# The Comedians
**The Comedians** is a 1967 American political drama directed and produced by Peter Glenville, with a screenplay by [Graham Greene](https://www.edgepedia.org/graham-greene) adapted from his own novel of the same name, set in Haiti under the dictatorship of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. It stars [Richard Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-burton) as Brown, an English hotel owner who reopens his deserted hotel in [Port-au-Prince](https://www.edgepedia.org/port-au-prince) and resumes an affair with Martha Pineda (Elizabeth Taylor), the bored wife of a Latin American ambassador, while an arms dealer, Major Jones (Alec Guinness), moves through the same hotel.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comedians)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | New York premiere 31 October 1967; Los Angeles and New York openings 1 November 1967[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) |
| Director and producer | Peter Glenville, in what became his final feature film[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) |
| Writer | Graham Greene, adapting his own 1966 novel[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) |
| Principal cast | Richard Burton (Brown), Elizabeth Taylor (Martha Pineda), Alec Guinness (Major Jones), Peter Ustinov (Ambassador Pineda), Paul Ford (Smith), Lillian Gish (Mrs. Smith)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) |
| Setting | Haiti under dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his secret police, the Tontons Macoute[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) |
| Filming location | Exteriors of "Port-au-Prince" shot in Cotonou, Dahomey (now Benin), from 11 January 1967[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS) |
| Domestic box office | $5,200,000[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Comedians-The) |
| Critical reception | 27% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 11 reviews; 47% audience score[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comedians) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The film opens on a ship arriving at Port-au-Prince carrying only four passengers, a measure of how few outsiders dared visit a country ruled by violence and terror. Brown is a politically uncommitted cynic who has returned to the island to reopen his deserted hotel and resume his love affair with Martha Pineda. The other arrivals include Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Paul Ford and [Lillian Gish](https://www.edgepedia.org/lillian-gish)), idealistic American visitors who hope to start a vegetarian resort business in Haiti.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) • [5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians)
[Alec Guinness](https://www.edgepedia.org/alec-guinness) plays Major Jones, a gunrunner whose bluster conceals a con man's identity; [Peter Ustinov](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-ustinov) plays Ambassador Pineda, Martha's husband.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) The Haitian characters include Dr. Magiot ([James Earl Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-earl-jones)), a doctor involved with the rebels; Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), the head of the Tontons Macoutes; Petit Pierre (Roscoe Lee Browne), who runs the country's public relations department; and a bar hostess played by Cicely Tyson.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) • [6](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/02/reel-history-comedians-elizabeth-taylor)
## From novel to screenplay
Graham Greene wrote the novel after visiting Haiti in 1963, a year after a coup installed "Papa Doc" Duvalier, and what he saw of rule by the Tontons Macoutes haunted him for years afterward. The book was described in contemporary coverage as a "harsh indictment" of Duvalier's Haiti, and Greene hoped his exposure of what he called a "unique evil" might put pressure on the dictator.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) • [7](https://themagnificent60s.com/2022/12/22/behind-the-scenes-the-comedians-1967/)
Producer-director Peter Glenville read the galley proofs before publication in late January 1966. Because the subject made shooting in Haiti impossible, Greene urged Glenville to see the country first, and Glenville and an art director toured it under the pretense of researching a film about Haiti's 19th century king, [Henri Christophe](https://www.edgepedia.org/henri-christophe). They reportedly left one day before the book's U.K. and U.S. release, and MGM announced its adaptation plans on 2 February 1966. Glenville spent the summer of 1966 in the South of France working with Greene on the screenplay.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS)
Richard Burton and Alec Guinness were the first cast members signed; [Elizabeth Taylor](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-taylor), Burton's wife, accepted a role in October 1966. Although her appearance is brief, the studio insisted she receive star billing.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS) Roger Ebert, the film critic of the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times), observed that Greene had written little of a woman's role into the novel, and that the part was expanded for Taylor without being deepened; most of the Burton-Taylor scenes consist of conversation, interspersed with wordy political discussions among the principals.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-comedians-1967)
