Waltz of the Toreadors

This is one of the most arguable comedies ever made, because of its very difficult character. Is it really funny at all? Isn't it just terribly silly? The main character of it is pathetic, as Peter Sellers and Margaret Leighton as his wife both are extremely pathetic, but one thing cannot be denied here: the acting is exceptionally outstanding. Peter Sellers as the pathetic old general married to a terrible dinosaur of a morbidly sick woman, having nothing but his memories and his fascination of young pretty girls to live for, makes one of his most remarkable performances. Even Dany Robin makes a pathetic character, as she has waited 17 years for Peter and doesn't get him anyway, although he now retires and wants to leave his wife. There are of course some hilarious scenes, but the general pathetic character drowns them in melancholy and makes them indifferent and constructed. Another great asset of the film is Richard Addinsell's music. The waltz adds a romantic touch to all the misery, which will remain as a lasting impression. I never liked Jean Anouilh's plays, there was always some dark bitterness about them, and his adaptation of "Anna Karenina" for the screen kills Tolstoy. I saw this film now for the third time and for the first time all through, since I never could bear with it earlier. Now I found it passable, especially for the direction, the actors and the music, while the fun of it felt more artificially strained than ever.

This saucy, appetizingly frothy, superbly executed period farce finds comedy chameleon, Peter Sellers on tremendously engaging form as ageing cocksman, General Fitzjohn, this lugubrious Lothario's persistently thwarted attempts to finally bed the great love of his life, Ghislaine (Dany Robin) after a frustratingly protracted, 17 year courtship still provides a chucklesome wealth of tastefully rendered ribaldry! John Guillermin's joyous 'Waltz of the Toreadors' is blessed with a truly dynamite cast, with exquisite work from, Cyril Cusack, Margaret Leighton, and, Dany Robin, an effervescent text, and, perhaps, it might also be argued that, John Guillermin's charming, fabulously frolicsome farce showcases one of, Peter Sellers more meticulously crafted comedy creations.

I saw this on cable recently, out of curiosity more than anything else, and I wasn't sure I was really going to watch it. However, it turned out to be quite a little gem that I would recommend for those of us who have a few years on them. Peter Sellers, who was only in his 30s at the time, puts on aging makeup and plays a retired general around the turn of the 19th century who is still chasing skirts (Sellers appears in flashbacks looking his real age). It is a bittersweet look at marriage, sexual desire, maturity, the advantage men have over women with respect to aging, etc. And, to its credit, it doesn't have the stock Hollywood ending one might expect.

Based quite loosely upon a play of the same name by Jean Anouilh, this film has been designed not merely as a showcase for the oversize comedic talent of Peter Sellers, but also, due to excessive producer interference, as a sex farce where character predominates over language, after the manner of a well-wrought and linear work of theatre. A droll script by Wolf Mankowitz transposes the action from post World War II France to early 20th century Sussex, arranging the characters in the story-propelled manner of the playwright, whose intensive exploration of the spirit becomes increasingly prominent as the work runs its course, greatly assisted by sensitive performances from Sellers, as the libidinous General Leo Fitzjohn, and by Margaret Leighton as Emily, his suffering wife. The plot spirals about the freshly retired General Fitzjohn and his longwhile Gallic inamorata, Ghislaine (Dany Robin) who have, as seen in a series of flashbacks, never been able to complete their love, but who are apparently finally going to be able to do so; that is, if a series of latter-day obstacles might be overcome. The picture is directed smoothly by John Guillermin, and there are excellent performances from Cyril Cusack as Dr. Grogan, the General's best friend, and John Fraser as a naive subaltern assigned to Fitzjohn, while a magnificent score is contributed by Richard Addinsell, one of his best for the screen, notable for its unreserved use of a minor key to accompany romantic and comic events. Unlike his Absurdist contemporaries, Anouilh never abandoned a sense of existential despair throughout his dramas, and this production succeeds in creating tension between Fitzjohn's sense of loss of place and his ability to forge forward after his natural urges, as evidenced by the delicious ending.

General Leo Saint-Pé and his 'mad' wife Amelie had first appeared in 1948 in 'Ardele' of Jean Anouilh. These two characters resurfaced four years later in 'Waltz of the Toreadors' by the same playwright. The first of these, in common with most of Anouilh's plays, is rarely performed nowadays. The second however has enjoyed many revivals and the role of the General has proved irresistible to such luminaries as Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffiths, Melvyn Douglas, Trevor Howard and Sir Ralph Richardson.

In this 'loose'(to put it mildly) adaptation by Wolf Mankowitz we have Peter Sellers. Therein lies the problem.

He has given us not so much a character as a caricature and whether by intention or not, an extension of Major Bloodnok from 'The Goon Show'.

The film's poster declares this to be 'a rollicking comedy' in which 'Peter Sellers strikes again' and has Sellers, resembling someone from an Ealing comedy, pinching a maid's bottom!

Critics from the first have been quick to point out the contrast in Anouilh's play between comedy and pathos, farce and cruelty.

Director John Guillermin resented that some of the comedy scenes from his film were cut. Judging by the ones left in the exclusion of the others would seem to be a blessing.

It is indeed the cruelty that is most apparent here. The cruelty of Life with its resentments, regrets, lost illusions, dashed hopes and the inexorable passing of Time.

The tragedy mainly belongs to the General's wife, played to perfection by the superlative Margaret Leighton. As the 'maiden' who after seventeen years is still determined to consummate her love for the General (if you can believe that you can believe anything!) we have the divine and delectable Dany Robin. Her Gallic style and intoxicating French accent are alas totally at variance with the other 'anglicised' characters and the Sussex setting. As the local doctor Cyril Cusack as always quietly steals all of his scenes.

The original play was styled by Anouilh as one of his 'grating black comedies'.

What a pity that the makers of this film, with an obvious view to the 'box-office', have lacked the courage to realise his concept. A pity also that this play has never been filmed in France by a top notch director. Watching this raises the question once again as to whether Sellers was a good actor or just a brilliant mimic. For this viewer at any rate, the jury is still out.