The Entertainer (film)
| The Entertainer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Tony Richardson |
| Produced by | Harry Saltzman |
| Screenplay by |
John Osborne Nigel Kneale |
| Based on |
The Entertainer by John Osborne |
| Starring |
Laurence Olivier Brenda de Banzie Roger Livesey Joan Plowright Daniel Massey |
| Music by | John Addison |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Alan Osbiston |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | British Lion Films |
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Release date
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25 July 1960 |
|
Running time
|
107 min., 37 sec. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Entertainer is a 1960 drama film directed by Tony Richardson, based on the stage play of the same name by John Osborne. It stars Laurence Olivier as a failing third-rate music-hall stage performer who tries to keep his career going even as the music-hall tradition fades into history and his personal life falls apart.
The film was adapted by Osborne and Nigel Kneale from Osborne's play, and was produced by Harry Saltzman. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Olivier). It was filmed on location in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe.
Jean Rice, a young London art teacher, travels to a seaside resort (not specified but partly filmed in Morecambe) to visit her family. She is emotionally confused, having had a row with her fiancé, who wants her to emigrate with him to Africa. She is also deeply concerned about the Suez Crisis, having seen her soldier brother off to the war. She has attended a peace rally in Trafalgar Square, directed against prime minister Anthony Eden.
She finds that the resort has declined from its pre-Second World War heyday and is now drawing waning crowds, despite being in mid-season. The music-hall act of her father Archie Rice (Olivier) plays out to a small number of increasingly uninterested spectators. Her family is deeply dysfunctional. Her beloved grandfather, once one of the leading stars of the music hall, lives in quiet retirement with his daughter-in-law and grandson.
Jean goes to the theatre where her father is playing. As well as being an undischarged bankrupt and a semi-alcoholic, he is desperately short of money and is hounded by creditors – the income-tax people as well as his unpaid cast. He is adored by his cynical son and watched with mild amusement by his father; but his relationship with Phoebe, his second wife, is strained. He is a womaniser and she is well aware of his tendencies, openly commenting on them to the rest of the family. She is often found drinking heavily.
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Wikipedia