The Visit (1964)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Bernhard Wicki

Writers:

Ben Barzman (screenplay)
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (play)

Release Date:

11 September 1964 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

"I want my lover killed..." She will corrupt a whole town to buy the death of the man who betrayed her!

Plot:

Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town...

Plot Keywords:

Rural | Murder | Greed | Foreign Language Adaptation | Reunion

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Ingrid Bergman	...	Karla Zachanassian
Anthony Quinn	...	Serge Miller
Irina Demick	...	Anya
Paolo Stoppa	...	Doctor
Hans Christian Blech	...	Captain Dobrik
Romolo Valli	...	Town Painter
Valentina Cortese	...	Mathilda Miller
Claude Dauphin	...	Bardick
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Innkeeper
Marco Guglielmi	...	Chesco
Jacques Dufilho	...	Fisch
Giorgio Sciommer	...	Hair Stylist
Fausto Tozzi	...	Darvis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Inna Alexeievna
Mario Mandalari Andersen
María Badmajew		(as Maria Badmayer)
Silla Bettini
Roberto Bruno
Delia Casciani
Pina D'Alvia
Ermelinda De Felice		(as Linda De Felice)
Gustavo De Nardo	...	Station Master
Giovanni Di Benedetto		(as Gianni De Benedetto)
Marianne Leibl
Ignazio Leone
Giancarlo Lolli
Lelio Luttazzi	...	1st Idler
Dante Maggio	...	Cadek
Tiberio Mitri	...	Ahtlet
Linda Moretti
Richard Münch	...	Teacher
Renzo Palmer	...	Conductor
Umberto Raho
Carlo Reali
Marcella Rovena	...	Mayor's Wife
Ernst Schröder	...	Mayor
Leonard Steckel	...	Priest
Jacopo Tecchi
Lina Tedeschi

Also Known As:

Der Besuch (West Germany)
Karla (West Germany) (working title)
La rancune (France)
La vendetta della signora (Italy)
La visite (France) (working title)
La visite de la vieille dame (France) (working title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA | West Germany | France | Italy

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:16 | UK:X (cut) | Finland:K-16 | Portugal:17 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Ponte Galeria, Capranica, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Cinecittà

Trivia:

The New York production of "The Visit" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, adapted by Maurice Valency, opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater (And starred Lunt and Fontanne) in New York on Nov. 29, 1958, ran for 189 performances and was nominated for the 1959 Tony Award for the Best Play.

Movie Connections:

Version of Hyènes (1992)

Tepid film sparked by Bergman's superb performance.

THE VISIT is a disappointment - the play adaptation promises great drama and character development, but the filmmakers were not up to the task. The results are rather bland and tepid. Ingrid Bergman outshines the lot of them by giving a performance of style, passion and controlled rage. She deserved an Oscar nom for her work here but was shut out, probably due to the film's poor showing at the box office. All around her are woefully inept, including Anthony Quinn. Her parade of stylish (though not exceptional) costumes earned the film an Oscar nom for Costume Design - undeserved. This is a rarity, not on video and very hard to track down - TCM shows it once in a coon's age. Its only value is in the marvelous Bergman performance - for this alone it should be made available on home video.