The Visit (1964 film)

1964 film by Bernhard Wicki

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The Visit

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Bernhard Wicki
Written by| Ben Barzman
Maurice Valency
Based on| The Visit
by Friedrich Durrenmatt
Produced by| Julien Derode
Anthony Quinn
Starring| Ingrid Bergman
Anthony Quinn
Cinematography| Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by| Samuel E. Beetley
Françoise Diot
Music by| Richard Arnell
Hans-Martin Majewski

Production
company

*     * Darryl F. Zanuck Productions
* Les Films du Siècle
* P.E.C.F.
* Dear Film
* Deutsche Fox Film

Distributed by| 20th Century Fox

Release dates

* 6 May 1964 (1964-5-6) (Cannes)
* 31 July 1964 (1964-07-31) (France)
* 17 September 1964 (1964-09-17) (West Germany)
* 4 October 1964 (1964-10-4) (U.S.)

Running time

| 100 minutes
Country|

*     * United States[1]
* France[2]
* West Germany[2]
* Italy[2]

Language| English
Box office| $1.1 million (US/ Canada)[3]

The Visit is a 1964 drama film directed by Bernhard Wicki, adapted by Ben Barzman and Maurice Valency from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1956 play of the same name. It stars Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, who also produced. Irina Demick, Paolo Stoppa, Hans Christian Blech, Romolo Valli, Valentina Cortese and Claude Dauphin play supporting roles.

An international co-production between American, French, West German and Italian companies, The Visit premiered at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. It was released in the United States on September 17, 1964, and received generally positive reviews.

## Plot

[edit]

Karla Zachanassian, a wealthy woman, returns to the decaying village where she grew up. She had been run out of town twenty years prior when, at 17 years old, she was impregnated by local shopkeeper Serge Miller; at his trial, Serge denied paternity and bribed two local men to testify that they had slept with Karla, destroying her credibility and ensuring he would not be found liable. The greedy townspeople now welcome Karla back in the hopes that she will give them money to revive the town, which has fallen into economic depression since the closing of the local factory.

At a reception in her honour, Karla offers to give the town $2,000,000 ($1,000,000 for the town itself, and $1,000,000 to be divided equally amongst the population) on the condition that Serge be put to death. The townspeople act indignant, but soon turn on Serge, while Karla watches gleefully from her hotel. First, they demand expensive items from Serge's shop on credit. Later, Karla imports expensive items such as televisions, furniture, and designer clothes, and offers them to the town on credit without down payment. She also befriends Anya, a young, naïve girl who is having an affair with the much older, married chief of police, whom Karla sees as a young version of herself.

Serge appeals to the corrupt mayor and chief of police, only to find they have been seduced as well. When Karla's pet panther escapes, the town organises an armed posse to find it, which quickly turns into a lynch mob targeting Serge; at this point, even his wife forsakes him. Serge tries to flee the town, but the population refuses to let him leave. Eventually, the council (which has expelled Serge) reinstates the death penalty, and convenes a kangaroo court in the town square. The mayor and chief of police offer Serge the chance to die by suicide, but he refuses. He is found guilty at the trial and sentenced to death.

Karla immediately hands over two $1,000,000 cheques, to the cheers of the crowd. Karla then stops the execution and tells the citizens that they will have to live with the guilt of their murderous choice for the rest of their lives, while Miller will have to live with the knowledge that his wife, friends, and neighbours were willing to kill him for money.

Karla leaves the town, after giving Anya enough money and a car of her own to escape her fate.

## Cast

[edit]

* Ingrid Bergman as Karla Zachannassian
* Anthony Quinn as Serge Miller
* Paolo Stoppa as the Doctor
* Valentina Cortese as Mathilda Miller
* Irina Demick as Anya
* Romolo Valli as the Town Painter
* Claude Dauphin as Bardick
* Jacques Dufilho as Constable Fisch
* Hans Christian Blech as Captain Dobrik
* Richard Münch as the Teacher
* Ernst Schröder as the Mayor
* Leonard Steckel as the Priest
* Eduardo Ciannelli as the Innkeeper
* Marco Guglielmi as Constable Chesco
* Lelio Luttazzi as First Idler
* Dante Maggio as Cadek
* Renzo Palmer as the Conductor
* Fausto Tozzi as Darvis
* Max Frisch as Himself

## Production

[edit]

The fictional Central European village of Güllen was built on the backlots of Cinecittà Studios in Rome, while the exteriors were shot on-location in the town of Capranica.[1]

The film contains several differences from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's original play. A significant alteration is in the ending. In the film, Serge Miller's life is spared, but in the original play, the character (named Alfred Ill) is killed.

Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn would later costar again in the 1970 romantic melodrama A Walk in the Spring Rain.

## Reception

[edit]

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $6,100,000 in film rentals to break even but earned only $2,635,000, losing money for the studio.[4]

### Awards and nominations

[edit]

* Bernhard Wicki was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.[5]
* The film received a nomination for Best Costume Design-Black and White (René Hubert) at the Academy Awards.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1964

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "The Visit (1964)". AFI|Catalog. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
2. ^ a b c "Der BESUCH (1964)". BFI. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
3. ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1964", Variety, 6 January 1965 p 39. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
4. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 323. ISBN 9780818404856.
5. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Visit". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
6. ^ "The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved September 21, 2014.

