From the 1950s: Separate Tables

1958 Drama
From United Artists
Directed by Delbert Mann

Starring
Deborah Kerr
Rita Hayworth
David Niven
Burt Lancaster
Wendy Hiller
Gladys Cooper
Cathleen Nesbitt
Rod Taylor
Audrey Dalton 
Felix Aylmer
May Hallatt



Based on Terrence Rattigan's highly-acclaimed two one-act plays by the same name, here is the story of a group of oddballs who are, for the most part, regular residents at a seaside hotel on England's southern coast during off season.  Their intimate emotional affairs and drab, messed-up lives spiral out of control as we get to know them.  Director Delbert Mann creates an air of tension that remains until the end and makes one genuinely care about a pair of misfits who are especially damaged.

Deborah Kerr plays Sybil, a dowdy, submissive, sexually-repressed spinster who is under the thumb of her controlling mother (Gladys Cooper).  Sybil does everything her mother tells her to do and is rarely out of her sight.  They sit around with Cathleen Nesbitt who is the mother's good friend.  We have little doubt that Sybil has grown increasingly fond of Major Pollack (David Niven), himself quite the odd one, whom the mother does all she can to keep him away from her daughter.

The major bores everyone to death with his army exploits which, it turns out, are a series of lies.  This is a man who has so little self-worth that he makes up tall tales to improve his standing among his fellow residents, who generally avoid him.  At one point he tells Sybil that she is afraid of life and we have no doubt he knows from where he speaks.

The hotel, which has seen some better times, is run by Wendy Hiller, playing Pat.  She is a strong, dignified, stiff-upper-lip type who happens to be in love with John Malcolm (Burt Lancaster), a dissipated American writer, with a somewhat arrogant manner, a drinking problem and a tendency to leave the hotel when things get too personal for him.  She is a little edgy over the prospects of a successful relationship with him, despite the fact that he says he loves her as well.  Nonetheless, she's glad he's in residence where she can keep an eye on him and help him get squared away.

That doesn't look like it will happen when American Ann Shankland (Rita Hayworth) arrives for an overnight stay.  As it turns out, for five years she's been Malcolm's ex-wife.  He is furious at seeing her and demands to know why she's there.  She purrs that she's come to check on him because she's heard he's fallen on hard times.  He tells her she lies with such sincerity. Their sparring is well-written and great fun to observe.  She says she's going to get married once more and has come to England to meet her new in-laws.

Soon it becomes obvious that she wants him back despite the fact that he once tried to kill her.   We have no doubt that the glamorous Ann has some mileage on her which lead to their breakup.  He tells her to get lost but she is determined.  Pat feels she cannot compete with the lovely Ann.

Others in residence include a young couple (Rod Taylor and Audrey Dalton) who seems to be hiding out, a retired schoolteacher (Felix Aylmer) and a stuffy longtime resident, a woman with probably no friends or family or life, played by May Hallatt.  Hallat, by the way, is the only actor here to have appeared in the play.

A firestorm is ignited when the overbearing Cooper discovers a newspaper article that states Major Pollack of the Beauregard Hotel had previously been arrested for attempting to molest a woman in a cinema and it comes out that it wasn't the first time.  Pollack knows that he's been found out and begins to shy away from the others.

Cooper tells all the residents about him and wants a vote to get him evicted.  Lancaster takes her to task and one is tempted to clap.  The crowd cannot believe Cooper tells Kerr what has happened with the major because she could go into one of her hysterical fits.

Cooper gets the votes she wants not because the others particularly condemn Niven but because Cooper is so overwhelmingly pushy.  Hiller, however, refuses to boot him but he says he has got to leave.  He can't face most of them now that they know his truth.

Niven and Kerr have a lovely scene near the end.  He now understands that she cares about him, even loves him.  Lancaster has decided he will try one more time with Hayworth although both confirm they don't know that they've learned enough to pull it off.

