The Dance of Death (1969)

An egocentric artillery captain and his venomous wife engage in savage unremitting battles in their isolated island fortress of the coast of Sweden at the turn of the century. Alice, a ... See full summary »

Director:

David Giles

Writers:

C.D. Locock (translation), August Strindberg (play)

Stars:

Laurence Olivier, Geraldine McEwan, Robert Lang

Cast

Cast overview:
Laurence Olivier	...	Edgar
Geraldine McEwan	...	Alice
Robert Lang	...	Kurt
Janina Faye	...	Judith
Malcolm Reynolds	...	Allan
Jeanne Watts	...	Old Woman
Peter Penry-Jones	...	Lieutenant
Maggie Riley	...	Karen
Carolyn Jones	...	Jenny
Frederick Pyne	...	Sentry
Barry James	...	Sentry
David Ryall	...	Sentry

Storyline

An egocentric artillery captain and his venomous wife engage in savage unremitting battles in their isolated island fortress of the coast of Sweden at the turn of the century. Alice, a former actress who sacrificed her career for secluded military life with Edgar, reveals on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary, the veritable hell their marriage has been. Edgar, an aging schizoid who refuses to acknowledge his severe illness, struggles to sustain his ferocity and arrogance with an animal disregard for other people. Sensing that Alice together with her cousin and would-be lover, Kurt, may ally against him , retaliates with vicious force. Alice lures Kurt into the illusion of sharing a passionate assignation and recruits him in a plot to destroy Edgar.

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Plot Keywords:

island | marriage | sea captain | husband wife relationship | battle of wits | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1969 (UK)

Also Known As:

Haláltánc

Company Credits

Production Co:

BHE Films, National Theatre of Great Britain Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

149 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Quotes

Edgar: She's mad at me for not dying yesterday.
Alice: For not dying twenty-five years ago! For not dying before I was born!

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Connections

Version of Play Strindberg (1971)

User Reviews

A missing masterpiece?

I have been searching everywhere I can think of to try to obtain this movie. Olivier thought his performance as Edgar in this Strindberg masterpiece might have been the best piece of work he ever did, and the combination of Olivier and Strindberg ought to be electrifying. So the movie ought to be readily available. I gather the distributors are Paramount, but can find no information on how to discover anything: availability, price, location of archive copies -- it all seems to be a mystery. Terry Coleman refers to the movie in his biography of Olivier, and it shows up on records of Olivier filmography as made in 1969, with a cast list. But the film itself seems to have disappeared. Can anyone tell me where to find it? I am a Strindberg scholar, and this is a valuable record. I don't really have more to add, and have rated the film as a 10 only because this combination of talent ought to result in a masterpiece.