The Chairman (1969)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Jay Richard Kennedy (novel)
Ben Maddow (screenplay)

Release Date:

July 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

"This is it. They're finally together. Right now we can detonate our explosive and destroy the Chairman."

Plot:

An American scientist (Gregory Peck) is sent to Red China to steal the formula for a newly developed agricultural enzyme...

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Spy | Cold War | Communism | Based On Novel

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	John Hathaway
Anne Heywood	...	Kay Hanna
Arthur Hill	...	Shelby
Alan Dobie	...	Benson
Conrad Yama	...	The Chairman
Zienia Merton	...	Ting Ling
Ori Levy	...	Shertov
Eric Young	...	Yin
Burt Kwouk	...	Chang Shou
Alan White	...	Gardner
Keye Luke	...	Professor Soong Li
Francesca Tu	...	Soong Chu (as Francisca Tu)
Mai Ling	...	Stewardess
Gordon Sterne	...	U.S. Airforce Sergeant
Robert Lee	...	Hotel Night Manager
Helen Horton	...	Susan Wright
Keith Bonnard	...	Chinese Officer
Cecil Cheng	...	Soldier
Laurence Herder	...	Russian Guard (as Lawrence Herder)
Simon Cain	...	U.S. Signals Captain
Anthony Chinn	...	Chinese Officer
Edward Cast	...	Audio Room Technician

Directed by
J. Lee Thompson

Writing credits
Jay Richard Kennedy		(novel)
Ben Maddow		(screenplay)

Produced by
Mort Abrahams	....	producer
Arthur P. Jacobs	....	executive producer
Pepi Lenzi	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
John Wilcox
Ted Moore		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Richard Best

Casting by
Weston Drury Jr.		(as Weston Drury Jnr.)

Art Direction by
Peter Mullins

Costume Design by
Anna Duse

Makeup Department
Trevor Crole-Rees	....	makeup artist
Bernadette Ibbetson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
David Korda	....	production manager
John D. Merriman	....	production supervisor (as John Merriman)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ferdinand Fairfax	....	assistant director

Art Department
Leon Davis	....	construction manager
Arthur Taksen	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound recordist
Dudley Messenger	....	sound recordist
William Trent	....	dubbing editor
John Hayward	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Otto Snel	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bob Kindred	....	camera operator (as Robert Kindred)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tiny Nicholls	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Jerry Goldsmith	....	conductor
Gary Hughes	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Paul Brown Constable	....	title designer (as Paul Brown-Constable)
Tim Hampton	....	location manager
Kay Mander	....	continuity

Production Companies

• APJAC Productions
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
• Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1969) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Company (1969) (UK) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox Video (1984) (Belgium) (video)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Ptolemy  titles

Also Known As:

The Most Dangerous Man in the World (UK)

Runtime:

USA:98 min (FMC Library Print) | Spain:93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A | Finland:(Banned) (1969) (theatrical) | Finland:K-12 (1989) (video) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

APJAC Productions

Trivia:

Used the lab set left over from Fox's Fantastic Voyage (1966).

Political/ spies/ thriller about Mao's contemporary China with splendid Gregory Peck

An American scientific named Hathaway(Gregory Peck, after his acting in Stalking moon),winner of Nobel prize, is enlisted by British Intelligence Service and assigned to Mao's Red China to retrieve a formula about a revolutionary agricultural enzyme that eliminates starvation ,diseases and multiply mass production. His bosses(Arthur Hill, Alan Dobie)have implanted a microchip in his head for placing him in the solitary mission whose unique contact is Chang(Burt Kwouk, usual in Peter Sellers' Pink Panther). But he doesn't know that can be exploded if the mission fails. Hathaway leaves his girlfriend Kay(Anne Heywood) and aboard airplane to Hong Kong. Later he's transported to north of China, nearly Russia, where finds to professor Soon Li(Keye Luke, the master in Kung-Fu series).There Hathaway interviews President Mao (Conrad Yama).

This is a politic/fiction/thriller, plenty of intrigue, suspense and action-packed in its final part. The film is an espionage story originally written by Ben Maddow with historical communists remarks during Mao Tse Tung period, as the'Great leap' and 'Red book of Mao'. Packs colorful and evocative cinematography shot in Pinewood studios of London by John Wilcox and uncredited Ted Moore. Moving and suspenseful musical score by the master Jerry Goldsmith.The film is lavishly produced by Mort Abrahams and Arthur P Jacobs who previously produced 'Planet of apes'.The motion picture is middling directed by J.L. Thomson(1914-2002), during his splendor and successful time in the 60s, when he directed 'Mackenna's gold, Cape fear, Taras Bulba and Guns of Navarone'; though in his last period he only directed Charles Bronson vehicles, such as 'Death wish 4, Kinjite, St Ives,Messenger of Death'among others. The movie will like to Gregory Peck devotees.