DIRECTOR: Tony Richardson
Everyone had great fun adapting Evelyn Waugh’s 1948 short satirical novel about the funeral business in Los Angeles. However, understandably, it was not a hit at the box office and ruined any chance of a Hollywood career for director Tony Richardson. It now has a cult following and is highly regarded in some quarters, including TheBrownees. Haskell Wexler’s black-and-white photography is impressive. Christopher Isherwood and Terry Southern wrote a very witty screenplay. The fantastic cast includes:
- Robert Morse as Dennis Barlow
- Anjanette Comer as Aimée Thanatogenos**
- Jonathan Winters as Henry Glenworthy and Wilbur Glenworthy
- Rod Steiger as Mr. Joyboy
- Dana Andrews as Gen. Buck Brinkman
- Milton Berle as Mr. Kenton
- James Coburn as Immigration Officer
- Ayllene Gibbons (Joyboy’s Mother)
- John Gielgud as Sir Francis Hinsley
- Tab Hunter as Whispering Glades tour guide
- Margaret Leighton as Mrs. Helen Kenton
- Liberace as Mr. Starker
- Roddy McDowall as DJ, Jr.
- Robert Morley as Sir Ambrose Abercrombie
- Alan Napier as an English club official
- Barbara Nichols as Sadie Blodgett
- Lionel Stander as the Guru Brahmin
- Paul Williams as Gunther Fry
- Jamie Farr as a waiter at an English club (uncredited)
** Aimée means BELOVED, and Thanatogenos means BORN OF DEATH.
FILMWAYS
STREAMING: Amazon Prime Video and YouTube
https://thebrownees.net/85-queer-films-made-under-the-hays-code-1934-1968/
https://thebrownees.net/85-queer-films-from-the-new-hollywood-1968-1980/
https://thebrownees.net/the-great-cinematographers-of-hollywoods-golden-age/
