A Day at the Beach
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| A Day at the Beach | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Simon Hesera |
| Written by | Roman Polanski |
| Produced by | Gene Gutowski |
| Starring | Mark Burns Beatie Edney Maurice Roëves Jack MacGowran Eva Dahlbeck Graham Stark Fiona Lewis Peter Sellers |
| Cinematography | Gilbert Taylor |
| Edited by | Alastair McIntyre |
| Music by | Mort Shuman |
Production companies | |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
A Day at the Beach is a 1970 British film based on the 1962 book Een dagje naar het strand by Dutch author Heere Heeresma.[1] The screenplay was written by Roman Polanski, who was originally intended to be the director, although most of the direction was finally done by first-timer Simon Hesera.[citation needed]
Plot
[edit]Set in a rundown Danish seaside resort, it depicts a day in the life of Bernie, a self-destructive alcoholic, as he takes Winnie, a young girl with a leg brace, to the resort despite constant rain. Though Winnie calls Bernie "uncle", he is likely her biological father.[citation needed] Over the course of the day, they encounter various people whom Bernie alternately berates and scams for alcohol, while Winnie is often left alone to fend for herself.
Cast
[edit]- Mark Burns as Bernie
- Beatie Edney as Winnie
- Fiona Lewis as Melissa
- Maurice Roëves as Nicholas
- Jack MacGowran as ticket seller
- Eva Dahlbeck as café proprietress
- Thomas Heathcote as dice player (credited as Tom Heathcote)
- Joanna Dunham as Tonie
- Graham Stark as Pipi
- Peter Sellers as stallholder (credited as "A. Queen")
Release
[edit]The film was never released in theatres at the time of its completion, but has seen limited runs at film festivals since then.[citation needed]
Reviewing a preview of the film, Variety wrote: "In his first feature, director Simon Hesera concentrates so much on his portrait of the poetry-spouting, beer-guzzling Bernie that he forgets the little girl for long stretches. The audience will do the same, and there goes the suspense. ... Peter Sellers gives a short (noncredited) lecture in acting as a homosexual kiosk-keeper on the beach. Everything else about the film winds up looking as though it had been left out in the rain, too long."[2]
A small clip of the film appears in the documentary The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000): Sellers has a cameo role as a small shop owner with his partner (played by Graham Stark), and both are homosexual.
Restoration
[edit]The film spent two decades in a vault at Paramount in London and was restored in 1993 by its director and shown at the American Film Market. It had been lost due to a paperwork error.[3]
Home media
[edit]The film is available on DVD in the U.S from Code Red DVD. It is available for streaming on Fandor.
References
[edit]- ^ "A Day at the Beach". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
- ^ "A Day at the Beach". Variety. 258 (13): 15. 13 May 1970 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Ayscough, Suzan (11 February 1993). "Polanski pic found in Par vault". Variety (published 15 February 1993). p. 5. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
External links
[edit]- A Day at the Beach at IMDb
- Review at DVDTalk
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