Elizabeth Taylor in "The V.I.P.'s" (1963)

Elizabeth Taylor in "The V.I.P.'s" (image from JSR Pages)

REVIEW:
At the time of the start of this film's production, Taylor and Burton were the planet's most famous couple. They had started their stormy love affair on the set of "Cleopatra" in Rome, and "Cleopatra" was still not released. The Vatican had accused Taylor of "erotic vagrancy", and the U.S. Senate were about to introduce a law to ban Taylor and Burton ever put foot again in America. The Taylor-Burton affair was so notorious that it reached all the levels of the Western society. When the publicist Warren Cowan visited the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy asked him: "Warren, do you think Elizabeth Taylor will marry Richard Burton?".

Producer Anatole de Grunwald, a friend of Richard Burton's and the man who had given Burton his first appearance on the big screen in "The Last Days of Dolwyn" (1949), wanted to make a movie, so that he could take advantage of Burton's recent notoriety and of the the immense publicity of "Cleopatra" and he wanted to release the film before "Cleopatra"! De Grunwald wanted Sophia Loren in the role of the runaway wife in "The VIP's", although he knew that Elizabeth Taylor was the only actress who could guarantee a universal box-office success, but her recent tracheotomy and her frequent health problems during filming "Cleopatra", made Elizabeth Taylor a risk to any studio. She could no longer be assured, especially after Lloyd's had lost millions of dollars due to Elizabeth Taylor's illnesses. But Richard Burton knew very well that the name of his lucky star was Elizabeth Taylor, and de Grunwald decided to risk, knowing Taylor's ability to attract audiences into the theaters. A risk that would bring him 5 times more money than he invested! "Sophia can stay at her home in Rome, I'll make this movie" said Elizabeth Taylor and in December 1962 she went to London to film this production. Taylor was paid $1 million and Burton $500,000, plus the appropriate percentage of revenues for both. "The VIP's" was a new blockbuster that cost 3.3 million dollars, a piece of cake, judging by the standards of "Cleopatra" ...

The marital drama in the movie was almost a real life copy-paste of the two stars: Burton, with a guilty conscience, was unable to choose between Taylor and his wife. While Burton was staying at the Dorchester Hotel together with Taylor, Sybil Burton and their two daughters lived in another part of London. Burton was stressed and drank massively, oscillating between wife and mistress. Finally, after five weeks from the start of the film, Burton and Sybil decided to divorce, and as Burton said, he was ready to make an honest woman out of Taylor. Based on the play by Terence Rattigan's about chance, about how people can change their destinies during a flight delay (due to a fog at Heathrow), the film had an all-star cast: Orson Welles, Louis Jourdan, Elsa Martinelli, Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith, Margaret Rutherford and, of course, the Taylor-Burton couple. The Roman scandal moved to London, in a lush setting and the drama behind the screen was far more interesting than the drama in the movie!

The beginning of the film has the gift to fascinate everybody. This is what the public sees on the big silver screen: Rolls-Royce cars, red carpets leading to the VIP Lounge from Heathrow airport, camera flashes, champagne on ice, elegant hats, martini and cognac glasses, expensive cigarettes, all these in order to make the public want to be a part of the fascinating world of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The film was inspired by a true story: Vivien Leigh supposedly wanted to leave her husband, Laurence Olivier, and flee with her boyfriend, Peter Finch. The flight was delayed by the fog at Heathrow and Vivien Leigh changed her mind...

From this story, Rattigan has developed a web of intrigue, with a group of people with their destinies, forced to be in the same place at the same time because of the London fog: a filmmaker must leave England to escape taxes, a duchess is going to work in America to get the money to support her castle, an industrialist is on the verge of bankruptcy etc...Not incidentally, "The VIP's" resembles "Grand Hotel" (1932), because M.G.M. initially wanted a remake of this film that starred Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Joan Crawford about a story of a Berlin luxury hotel with a diversity of guests, whose steps and destinies intersect during their stay there.

