In this political drama from MGM, writer Graham Greene, and director Peter Glenville. Brown (Richard Burton) has just returned to Haiti after a trip abroad to find potential buyers for his hotel in Port-au-Prince, but he had no luck. He finds the political climate under dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier to be even worse than when he left, as the secret police routinely round-up and kill anyone perceived as a dissident. Brown tries to rekindle an affair Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), a married woman with a young son. Brown also gets tied up with the nascent revolutionary movement, as does Major Jones (Alec Guinness), an acquaintance who has run afoul of the Haitian government, as well.
I found this to be a rather anemic look at the Haitian condition in the brutal grip of the Duvaliers. I understand why the romantic subplot was deemed necessary for commercial purposes, but it's easily the worst part of the film, and it drags things down to a tedious slog. Guinness was a hoot, playing against type as a boozy, shady character of dubious character. Ustinov is stuck with the most thankless role as Taylor's cuckolded hubby. I liked seeing such great performers as James Earl Jones, Georg Stanford Brown, Roscoe Lee Browne, Raymond St. Jacques, and Cicely Tyson in early roles. At over two and a half hours, the movie is certainly bloated, but one could do worse, given they have the time to spare.
I found this to be a rather anemic look at the Haitian condition in the brutal grip of the Duvaliers. I understand why the romantic subplot was deemed necessary for commercial purposes, but it's easily the worst part of the film, and it drags things down to a tedious slog. Guinness was a hoot, playing against type as a boozy, shady character of dubious character. Ustinov is stuck with the most thankless role as Taylor's cuckolded hubby. I liked seeing such great performers as James Earl Jones, Georg Stanford Brown, Roscoe Lee Browne, Raymond St. Jacques, and Cicely Tyson in early roles. At over two and a half hours, the movie is certainly bloated, but one could do worse, given they have the time to spare.