V.I.P.s, The (1963)

Made principally to cash in on the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor romance – the movie raced Cleopatra into the cinemas – this is a glossy, but tedious drama set in the VIP lounge of the then London Airport.

A group of mismatched jet-setters simmer in an emotional pressure-cooker as fog and bad weather forces an unscheduled overnight stay.

Elizabeth Taylor is jilting billionaire husband Richard Burton for gigolo Louis Jourdan because he “needs” her and Burton apparently doesn’t.

Only Margaret Rutherford’s deliriously dotty, Oscar-winning duchess and Orson Welles’ movie mogul fleeing the taxman breathe life into the bottomless pit of clichés. Other celebrities on view include Maggie Smith and even David Frost.

The screenplay – which MGM originally called International Hotel – is by Terence Rattigan, perhaps the most prestigious British playwright since Noël Coward, whose later career was to suffer at the hands of John Osborne and other “angry young men” of the British theatre.

Frances Andros
Elizabeth Taylor
Paul Andros
Richard Burton
Marc Champselle
Louis Jourdan
Gloria Gritti
Elsa Martinelli
Duchess of Brighton
Margaret Rutherford
Miss Mead
Maggie Smith
Les Mangrum
Rod Taylor
Miriam Marshall
Linda Christian
Max Buda
Orson Welles
Commander Millbank
Dennis Price
Sanders
Richard Wattis
Joslin
Ronald Fraser
Reporter
David Frost

Director
Anthony Asquith