| Interlude | |
| Director: | Kevin Billington |
| Producer: | David Deutsch Jack Hanbury |
| Screenplay: | Lee Langley Hugh Leonard |
| Starring: | Oskar Werner Barbara Ferris Virginia Maskell |
| Music: | Georges Delerue |
| Cinematography: | Gerry Fisher |
| Editing: | Bert Bates |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Studio: | Domino Films |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Runtime: | 113 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $1.6 million (US/Canada)[1] |
Interlude is a 1968 British drama film directed by Kevin Billington, and starring Oskar Werner, Barbara Ferris and Virginia Maskell.
The film is a loose remake of the 1957 American film Interlude directed by Douglas Sirk. It was Maskell's final film as she died in January 1968, five months before its release.
A famous male conductor gives an interview to an attractive young female reporter. He speaks a bit too frankly and ends up being given an unwanted sabbatical from conducting. He begins an affair with the young reporter during his interlude, and the accumulation of differences in their ages and background begins to mount.
The film was shot at Shepperton Studios and on location around London at various places including the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, Fountain Court in Temple, Chelsea, and the Royal Festival Hall.[2] The Zelter family home was shot at Binfield Manor in Berkshire, and Bodiam Castle and The Mermaid Inn, Rye in East Sussex were used for filming. The film's sets were designed by art director Tony Woollard.[3]
Singer Timi Yuro performed the title song "Interlude".[4] Another version by Yuro was released commercially. The song was covered in 1994 as duet by Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux.
Variety gave an enthusiastic review, writing "All the excitement and ecstacy [''sic''], as well as the bittersweet, foredoomed disenchantment of extra-marital romance are contained in the original screenplay. Strong writing, superior acting and firstrate direction make this a powerful, personal drama."[5]
Time Out said, "Billington mercifully avoids the excesses of 'Swinging London', and his observant delineation of the discrepancy between the characters' would-be sophistication and their actual stock responses is, on the whole, well supported by the performances."[6]
TV Guide said the film does not capture the level of films like Intermezzo and Brief Encounter, but praised the chemistry between Werner and Ferris.[7] Renata Adler of The New York Times criticized Interlude, saying its narrative could not support the film.[8] However, she added, "There are two remarkable supporting performances: one, by Donald Sutherland, as a lisping, bumbling, thoroughly decent family friend; the other by the late Virginia Maskell, as the beautiful, intelligent wife in pain."