Separate Tables (1958)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Delbert Mann

Writers:

John Gay (writer)
Terence Rattigan (play)

Release Date:

18 December 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

The stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Ex Convict | Alcoholism | Class Differences | Writer

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Sibyl Railton-Bell
Rita Hayworth	...	Ann Shankland
David Niven	...	Major Angus Pollock
Wendy Hiller	...	Pat Cooper
Burt Lancaster	...	John Malcolm
Gladys Cooper	...	Mrs. Railton-Bell
Cathleen Nesbitt	...	Lady Matheson
Felix Aylmer	...	Mr. Fowler
Rod Taylor	...	Charles
Audrey Dalton	...	Jean
May Hallatt	...	Miss Meacham
Priscilla Morgan	...	Doreen

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording)

Certification:

Germany:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1998)

Filming Locations:

Stage 5, Samuel Goldwyn/Warnert Hollywood Studios, 1041 N. Formosa Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions

Trivia:

The original Broadway production of "Separate Tables" by Terence Rattigan opened at the Music Box Theater in New York on October 25, 1956, ran for 332 performances and was nominated for the 1957 Tony Award (New York City) for the Best Play. May Hallatt recreated her stage role in the movie version.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Major Pollock is handed the newspaper in the last scene of the movie, it is folded in half in one shot but folded in fourths in another - the evidence being the picture on the back 'half' being upright. In reality, if in half the picture would be upside down.

Quotes:

Pat Cooper: [to John about his relationship with Ann] When you're together, you slash each other to pieces. When you're alone, you slash yourselves to pieces.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Laverne & Shirley: Separate Tables (#5.26)" (1980)

Soundtrack:

Separate Tables

A Skillful Blending of Two One Act Plays

I visited London in 1993, and saw a west end revival of Terrance Rattigan's "Separate Tables" that starred Peter Bowles. It was very odd watching Bowles, whom I have seen playing so many upper crust comic types as in "The Irish R.M." on television, here playing two serious parts: a recovering alcoholic who meets his ex-wife at a hotel he is staying at, and a bluff, good natured military man who disgraces himself - and is facing ostracism as a result - in the same hotel. But these were separate plays, and each well done. Rattigan was a master (possibly the last one) of the "well made play" that Shaw condemned as artificial and fake. The "well made play" Bernard Shaw talked about was the type championed by the French dramatists Planche and Victorien Sardou. Structurally they were perfect, with the concentration on plot mechanism so strong as to diminish everything else. Shaw felt the play should say something. He failed to admit that some of his own plays (among his early ones) like "Caesar And Cleopatra" and "Arms And The Man" were "well made plays", with his own wit added. He also failed to notice that in the hands of a good dramatist (like Rattigan) a well made play could be very strong: "The Winslow Boy", "The Browning Version", "Separate Tables" - the credits prove the point.

As has been pointed out in another of these reviews Rattigan rewrote the plays as one play. This was not too difficult, as the only character in the two who was the same was the hotel manager (Wendy Hiller). Her part was built up a little (in the original she is a close friend of the Burt Lancaster character - here they have a relationship). Frequently people recall David Niven's dramatic triumph and Oscar in "Separate Tables" as the disgraced military man, but Hiller won her best supporting Oscar here (she did not win it for her lead performances in "Pygmalion", "Major Barbara", or "I Know Where I'm Going"). She deserved it, as a woman who sadly sees her chance for happiness swept away, but pulls herself together because she is a grown-up with responsibilities.

Lancaster and Rita Hayworth were formerly married (he a rising Labor Party politician, she a wealthy woman) only to find the tensions of his political career and their tempestuous relationship led to an act of violence that ended the marriage. But Hayworth finds she can't live without Lancaster, and he is willing to consider it again - as their play continues. Will they do it or not?

Niven is a bluff, hail-fellow-well-met type, who claims he was a Major in the army. He happens to be very close to Deborah Kerr, the daughter of autocratic Gladys Cooper. Kerr is quite brow-beaten, but Niven encourages her to try to think for herself. Then it turns out he has committed a sin - he broke the law by performing a dirty act, and was caught. Cooper, who hates anyone who stands up against her, learns of it, and uses it to cause Kerr to break with Niven, and to then try to get the hotel to force him out. Will she succeed or not?

Niven played his role with a degree of regret and humiliation rarely seen by his fans in three decades of film comedies. I have mentioned that he had a dark side, but this was one of the few times it was given full strength. It was worth waiting for, as he was superb.

So too were Hayworth, Kerr, Cooper, and the supporting cast. Rod Taylor and Audrey Dalton were good as the young married couple. But typically good was old Felix Aylmer. As the mild mannered professor who is willing to listen to Cooper's arguments about the need to get rid of that "pervert" for the sake of the hotel's reputation, and then gradually gets fed up with her self-righteous egotism until he starts leading a reaction against it he gave a terrific performance. He too deserved some recognition, but only his fans can give it to him now.