A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Director Glenville's fondness for TV-style close-ups seems deliberately designed to emphasize the inadequacies in Elizabeth Taylor's performance. The scenes between Taylor and Burton are particularly slow and tedious. At least two of their clinches have even been step-printed to make them run longer! When they have a chance to strut their stuff, the support players fare much better. True, they all have far more interesting material to work with, although Elizabeth even manages to make one of her scenes with Peter Ustinov boring. Fortunately, Guinness delivers one of his best performances. Lillian Gish and Paul Ford are along mainly for laughs and exit halfway through. After their departure, the film literally staggers to an inconclusive and unsatisfying conclusion. An effective use of natural locations is about the only strong feature in this dull, uninteresting, long-winded effort.

The Comedians is a film best enjoyed by those who are 30 years or older and who enjoy the wonderful stars of the 1960s. This movie is worth watching for the wonderful stars of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, and Peter Ustinov. These alone make the movie. I enjoy watching the on-screen romance between the Burton and Taylor, knowing that off screen they were also in love. The movie is a prime time movie, even competing with today's movies. The biggest problems with this movie is that it is too long and too predictable. The movie is a bit slow at many points. However, I still enjoy watching and listening to the stars in the film. Enjoy the film with any snack or even with a TV dinner. I give it 4 thumbs up.

This had all the making of a first rate political drama. There is an acclaimed novelist whose novel this was adapted from, an exciting premise (British expatriates in Haiti, brutally ruled by the brutal and eccentric "Papa Doc" Duvliar's, get caught up in political oppression and rebellion), an star-studded ensemble cast, and exotic locations. So why does it fall so flat? Part of the problem is that it the film is overlong, lasting for around two and a half hours. The result is a story which moves very slowly with a lot of excess chat. Also, there is too much emphasis on the dreary soap opera love triangle of the three main characters (Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Peter Ustinov). The Burton character, a cynical hotel owner of British decent, is obviously copied on the Humphrey Bogard character in "Cassablanca." The film also fails to take advantage of the official oppression and corruption which is the cause of the country's problems. There is little sense of danger until the last half hour, and even then the action is sporadic. There is also a failure to take advantage of the locations. The film was shot in Benin, an African country which isn't a convincing substitute for Haiti, though there was obviously no way this could have been shot in Haiti itself. But the photography is pretty ordinary. There are a few good scenes, including a voodoo ceremony and a shootout in a cemetery. Also, some supporting characters are actually rather interesting, helped by fine performances by James Earl Jones as a surgeon who supports the rebels and Raymond St. Jacques as a sinister police commander who tortures and murders people as casually as most people would order a take-out lunch. Unfortunately, but most of the film is a case of missed opportunities. It's passable, but overlong and never worthy of the talent that went into it.

The ComediansRichard Burton & Alec Guinness star in this Graham Greene scripted tale of colonial decadence and state violence in Haiti. Hipster-creole thugs menace Alec upon his arrival, strip off his clothes, and toss him into a cell. Richard smolders morosely in a taxi marked 'publique' and passes a billboard on the highway emblazoned with the name Papa Doc. "He lives for them and they die for him," Richard sneers contemptuously. Cut to Alec in shirtsleeves, manhandled by a goon in sunglasses, van Dyke, and porkpie hat. Cut back to Richard, now in Liz's powdered arms, damp with booze and middle- aged lust. They're in the back of her touring car, talking about desire. She says something about having a baby, asserting a preternatural insight guaranteed by her womb-knowledge. The breeze lifts her Technicolor chiffon scarf. They kiss. "nothing has changed." "no, nothing."Richard looks fairly young here, pre-cirrhosis, his sideburns tawny-grey. He plays the owner of a palatial hotel in Port-au-Prince. Returning to the hotel after his assignation with Liz, he looks down into the empty pool at a bloody body. It is the president, his assistant, Joseph, informs him as the frogs acapella in what surely must be a humid night.Things grow increasingly desperate. The Haitian secret police consist of cooled out hep cats in short sleeve shirts. A brutal officer directs Alec's beating. James Earl Jones is impressive as an idealistic Haitian doctor whose throat is cut over the body of a patient during an operation. Alec knocks boots with Liz, much to Richard's chagrin. Richard, betrayed, accosts Liz. Her response is devastating: "When you want me I am a woman. When I hurt you I'm always a German." Yes indeed. Turns out Daddy was convicted of war crimes and her marriage to Peter Ustinov a desperate means of escape. Regardless, Alec and Richard decide to join a nascent revolutionary moment. Alec is gunned down by the officer. Richard leads his ragtag band of lumpen-proletarians against the state. I fall asleep.