The Promise ** (1969, John Castle, Ian McKellen, Susan Macready) – Classic Movie Review 10,034

The siege of Leningrad (8 September 1941 – 27 January 1944).

Writer-director Michael Hayes’s 1969 British romantic drama film The Promise is a low-budget (less than £200,000) record of a startling and intelligent evening in the theatre in the Sixties, though alas only Ian McKellen remains of the three original stage principals (no Judi Dench or Ian McShane).

Ian McKellen and John Castle play the young poet Leonidik and the engineer Marat Yestigneyev who share a partly wrecked house with Lika Vasilyevna (Susan Macready) and both fall for her in war-devastated Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad in the Second World War. Years later, after the war, they meet again and reconsider their love triangle and the effects of their relationship.

Russian playwright Aleksei Arbuzov’s richly enjoyable three-hander stage play is talky, basically a conversation piece, and would always be unpromising material to film. But this static film is hardly the ideal version, though the performances are strong and the material is appealing.

For long, the movie appeared to be lost, as no copies could be located, and it was on the British Film Institute’s BFI 75 Most Wanted list of lost films. But finally a mislabelled print was found in the BFI’s archive after an audit.

It uses some of the sets from Oliver! (1968), sprinkled with snow to resemble Leningrad.

Also in the cast are Mary Jones as Mother, David Nettheim as Stepfather, David Garfield as Soldier, Christopher Banks as Neighbour, Tina Williams as Oelya, William Lyon Brown as Pyotr and Donald Bain as Actor.

The Promise is directed by Michael Hayes, runs 98 minutes, is made by Howard & Wyndham Films and Television, is released by Commonwealth United Entertainment, is written by Michael Hayes, is shot in Eastmancolor by Brendan J Stafford, is produced by Henry T Weinstein (executive producer), Anthony B Unger (executive producer) and Peter Graham Scott (producer), and is scored by Iwan Williams, with Production Design by William McCrow.

Ariadne Nicolaeff translated the play.

It was shot at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,034

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com