The V.I.P.s

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Louis Jourdan in The V.I.P.s (1963)

Trailer for this classic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

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57 Photos

Drama

As fog delays departure for a group of travelers bound for New York City, they wait at the lounge of London's Heathrow airport, each passenger at a moment of crisis in his or her life.As fog delays departure for a group of travelers bound for New York City, they wait at the lounge of London's Heathrow airport, each passenger at a moment of crisis in his or her life.As fog delays departure for a group of travelers bound for New York City, they wait at the lounge of London's Heathrow airport, each passenger at a moment of crisis in his or her life.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

4.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 2 nominations total

Trivia
Based on a true story, the movie was a thinly-disguised account of screenwriter Terence Rattigan's real-life friend Vivien Leigh's attempt to leave her husband Sir Laurence Olivier for Australian actor Peter Finch. Leigh and Finch made it to London's Heathrow Airport, but their plane was delayed by incoming fog, giving Olivier time to confront the two and escort Leigh home; after several hours of the fog delay, she had abandoned the plan.

Goofs
The Duchess is escorted to room 509 by the Page. In her next scene, with no explanation, she is back in the lobby dozing on the sofa.

Quotes
Max Buda: [They are playing cards, watched by a reporter] Not that one. *That* one!
Gloria Gritti: How do you know what is in my hand?
Max Buda: Because I know what is in your head.
Gloria Gritti: So, I have nothing in my head.
Max Buda: [to the reporter] Don't quote that.
Gloria Gritti: Well, I give you something you can quote. From Tiempo, the movie critic, it said, Gloria Gritti is an actress who's talent is equal to her intelligence.
Max Buda: How unkind. Gin, I think.

Connections
Featured in 7 Nights to Remember (1966)

User reviews75

Review

Featured review

7/10

A true curiosity...

but a fascinating melodrama also. This was the first movie Liz Taylor and Richard Burton made as a married couple.

The story is by Terence Rattigan who apparently based it on a scene he observed in the VIP lounge of London Airport when Vivien Leigh made plans to run away with Peter Finch and was stopped by her husband, Laurence Olivier.

It is well filmed, way ahead of its time in certain segments where other minor characters are playing in the background of the scene, a continuum not employed in movies until the nineties (this was filmed in the early 60s).

Some of the script is a hoot, the fact that Liz and her lover are running away without ever having "made love". Richard and Liz both overact dramatically. But the cast make it well worth watching.

Maggie Smith is particularly vulnerable as a secretary, she is yet to find the acerbic edge that laces her subsequent movies. Margaret Rutherford is particularly good as a Duchess who has to go earn a living in America to save her stately home. More scenes with her would have been a treat.

7 out of 10, totally watchable and almost sinful in the enjoyment of same, it is just so deliciously shallow.