {{AFI film|id=21550|title=The V.I.P.s}}
* {{mojo title|vips|The V.I.P.s}}

{{Terence Rattigan}}
{{Anthony Asquith}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vips, The}}
[[Category:1963 films]]
[[Category:1963 drama films]]
[[Category:British anthology films]]
[[Category:British drama films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Miklós Rózsa]]
[[Category:Films directed by Anthony Asquith]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe-winning performance]]
[[Category:Films produced by Anatole de Grunwald]]
[[Category:Films set in airports]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Terence Rattigan]]
[[Category:Films shot at MGM-British Studios]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]

The V.I.P.s (film) - Revision history

Kurt at 19:03, 5 February 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>MallonsTalons at 01:42, 8 January 2023