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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]
| 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 |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
editSet 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
editThe 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
editThe 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
editThe 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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