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| THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1969) |
An Ely Landau-Bryan Forbes Production
A Commonwealth United Corporation Film
A Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Picture
Technicolor, 132 minutes
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CAST
Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot: Katharine Hepburn
Broker: Charles Boyer
Dr. Jadin: Claude Dauphin
Josephine, the Madwoman of La Concorde: Edith Evans
Reverend: John Gavin
General : Paul Henreid
Commissar: Oscar Homolka
Constance, the Madwoman of Passy: Margaret Leighton
Gabrielle, the Madwoman of Sulpice: Giulietta Masina
Irma: Nanette Newman
Roderick: Richard Chamberlain
Chairman: Yul Brynner
Prospector: Donald Pleasence
Ragpicker: Danny Kaye
Police Sergeant: Fernand Gravey
The Folksinger: Gordon Heath
Julius: Gerald Sim
and Jacques Marin, Joellina Smadja, Henri Virjoleux, Giles Segal, Gaston Palmer, Harriett Ariel, Catherine Berg
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CREDITS
Director: Bryan Forbes
Producer: Ely Landau
Executive Producer: Henry T. Weinstein
Associate Producer: Anthony B. Ungar
Scenarist: Edward Anhalt
Based on the play by: Jean Giraudoux
As Translated into English by: Maurice Valency
Photographers: Claude Renoir, Burnett Guffey
Production Designer: Ray Simm
Art Director: Georges Petitot
Set Decorator: Dario Simoni
Editor: Roger Dwyre
Sound Recorder: Janet Davidson
Sound Mixer: Bill Daniels
Musical Score: Michael J. Lewis
Orchestrator: Wally Scott
Production Manager: Henri Jacquillard
Wardrobe Designer: Rosine Delamare
Assistant Director: Louis-Alain Pitzeie
Titles: Robert Ellis Films
Makeup Artist: Monique Archambault
Hair Stylist: Alex Archambault
Song: "The Lonely Ones" by: Michael J. Lewis, Gil King
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SYNOPSIS
Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot, an eccentric countess, is stunned to learn that the world is an unhappy place. She immediately hits upon a unique plan for doing away with a group of war-minded capitalists who wish to convert the beautiful city of Paris into a giant oil field. She confides with her closest friends, Josephine, Constance and Gabrielle - madwomen all - and, together with some of her friends from the streets, holds a mock trial in the catacombs of her large house. Having previously convinced each conspirator that there is oil under her house, Aurelia pits them against one another and, later, leads the entire group to the lower depths for a glimpse of the oil reserve.
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CRITIQUES
"Katharine Hepburn and an all-star cast in an elaborate but flat rendition of Jean Giraudoux's witty French fantasy about a mad Countess who rids the world of its evils....The decision to update the play, contemporizing the evils the dotty Countess Aurelia destroys, has given an earthbound heaviness to what was originally an enchanted, whimsical conceit. Katharine Hepburn, in the title role, only adds to the discomforting reality; her characterization is far too sensible a person to be living in the past."
- Lloyd Ibert, Independent Film Journal, 1969
"The remnants of Jean Giraudoux's slight, whimsical play can still be perceived in Edward Anhalt's vile modernization and a lot of famous actors can be recognized even in the performances they give here. Bryan Forbes directed. The cast includes Katharine Hepburn (an extremely sane madwoman), Margaret Leighton, Edith Evans, Giulietta Masina, Charles Boyer, Yul Brynner, Donald Pleasence, Danny Kaye, John Gavin, Nanette Newman, Oscar Homolka, Claude Dauphin, Richard Chamberlain, Paul Henreid, and Fernand Gravet."
- Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
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COMMENTARY TRACK
"Kate Hepburn was just not quite old enough or mad enough to suggest the charisma of lunacy."
- Tennessee Williams
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HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
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NTSC Standard:
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn
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On the set: Bryan Forbes, Katharine Hepburn
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On the set: Katharine Hepburn
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