Interlude (1968 film)

Interlude
Interlude
Directed by	Kevin Billington
Screenplay by	Lee Langley; Hugh Leonard
Produced by	David Deutsch ; Jack Hanbury
Starring	Oskar Werner; Barbara Ferris ; Virginia Maskell
Cinematography	Gerry Fisher
Edited by	Bert Bates
Music by	Georges Delerue
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Domino Films
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	May 1968 (UK); 2 July 1968 (NYC); 15 July 1968 (USA);
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$1.6 million (US/Canada)

Interlude is a 1968 British drama film directed by Kevin Billington, and starring Oskar Werner, Barbara Ferris and Virginia Maskell.^[2]

The film is a loose remake of the 1957 American film Interlude directed by Douglas Sirk. It was Maskell's final film as she died in January 1968, five months before its release.

Plot

A famous male conductor gives an interview to an attractive young female reporter. He speaks a bit too frankly and ends up being given an unwanted sabbatical from conducting. He begins an affair with the young reporter during his interlude, and the accumulation of differences in their ages and background begins to mount.

Cast

Oskar Werner as Stefan Zelter
Barbara Ferris as Sally
Virginia Maskell as Antonia
Donald Sutherland as Lawrence
Nora Swinburne as Mary
Alan Webb as Andrew
Bernard Kay as George Selworth
Geraldine Sherman as Natalie Selworth
John Cleese as PR Man
Humphrey Burton as TV Director
Gino Melvazzi as Mario
Muguette De Braie as Mario's Wife
Robert Lang as Humphrey Turnbull
Roslyn De Winter as Humphrey's Secretary
Janet Davies as Nanny
Sarah Jane Stratton as Sarah Jane
Simon Davis as Simon
Steve Plytas as Frederico
Roselie Westwater as Hotel Receptionist
Gay Cameron as Andrew's Girl Friend
Anjula Harman as Lawrence's Pupil
Ernest Fleishmann as Orchestra Manager
Derek Jacobi as Paul
Richard Pescud as Ernest

Production

The film was shot at Shepperton Studios and on location around London at various places including the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, Fountain Court in Temple, Chelsea, and the Royal Festival Hall.^[3] The Zelter family home was shot at Binfield Manor in Berkshire, and Bodiam Castle and The Mermaid Inn, Rye in East Sussex were used for filming.^[3] The film's sets were designed by art director Tony Woollard.^[4]

Singer Timi Yuro performed the title song "Interlude".^[5] Another version by Yuro was released commercially. The song was covered in 1994 as duet by Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux.

Reception

Variety gave an enthusiastic review, writing "All the excitement and ecstacy [sic], as well as the bittersweet, foredoomed disenchantment of extra-marital romance are contained in the original screenplay. Strong writing, superior acting and firstrate direction make this a powerful, personal drama."^[4]

Time Out said, "Billington mercifully avoids the excesses of 'Swinging London', and his observant delineation of the discrepancy between the characters' would-be sophistication and their actual stock responses is, on the whole, well supported by the performances."^[6]

TV Guide said the film does not capture the level of films like Intermezzo and Brief Encounter, but praised the chemistry between Werner and Ferris.^[7] Renata Adler of The New York Times criticized Interlude, saying its narrative could not support the film.^[8] However, she added, "There are two remarkable supporting performances: one, by Donald Sutherland, as a lisping, bumbling, thoroughly decent family friend; the other by the late Virginia Maskell, as the beautiful, intelligent wife in pain."^[8]

References

^ "Big Rental Films of 1968". Variety. 8 January 1969. p. 15. Please note that this is a rental figure accruing to distributors
^ Murphy 1992, p. 154.
^ ^a ^b "Interlude". www.reelstreets.com. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Interlude". Variety. 1 January 1968. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
^ "Timi Yuro – Interlude". Discogs. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
^ "Interlude". Time Out. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
^ "Interlude". TV Guide. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
^ ^a ^b Adler, Renata (3 July 1968). "Screen: 'Interlude,' the Story of Yet Another Affair:Oskar Werner Starred With Barbara Ferris New Movie Arrives at the Cinema I". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 July 2024.

Bibliography

Murphy, Robert (1992). Sixties British Cinema. British Film Institute. ISBN 978-0851703244.
Ryan, Tom (2019). The Films of Douglas Sirk: Exquisite Ironies and Magnificent Obsessions. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1496822376.