## Production in Dahomey
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 11 January 1967, with exteriors of "Port-au-Prince" filmed in Cotonou, the capital of the [Republic of Dahomey](https://www.edgepedia.org/republic-of-dahomey) in [West Africa](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-africa), which stood in for Haiti. Contemporary accounts put the production's contribution to the local economy at roughly $300,000, with several of the country's poor employed at $4 a day. The 140-person crew rented the entire Hotel de la Plage, while Glenville, Taylor, Burton, and Guinness paid $1,000 per month for three villas usually reserved for visiting heads of state. The unit later returned to a studio facility near Paris, with additional exteriors completed in Nice.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS)
Threats were made against cast members even in Dahomey, and composer Laurence Rosenthal built the score on a study of Haitian rhythms, percussion, and folk melodies.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) • [9](https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/rosenthal_interview.html) The Museum of Modern Art marked the release with an exhibition of about 85 location photographs from Dahomey, contrasting finished scenes with shots of how they were made.[10](https://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/3967/releases/MOMA_1967_July-December_0049_115.pdf)
## Release and reception
The film premiered at New York's Coronet Theatre on 31 October 1967, with regular screenings from the next day and a simultaneous Los Angeles run. MGM abandoned plans to roadshow it, but kept a reserved-seat policy for the U.K. engagement at the Coliseum Cinerama in London beginning 18 January 1968; the U.K. release contained an intermission.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS)
It failed at the box office, earning $5,200,000 domestically.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Comedians-The) [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies) attributes the failure partly to the title: the "comedians" of the novel are the Europeans and Americans who put a phony smiling face on a loathsome regime, but audiences expecting an all-star humor fest were met with a political thriller.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) Critics were largely negative. Variety called it "a plodding, low-key, and eventually tedious melodrama"; Time Out called it "a sadly inept adaptation of Graham Greene's novel"; Dennis Schwartz rated it C+ as an "uninspired political drama." The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer stands at 27% from 11 reviews.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comedians) Roger Ebert wrote that the movie "tries to be serious and politically significant, and succeeds only in being tedious and pompous," while crediting Burton and Taylor with courage for making a film attacking Duvalier's dictatorship.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-comedians-1967)
The film was cut heavily for second-run theaters, with many of Guinness's scenes excised and the narrative ending earlier than in the original version.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS) Later assessments have been warmer. TCM calls it "a surprisingly powerful and unique film for its time," one of Hollywood's few examinations of third-world politics, and notes that time has been kind to it as similar nightmare governments have since emerged elsewhere.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) Reviewers have also noted its fidelity to the source and its fine performances, though its length, reported variously as 148, 150, 152, and 160 minutes across sources, drew repeated criticism for pacing.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comedians) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Comedians-The)
## References
1. [The Comedians (1967), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23678)
2. [The Comedians, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comedians)
3. [The Comedians, AFI Catalog (history and credits)](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23678-THE-COMEDIANS)
4. [The Comedians (1967), Box Office Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Comedians-The)
5. [Brian Cady, "The Comedians," Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/82838/the-comedians)
6. ["The Comedians treads a thin line between love and Haiti," The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/02/reel-history-comedians-elizabeth-taylor)
7. ["Behind the Scenes: The Comedians (1967)," The Magnificent 60s](https://themagnificent60s.com/2022/12/22/behind-the-scenes-the-comedians-1967/)
8. [Roger Ebert, "The Comedians," Chicago Sun-Times, 15 November 1967](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-comedians-1967)
9. [Laurence Rosenthal interview, Film Score Monthly](https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/rosenthal_interview.html)
10. [Museum of Modern Art press release, 30 October 1967](https://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/3967/releases/MOMA_1967_July-December_0049_115.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1960s › Released 1966 to 1969*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license