They are discussing their future in the dining room.  He moves from his table to hers.  Most of the principals are also at their separate tables.  It's a heartfelt scene that begins when Niven surprisingly enters the room and goes to his table.  We know it's very difficult for him.  One by one everyone says something welcoming to him... all, that is, except Cooper and Kerr.  Cooper stands, mortified, and as usual commands Kerr to leave the room with her.  Kerr says no, that she is going to finish her meal.  She and Niven look at one another.  Two sad people have found love and acceptance and we're happy for them.

I never regarded Separate Tables as your Grand Hotel type of fare.  It had far more to say about the human condition and is a drama, not a comedy.  I suspect fans came for the superb cast.  Migawd, Lancaster, Kerr, Hayworth and Niven in one film AND sharing all those scenes together on one set. It is an acting feast... it just doesn't get any better.  Rod Taylor said he accepted his small role simply because he wanted to work among the giants.

Terrence Rattigan collaborated with John Gay to write the screenplay and they opened it up some.  They knew immediately for movie audiences there would have to be a major change.  On the stage Separate Tables was actually two one-act plays with the two major male roles both played by the same actor and the two female roles played by the same actress.  For some time, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh occupied those roles.  For the film, it would be four actors filling the parts.

Lancaster's producing company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, was always on the lookout for hot properties whether he starred in them or not.  This was not one in which the actor intended to act. The first actors hired were Niven and Kerr.  Olivier was going to direct and act along with Leigh.  However, Lancaster and Olivier got into a horrendous fight and Olivier withdrew, taking his wife with him.  What to do?

Well, simple enough.  Lancaster stepped into the role and his partner, Jim Hill, was able to hire Hayworth since she was at the time his wife.  It was decided neither actor would have to pretend to be English so Rattigan and Gay changed them to Americans. 
The company hired Mann as the director.  He had worked for HHL before, directing Marty and The Bachelor Party.  They were ready to go.

Billing became a hot topic.  Lancaster eschewed first billing as he didn't want the film to be known as a Burt Lancaster movie.  Funny guy... I knew exactly what he meant.  Niven was not one to go to
the mat over billing so he slid into third position. 

The question of billing for the two lead actresses was a little dicier.  Hayworth was still one of the most famous American movie stars of all-time, although that time was largely the forties.  She was known for her dancing, sexiness and largely one film and of course was married to one of movie's producers.  As far as acting was concerned, she was perfectly fine but she was no... well, okay... she was no Deborah Kerr.  The Scottish actress owned the 1950s.  Many of her films in that decade, including this one, are considered classics.

Well, anyway, they all got creative and agreed that Hayworth would be top-billed in all print media, including, of course, the poster.  Kerr, however, would be top-billed on the screen.  Ah, two happy actresses.  Different as they were, they came to like one another.

It was a happy set, too, and largely a familiar one.  Hayworth and Niven, in between marriages, used to date.  Kerr and Niven had just completed their first film together, Bonjour Tristesse, and would go on to make three more.  Kerr and Lancaster, of course, had a good romp in From Here to Eternity five years earlier and would work together once again.  Kerr had worked with all four of the English actresses before, with Nesbitt (as the grandmother) the year before in An Affair to Remember.

If there was an unhappy note it dealt with Hayworth who was a case of nerves working with this august company.  She was aging and drinking too much and it showed in her face.  The truth was, however, that the same could be said about her character.  Critics were mixed on her contribution... some were unkind.  I thought they were wrong.  She did a fine job.

While more of a critics' darling than the public's favorite, the Oscar folks awarded it with seven nominations... picture, writing, cinematography, musical score, best actress for Kerr, best supporting actress for Hiller and best actor for Niven.  The latter two won.

I must add that from the time Niven won his Oscar (he was also  hosting the Oscar show), I thought it was a mistake.  Not Niven, I squealed, over Paul Newman for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis for The Defiant Ones.  But maybe 20 years ago I watched Separate Tables again and considered it then and now to be Niven's best work.

The musical score, by the way, was written by David Raksin who did the same so memorably for 1944's fabulous Laura.  Vic Damone sings the title tune over the opening credits.

Here, Burt has something he wants to say to you:

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