## External links

[edit]

* The Visit at IMDb
* The Visit at Rotten Tomatoes
* The Visit at the TCM Movie Database
* The Visit at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Bernhard Wicki

* Die Brücke (1959)
* The Miracle of Father Malachia (1961)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* The Visit (1964)
* Morituri (1965)
* The Conquest of the Citadel (1977)
* Spider's Web (1989)

* v
* t
* e

Darryl F. Zanuck

Producer|

* Old San Francisco (1927)
* The First Auto (1927)
* The Jazz Singer (1927)
* Tenderloin (1928)
* The Show of Shows (1929)
* Three Faces East (1930)
* The Doorway to Hell (1931)
* Little Caesar (1931)
* Illicit (1931)
* The Public Enemy (1931)
* The Man Who Played God (1932)
* The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
* Doctor X (1932)
* Life Begins (1932)
* The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
* Three on a Match (1932)
* 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
* Parachute Jumper (1933)
* 42nd Street (1933)
* The Working Man (1933)
* Ex-Lady (1933)
* The Bowery (1933)
* Blood Money (1933)
* Moulin Rouge (1934)
* Looking for Trouble (1934)
* Born to Be Bad (1934)
* Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
* The Mighty Barnum (1934)
* Folies Bergère de Paris (1935)
* Les Misérables (1935)
* Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
* Call of the Wild (1935)
* Metropolitan (1935)
* Thanks a Million (1935)
* The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935)
* Professional Soldier (1935)
* The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
* It Had to Happen (1936)
* A Message to Garcia (1936)
* Under Two Flags (1936)
* The Road to Glory (1936)
* Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
* Sing, Baby, Sing (1936)
* Pigskin Parade (1936)
* Seventh Heaven (1937)
* Slave Ship (1937)
* Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
* Wake Up and Live (1937)
* Thin Ice (1937)
* Lancer Spy (1937)
* In Old Chicago (1938)
* Happy Landing (1938)
* International Settlement (1938)
* Kentucky Moonshine
* Always Goodbye (1938)
* Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
* Just Around the Corner (1938)
* Little Miss Broadway (1938)
* My Lucky Star (1938)
* Submarine Patrol (1938)
* Jesse James (1939)
* Tail Spin (1939)
* Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
* The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
* Rose of Washington Square (1939)
* Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
* The Rains Came (1939)
* Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
* Swanee River (1939)
* The Little Princess (1939)
* The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
* Little Old New York (1940)
* The Man I Married (1940)
* The Return of Frank James (1940)
* The Great Profile (1940)
* Brigham Young (1940)
* Down Argentine Way (1940)
* The Mark of Zorro (1940)
* Hudson's Bay (1941)
* Tobacco Road (1941)
* The Great American Broadcast (1941)
* Blood and Sand (1941)
* A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)
* How Green Was My Valley (1942)
* Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
* Sex Hygiene (Short) (1942)
* To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
* This Above All (1942)
* Thunder Birds (1942)
* The Purple Heart (1944)
* Wilson (1944)
* Winged Victory (1944)
* The Razor's Edge (1946)
* Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
* Fury at Furnace Creek (1948)
* The Snake Pit (1948)
* Pinky (1949)
* Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
* No Way Out (1950)
* All About Eve (1950)
* David and Bathsheba (1951)
* People Will Talk (1951)
* Viva Zapata! (1952)
* The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
* The Egyptian (1954)
* The View from Pompey's Head (1955)
* The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
* Island in the Sun (1957)
* The Sun Also Rises (1957)
* The Roots of Heaven (1958)
* Crack in the Mirror (1960)
* Sanctuary (1961)
* The Big Gamble (1961)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* The Chapman Report (1962)
* The Visit (1964)

Writer|

| as Mark Canfield|

* The Desired Woman (1927) (story)
* Maybe It's Love (1930)
* Baby Face (1933) (story)
* Crack in the Mirror (1960)

|

as Melville Crossman|

* Tenderloin (story) (1928)
* State Street Sadie (story) (1928)
* Thanks a Million (story) (1935)
* A Yank in the R.A.F. (story) (1941)
* Thunder Birds (original story) (1942)
* China Girl (story) (1942)
* The Purple Heart (story) (1944)

as Gregory Rogers|

* Find Your Man (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924)
* The Lighthouse by the Sea (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924)
* Three Weeks in Paris (story, screenplay as Darryl Zanuck) (1925)
* The Midnight Taxi (story) (1928)

as self|

* A Broadway Butterfly (1925)
* Red Hot Tires (1925)
* Hogan's Alley (1925)
* The Caveman (scenario) (1926)
* The Little Irish Girl (adaptation) (1926)
* The Social Highwayman (1926)
* Footloose Widows (1926)
* Across the Pacific (adaptation) (1926)
* The Better 'Ole (screenplay) (1926)
* Tracked by the Police (Rin Tin Tin story) (1927)
* Old San Francisco (1927)
* The First Auto (story) (1927)
* Good Time Charley (story) (1927)
* Noah's Ark (story) (1928)
* My Man (story) (1928)
* Hardboiled Rose (story) (1929)
* Madonna of Avenue A (story) (1929)
* Say It with Songs (story) (1929)
* The Life of the Party (1930)
* Little Caesar (story – uncredited) (1931)
* The Dark Horse (story) (1932)
* Lady Killer (story – uncredited) (1933)
* Folies Bergère de Paris (contributing writer – uncredited) (1935)
* G Men (story) (1935)
* This Is My Affair (story – uncredited) (1937)
* Alexander's Ragtime Band (contributing writer – uncredited) (1938)
* The Great Profile (story – uncredited) (1940)
* Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)

People|

* Virginia Fox (wife)
* Richard D. Zanuck (son)
* Dean Zanuck (grandson)

Authority control databases: National |

* Germany

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