Details
Movie Description
A boozing ex-British consulate, his estranged wife and his half-brother suffer in a private hell in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1939, on "El Dia De Los Muertos" (The Day of the Dead). From Malcolm Lowry's 1947 novel. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Actor--Albert Finney.
Synopsis
John Huston's screen adaptation of Malcolm Lowery's powerful meditation on self-destruction and personal despair. The hero is Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic ex-British consul living in Mexico on the eve of World War II. Tormented by his wife's infidelity, Firmin celebrates the Day of the Dead by drinking himself to death despite his wife and her lover's efforts to save him.
Film Notes
Shot in Morelos, Mexico; prints by Technicolor; sound by Glen Glenn; Panavision equipment.
Other cast members include Dawson Bray (Quincey) and Jim McCarthy (Gringo).
Clip used from the film "The Hands of Orlac."
Assistant directors were Manuel Muñoz and Dennis Shaw; Tom Shaw was the production supervisor.
Director John Huston's son Danny was the director for the main title sequence.
Opticals and titles by Universal Optical Department.
John Huston tried to bring this film to screen for 30 years.
Industry Reviews
"...Especially impressive for the courage, intelligence and restraint with which it tackles [the] impossible....Daring..."
Maslin
"...A triumphant artistic success....[Finney] is simply extraordinary..."
Strat.
"[Finney's] Geoffrey Firmin is one of the most unnervingly and heartbreakingly convincing alcoholics ever capture on film..."
Sight and Sound - Michael Brooke (10/01/2008)
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