"QB VII" (1974) (mini)TV mini-series

Director:

Tom Gries

Writers:

Edward Anhalt (writer)
Leon Uris (novel)

Release Date:

29 April 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A physician sues a novelist for publishing statements implicating the doctor in Nazi war crimes.

Plot Keywords:

Holocaust | Expatriate | Lawsuit | 1940s | False Accusation

Awards:

Won 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 10 nominations

Cast

Ben Gazzara	...	Abe Cady
Anthony Hopkins	...	Dr. Adam Kelno
Leslie Caron	...	Angela Kelno
Lee Remick	...	Lady Margaret Alexander Weidman
Juliet Mills	...	Samantha Cady
Dan O'Herlihy	...	David Shawcross
Robert Stephens	...	Robert Highsmith
Anthony Quayle	...	Tom Banniester
Milo O'Shea	...	Dr. Stanislaus Lotaki
John Gielgud	...	Clinton-Meek
Edith Evans	...	Dr. Parmentier
Jack Hawkins	...	Justice Gilroy
Judy Carne	...	Natalie
Kristoffer Tabori	...	Ben Cady
Joseph Wiseman	...	Morris Cady

Runtime:

390 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Douglas S. Cramer Company

Trivia:

The original script begin with Kelno doing volunteer work in the jungle. After two days of shooting in the jungle, the jungle setting was scrapped and changed to a desert. Three years later the same thing happened during the shooting of Star Wars (1977).

Quotes:

Samantha Cady: I don't know what the word for 'male slut' is - but that's what you are.

Movie Connections:

Follows Exodus (1960)

The verdict is in....

The lives of two men, vastly different in their beliefs and in their lifestyles, come head to head in this sprawling mini-series, the first, in fact, of the "television events" that had their heyday in the 1970's and early 1980's. This one was based on a novel by (and real life event in the life of) Leon Uris. Hopkins plays a doctor and former concentration camp prisoner who, while in captivity, was compelled to aid the Nazis in operations related to their horrific human experiments. He is briefly charged with willing compliance in war atrocities, but is found innocent. He then takes his wife (Caron) and baby boy to Kuwait where he works tirelessly to make a difference in the world of the less fortunate. Eventually, he is knighted for his efforts. Meanwhile, Gazzara plays an American Jew who volunteers in the RAF and is gunned down. He courts his nurse (Mills), eventually marrying her, and becomes a celebrated writer. Before long, he is a jaded, wealthy hack who cheats on Mills and lives at odds with his heritage. Eventually, though, he finds that he is compelled to write about the Holocaust and when he does, his reference to Hopkins in the book sparks a libel suit from the now-decorated doctor. The climax of the film is a tense and agonizing court trial at Queen's Bench Seven (hence, the title) as Gazzara tries to prove that Hopkins is guilty while Hopkins strives to keep his name clean. This film set the pace for all mini-series to come (until budgets and tastes changed in the 1990's) and contains many of the characteristics which would mark the format (episodic story arcs, endless star cameos, dubious age make-up, etc...) The story takes a looonnng time to pick up speed with sporadically interesting periods done in by the common (at the time) practice of setting each scene with excruciating shots of buildings, cars pulling up, characters walking to buildings, etc... while Jerry Goldsmith's "Exodus"-flavored score blares and a hopelessly campy narrator butts in. There is, however, some good location work throughout. Fortunately, once the pre-history of the men is finally established, the courtroom scenes make up for the tedium and soapiness of the early sections. Hopkins is wonderful. He invests the character with a wealth of expression and mystery, especially as the case wears on. Gazzara is often wooden, but comes across nicely several times. Caron gets very little to do except fret under layers of age make-up and a grey wig. Mills won an Emmy for her sensitive, appealing work. The film gets a huge shot of class and talent from the excellent Remick (though her role peters out as the film continues) and from the appearances of several renowned British character actors, notably Quayle and Evans. It's a memorable mini-series due to the striking nature of the case, it's place in TV history and the work of Hopkins and a few others. Some of the sequences alluded to and shown are just as unsettling and horrifying in today's "seen-it-all" world as they must have been in 1974, with the tour of the actual camp and the visit to a Holocaust memorial particularly vivid (even if the same cheesy narrator of the mini-series is used, with an accent, to narrate the memorial's documentary!!) Many viewers will be put off by the pace of the scenes in the mid-section, but those who stick with it will find value in the courtroom climax.