Peter Glenville

Director

About

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Birth Place

London, England, GB

Born

October 28, 1913

Died

June 03, 1996

Biography

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Peter Glenville was responsible for directing several feature films, starting with "The Prisoner" (1955) and concluding with "The Comedians in Africa" (1967), a sequel to his somewhat awkward adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Comedians" (1967). Perhaps it was during Glenville's theatrical tenure, as an actor in the 1930s and a director in the 40s and 50s, that he developed his taste in ...

Filmography

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The Comedians (1967)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Term of Trial (1962)

Summer and Smoke (1961)

Me and the Colonel (1958)

Photos & Videos

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Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) It's A Civic Duty

Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Hello, Cavalier!

Notes

"Cinema is a literature of images. Theater is a literature of ideas."--Glenville quoted in his obituary in THE NEW YORK TIMES, June 5, 1996

Biography

Peter Glenville was responsible for directing several feature films, starting with "The Prisoner" (1955) and concluding with "The Comedians in Africa" (1967), a sequel to his somewhat awkward adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Comedians" (1967). Perhaps it was during Glenville's theatrical tenure, as an actor in the 1930s and a director in the 40s and 50s, that he developed his taste in films. Over the course of twelve years, Glenville directed clubfooted costume dramas and stock boulevard farces, usually fronted by high-profile thespians. Onstage, he guided Maurice Evans and Edna Best in "The Browning Version," Beatrice Straight in "The Innocents," Olivia de Havilland in "Romeo and Juliet" and Bert Lahr and Angela Lansbury in "Hotel Paradiso." He also directed the original stage productions as well as the feature versions of "The Prisoner" (with Alec Guinness recreating his stage triumph) and "Becket" (onstage with Anthony Quinn and Laurence Olivier and on film with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole). Other feature credits include "Summer and Smoke" (1961), which earned its star Geraldine Page an Oscar nomination, and the all-star "The Comedians," with Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Ustinov.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

The Comedians (1967)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Term of Trial (1962)

Summer and Smoke (1961)

Me and the Colonel (1958)

The Prisoner (1956)

Cast (Feature Film)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Georges Feydeau

Me and the Colonel (1958)

British submarine commander

Writer (Feature Film)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Term of Trial (1962)

Producer (Feature Film)

The Comedians (1967)

Hotel Paradiso (1966)

Production Companies (Feature Film)

The Comedians (1967)

Director (Short)

The Comedians in Africa (1967)

Cast (Short)

The Comedians in Africa (1967)

Life Events

1939

Film acting debut "His Brother's Keeper"

1944

Engaged to direct at London's Old Vic theatre

1955

Feature directing debut "The Prisoner",

1962

Wrote the screenplay in addition to directing "Term of Trial"

1967

Final feature venture, "The Comedians in Africa"

Videos

Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) It's A Civic Duty After a childhood prologue and credits, Mississippi spinster Alma (Geraldine Page) with her dotty mother (Una Merkel) and minister father (Malcolm Atterbury), sings a Spanish song (“La Golondria”) at holiday festivities while her dashing neighbor Johnny (Laurence Harvey) arrives home, in Summer And Smoke, 1961, from a Tennessee Williams play.

Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Hello, Cavalier! Minding her needy mother (Una Merkel), Mississippian Alma (Academy Award-nominated Geraldine Page) finds cause to visit her dashing if reckless neighbor Johnny (Laurence Harvey), a young doctor home for the summer, finally managing an invitation, in Summer And Smoke, 1961.

Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Come Watch The Birdie Motivated partly by guilt for standing her up days earlier, fun-loving Mississippi doctor Johnny (Laurence Harvey) brings his neighbor, patient and life-long admirer Alma (Geraldine Page) to the casino (run by Thomas Gomez), where his paramour Rosa (Rita Moreno) dances, in Summer And Smoke, 1961, from the Tennessee Williams play.

Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Unless Maybe I Trap You! Hard-partying young Mississippi doctor Johnny (Laurence Harvey) has skipped an engagement with his neighbor (Geraldine Page as Alma), for a night at the casino, for gambling, cock-fighting and the owner’s fiery daughter Rosa (Rita Moreno), in Tennessee Williams’ Summer And Smoke, 1961.

Hotel Paradiso (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Difficulty In Speaking Aspiring philanderer Boniface (Alec Guinness) is pleased to hear his wife (Peggy Mount) will be out for the evening, their lawyer Martin (Douglas Byng) visiting Paris, presents a problem, early in director Peter Glenville's Hotel Paradiso, 1966, also starring Gina Lollobrigida.

Hotel Paradiso (1966) -- (Movie Clip) He'd Be Crushed To Death On location in Paris, Peter Glenville has directed himself through the title sequence but not yet made clear he's playing the playwright Georges Feydeau, instead introducing his actors, Robert Morley, Gina Lollobrigida, Alec Guinness and Peggy Mount, opening Hotel Paradiso, 1966.

Hotel Paradiso (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Even More Desirable Arriving at the Paris hotel for which the movie is named, Boniface (Alec Guinness) and Marcelle (Gina Lollobrigida) bring differing levels of enthusiasm to their first assignation, Akim Tamiroff their host, her husband (Robert Morley) also a guest, in Hotel Paradiso, 1966.

Term Of Trial -- (Movie Clip) Walking To School Today... Weir (Laurence Olivier) addresses his class, including Sarah Miles (as "Shirley") and Terence Stamp (as "Mitchell), both making their screen debut, early in Peter Glenville's Term Of Trial, 1963, from a novel by James Barlow.

Prisoner, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Human Weakness Opening scene, in which the never-named Cardinal (Alec Guinness) is introduced, in the role all-but openly based on the Hungarian Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, from The Prisoner, 1955, directed by Peter Glenville, from the play by Bridget Boland.

Prisoner, The (1955) -- (Movie Clip) The Completed Confession The first encounter between Alec Guinness, the nameless cardinal and principal character, and his communist antagonist, Jack Hawkins, known only as "the interrogator," briefly recalling their shared experience in World War Two, in The Prisoner, 1955.

Comedians, The (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Our Greatest Achievement! Disembarking in Port-au-Prince, evangelical vegeterains the Smiths (Lillian Gish, Paul Ford) and retired "Major" Jones (Alec Guinness), met by Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), then a brief appearance by Petit Pierre (Roscoe Lee Browne), early in Graham Greene's The Comedians, 1967

Comedians, The (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Haiti Means Hate! Brown (Richard Burton) delivers the Smiths (Lillian Gish, Paul Ford) and the widow Philipot (Gloria Foster) to the funeral for her activist husband, met by Tonton Macoutes, then by Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), in The Comedians, 1967, from Graham Greene's novel and screenplay.

Becket - (Re-issue Trailer) England's King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) appoints his best friend (Richard Burton) Archbishop of Canterbury then turns on him in Becket (1964).

Comedians, The - (Original Trailer) American and British tourists get caught up in political unrest in Haiti in Graham Greene's The Comedians (1967) starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Hotel Paradiso - (Original Trailer) Chaos results when a mild mannered man (Alec Guinness) tries to have an affair with his neighbor's wife (Gina Lollobrigida) at Hotel Paradiso (1966).

Summer And Smoke - (Original Trailer) A small-town spinster's repressed love for the local rebel spells danger in Tennessee Williams' Summer And Smoke (1961).

Family

Mary Glenville

Grandmother

Actor. Appeared with the Abbey Theater, Dublin, Ireland.

Shaun Glenville

Father

Mime.

Mary Ward

Mother

Mime.

Bibliography

Notes

"Cinema is a literature of images. Theater is a literature of ideas."--Glenville quoted in his obituary in THE NEW YORK TIMES, June 5, 1996

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