‘The Night of the Iguana’ is based on the Tennessee Williams’ play that won the New York Drama Critics Award for 1961-1962 and manages to be both peculiarly intriguing and boring at the same time.
Directed by the legendary John Huston and co-written by himself and Anthony Veiller. This film contains a lot of the sexual depravity and situations Williams’ is known for, but the journey is much more internal. The film deals with the need for human contact and emotion, survival through our necessity to connect to somebody.
Richard Burton stars as Reverend Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon - a defrocked Episcopalian minister, exiled from the church due to dalliances (or perhaps more..) with a young parishioner. Seeking isolation and some departure from his previous life, he now wallows through his days as a tour guide in Mexico, and hopes for some real human contact to snap back into the graces of good.
He finds his latest busload of tourists, rather fortuitously, are comprised of the faculty of a Baptist women’s college. Controlled by the iron-fisted Judith Fellowes(Grayson Hall), her young, beautiful niece Charlotte (Sue Lyon, playing a very similar role to her iconic Lolita) begins to show an unhealthy interest in Dr. T Lawrence Shannon. Possibly, because she can see the animosity between her aunt and the reverend right away and (like any good teenager) she wants to take advantage of the situation. This gives her the opportunity of killing two birds with one stone - if you will, by pissing her aunt off and seducing an older man - a priest no less.
Shannon at first resists, but the irony is too sweet, and Fellowes finds them together in his ratty hotel room. Threatening to have him fired, Shannon in a last-ditch effort, takes control of the tour bus and drives the group to a quasi-hidden, run-down resort on the beach instead of their plush hotel destination. Seeking the help of the owner, a friend, he finds that his friend is deceased, and his wife Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner) is left by herself to run the resort. Disabling the bus, he talks Maxine in to letting them stay there for a short while.
Maxine, who at first seems to be all happy-go-lucky, dancing with her two maraca-shaking cabana boy toys in the surf, seems to have her own emotional burdens to carry. Shannon tells Maxine that Fellowes means to have him fired, so Maxine keeps the phone away from Maxine. All the while, Shannon is continuously struggling to keep himself away from young Charlotte, who throws herself at him with reckless abandon.
To further confuse the social gatherings, Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr), a poor artist shows up with her elderly grandfather Nonno (Cyril Delevanti), “the world’s oldest active poet.” A pair that travel the world in poverty, selling portraits and readings, they arrive at the resort broke, financially and mentally. As Jelkes and Shannon become friends, and as Shannon mentally begins to crumble, this strange group of people are headed for ‘The Night of the Iguana’.
John Huston is no stranger to Mexico and the emotional crumbling of one man’s journey - as he directed The Treasure of Sierra Madre. The film always seems to be at a distance - like I can’t quite get a good grasp on it. Certainly, the performances are quite good throughout with Richard Burton supplying a nuanced amalgam of bravado and weakness. Ava Gardner (in a role that sees her stretch a bit as an actress) is successful in delivering the duality this role require. Deborah Kerr is always watchable as the soothing voice of reason. Yet, no one performance or scene really elevated the material above okay.
The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. The special features include two featurettes: the new ‘Night of the Iguana: Huston’s Gamble,’ which focuses on Huston and how he dealt with some tough collaborators and the on-set mayhem. The vintage featurette ‘On the Trail of the Iguana’ is from 1963 and is surprisingly well-preserved with John Huston providing narration and features some interesting on-set footage including Elizabeth Taylor and her entourage hanging around (and she was married to Eddie Fisher at the time!). Theatrical Trailers round out the package.
Although it is not one of Tennessee Williams’s or John Huston’s more accessible films, the depth is here if you care to look for it. Despite some strong performances, I imagine most will have given up on trying to make a connection with the film long before it’s over.
The Night of the Iguana is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information. The DVD is also part of the Tennessee Williams Film Collection DVD set which is now available at Amazon .
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