The Birthday Party (film)
Encyclopedia
The Birthday Party is a 1968 British drama film
directed by William Friedkin
, based on an unpublished screenplay by 2005 Nobel Laureate
Harold Pinter
, which he adapted from his own play The Birthday Party
, considered an example of Pinter's "comedy of menace"
.
, who is staying at a seaside boarding house; he is visited by two unexpected additional guests, menacing and mysterious strangers, Goldberg (Sydney Tafler
) and McCann (Patrick Magee
). Their neighbour, Lulu (Helen Fraser
) brings her a parcel, a boy's toy drum presented to Stanley as his "birthday present." Goldberg and McCann offer to host Stanley's birthday party after Stanley's landlady, Meg (Boles), played by Dandy Nichols
, tells them that it is Stanley's birthday, although Stanley protests that it is really not his birthday. In the course of the party, Goldberg and McCann break Stanley down and ultimately take him away from the house purportedly to get medical attention (from "Monty") in their car. The film ends (as the play ends) after Meg's husband Petey (Moultrie Kelsall
), a deckchair attendant, who did not attend the party because he was out playing cards, calls after Stanley, "Stan, don't let them tell you what to do"; at the end, Meg, still somewhat hung over, is unaware that Stanley has been taken away, since Petey has not told her that, and tells him that she was "the belle of the ball."
on 6 January 1969, critic Harold Clurman
described the film as "a fantasia of fear and prosecution," adding that "Pinter's ear is so keen, his method so economic and so shrewdly stylized, balancing humdrum realistic notations with suggestions of unfathomable violence, that his play succeeds in being both funny and horrific" (excerpted in HaroldPinter.org).
As the reviewer of the Evening Standard observed, in a description of the film published on 12 February 1970, the film, like the play, is "a study of domination that sows doubts, terrors, shuddering illuminations and terrifying apprehensions inside the four walls of a living-room in a seaside boarding-house where Stanley, (Robert Shaw), the lodger, has taken refuge from some guilt, crime, treachery, in fact Some Thing, never named" (excerpted in HaroldPinter.org).
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, based on an unpublished screenplay by 2005 Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, which he adapted from his own play The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (play)
The Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays...
, considered an example of Pinter's "comedy of menace"
Comedy of menace
Comedy of menace is a term used to describe the plays of David Campton, Nigel Dennis, N. F. Simpson, and Harold Pinter by drama critic Irving Wardle, borrowed from the subtitle of Campton's play The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace, in reviewing Pinter's and Campton's plays in Encore in 1958...
.
Plot
The protagonist is a lodger in his late 30s named Stanley (Webber), played by Robert ShawRobert Shaw (actor)
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life...
, who is staying at a seaside boarding house; he is visited by two unexpected additional guests, menacing and mysterious strangers, Goldberg (Sydney Tafler
Sydney Tafler
Sydney Tafler , was a British film and television actor, first appearing in London's West End in 1936, after two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, with Sir Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes....
) and McCann (Patrick Magee
Patrick Magee (actor)
Patrick Magee was a Northern Irish actor best known for his collaborations with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as his appearances in horror films and in Stanley Kubrick's films A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.-Early life:He was born Patrick McGee in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern...
). Their neighbour, Lulu (Helen Fraser
Helen Fraser
Helen Fraser is an English actress, a familiar face in many television comedies and dramas from the early 1960s to the present. She is now living in Halesworth, Suffolk.-Career:...
) brings her a parcel, a boy's toy drum presented to Stanley as his "birthday present." Goldberg and McCann offer to host Stanley's birthday party after Stanley's landlady, Meg (Boles), played by Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols
-References:* Dandy Nichols at screenonline.* Dandy Nichols at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.-External links:...
, tells them that it is Stanley's birthday, although Stanley protests that it is really not his birthday. In the course of the party, Goldberg and McCann break Stanley down and ultimately take him away from the house purportedly to get medical attention (from "Monty") in their car. The film ends (as the play ends) after Meg's husband Petey (Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Rowe Kelsall was a Scottish film and television character actor, who began his career in the industry as a radio station director and television producer...
), a deckchair attendant, who did not attend the party because he was out playing cards, calls after Stanley, "Stan, don't let them tell you what to do"; at the end, Meg, still somewhat hung over, is unaware that Stanley has been taken away, since Petey has not told her that, and tells him that she was "the belle of the ball."
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Robert Shaw Robert Shaw (actor) Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life... |
Stanley |
| Patrick Magee Patrick Magee (actor) Patrick Magee was a Northern Irish actor best known for his collaborations with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as his appearances in horror films and in Stanley Kubrick's films A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.-Early life:He was born Patrick McGee in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern... |
McCann |
| Dandy Nichols Dandy Nichols -References:* Dandy Nichols at screenonline.* Dandy Nichols at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.-External links:... |
Meg |
| Sydney Tafler Sydney Tafler Sydney Tafler , was a British film and television actor, first appearing in London's West End in 1936, after two years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, with Sir Seymour Hicks in The Man in Dress Clothes.... |
Goldberg |
| Moultrie Kelsall Moultrie Kelsall Moultrie Rowe Kelsall was a Scottish film and television character actor, who began his career in the industry as a radio station director and television producer... |
Petey |
| Helen Fraser Helen Fraser Helen Fraser is an English actress, a familiar face in many television comedies and dramas from the early 1960s to the present. She is now living in Halesworth, Suffolk.-Career:... |
Lulu |
| Bernadette Milnes | (uncredited) |
Critical reception
In his film review, published in The NationThe Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
on 6 January 1969, critic Harold Clurman
Harold Clurman
Harold Edgar Clurman was a visionary American theatre director and drama critic, "one of the most influential in the United States". He was most notable as one of the three founders of the New York City's Group Theatre...
described the film as "a fantasia of fear and prosecution," adding that "Pinter's ear is so keen, his method so economic and so shrewdly stylized, balancing humdrum realistic notations with suggestions of unfathomable violence, that his play succeeds in being both funny and horrific" (excerpted in HaroldPinter.org).
As the reviewer of the Evening Standard observed, in a description of the film published on 12 February 1970, the film, like the play, is "a study of domination that sows doubts, terrors, shuddering illuminations and terrifying apprehensions inside the four walls of a living-room in a seaside boarding-house where Stanley, (Robert Shaw), the lodger, has taken refuge from some guilt, crime, treachery, in fact Some Thing, never named" (excerpted in HaroldPinter.org).
External links
- "Films by Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party 1967" at HaroldPinter.org – The Official Website of the International Playwright Harold Pinter