Anatole "Tolly" de Grunwald, the film's producer used to say he liked beautiful films about wealth and luxury and he got exactly that: the tycoon Richard Burton and his sparkling with diamonds wife Liz Taylor, both have dinner with rich friends on a huge yacht; Louis Jourdan has expensive costumes and plays poker; the Italian actress Elsa Martinelli is a rising diva; Margaret Rutherford is the Duchess always at war with her hats; Rod Taylor fights to save his tractor factory and Orson Welles is a film mogul always running to avoid taxes.

De Grunwald planned the production to last 10 weeks, wanting to finish it before the release of "Cleopatra". The filming began even before the end of the production at "Cleopatra". "The VIP's" was ready three months after the premiere of "Cleopatra" and it was a mega box office hit in America, in Europe and all over the world. The public simply could not get enough of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

FILM TITLE
"THE V.I.P's"/"HOTEL INTERNATIONAL"/(U.S.A. - United Kingdom/M.G.M./1963)

PROMO
"The love story of the modern times" (M.G.M).
After three years of absence from the big screen, in 1963 Elizabeth Taylor is back with two movies, two blockbusters, both on top at the box office: "Cleopatra" and "The VIP's. Her fame is universal, and the press reported that only three people were known by absolutely everyone, in every country in the world: the Pope, the Queen Elizabeth and Elizabeth Taylor. The Taylor-Burton couple is the atraction of this film and the reason of its huge financial success, so they both do what is expected of them: they are beautiful, elegant and elegantly suffering. Taylor manages to deliver a great nervous tension and a voluptuous appearance.

OVERVIEW
When a dense London fog paralyzes the air traffic, the lives of several people are profoundly affected. As the title says, they all are part of the social elite. Elizabeth Taylor wants to leave her husband, who is an enormously wealthy tycoon (Richard Burton), in favor of a playboy (Louis Jourdan). A film producer (Orson Welles) hopes to leave London with his new Italian starlet (Elsa Martinelli) to avoid paying taxes. An Australian businessman (Rod Taylor), accompanied by a lovely and devoted secretary (Maggie Smith) is eager to get to New York to avoid the bankruptcy of his firm. An impoverished aristocrat, a nonconformist duchess (Margaret Rutherford) reluctantly goes to Florida to earn money, because somehow her castle must be maintained. Before the fog goes away, the lives of these characters intersect, and the audience will witness the drama with unexpected twists.

CAST
Elizabeth Taylor (Frances Andros), Richard Burton (Paul Andrew), Louis Jourdan (Mark Champselle), Elsa Martinelli (Gloria Gritti), Margaret Rutherford (Duchess of Brighton), Maggie Smith (Miss Mead), Rod Taylor (Les Mangrum) Orson Welles (Max Buda), Linda Christian (Miriam Marshall).
DIRECTED BY
Anthony Asquith.
SCREEN PLAY
Terence Rattigan, after his own play.
PRODUCED BY
Anatole de Grunwald, Roy Parkinson.
MUSIC
Miklós Rózsa.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jack Hildyard.
COLOR
Metrocolor.
DURATION
119 minutes.
GENRE
drama, romance.
PRODUCTION DATES
between January to March 1963.
RELEASED
September 1963.

NOMINATED at
- BAFTA for best cinematography;
- Golden Globe for best supporting actress (Maggie Smith).
AWARDS
- Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Margaret Rutherford);
- Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (Margaret Rutherford);
- Golden Laurel for Best Supporting Actress (Margaret Rutherford).

TRIVIA
- the jewelry worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the film were from her personal collection; the emerald brooch was given to her by Richard Burton and the tiara from the early scenes was given to her by Mike Todd;
- the television man David Frost plays a role as a...television reporter;
- Margareth Rutherford, the classic interpreter of Miss Marple is the one who garnered applauses from the critics and won the Oscar;
- Maggie Smith, a young actress, was almost at her debut in films and her career took a steady upward path;
- in many countries, "The VIP's" premiered ahead of "Cleopatra";
- with this film, Elizabeth Taylor has restored her prestige as a serious professional actress, after the huge scandal of "Cleopatra";
- despite her health risk, the studios offered Elizabeth Taylor so many roles that she could have played in more than 5 films a year for a decade ahead;
- in the next few years Taylor chose to let Burton be "the first violin", being practically Richard Burton's best publicity agent.

Watch TRAILER here.