PETULIA (1967)

STARS: George C. Scott, Julie Christie, Richard Chamberlain, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Knight, Arthur Hill, Pippa Scott, Kathleen Widdoes, Richard Dysart.

DIRECTOR: Richard Lester. DURATION: 105 mins.

SYNOPSIS: Offbeat drama about an unhappily married woman who, to spite her husband, sets out to help a troubled but sensitive surgeon find some meaning in his life.

RC PLAYS: David Danner.

Is this Richard Chamberlain's best film? These days, Petulia is practically forgotten, despite its starry cast - but if ever there was a retrospective of the actor's work, this would surely top the list.

Director Richard Lester, fresh from his success with The Beatles films A Hard Day's Night and Help!, was planning an ambitious and more serious movie to be shot in San Francisco. He'd already cast Julie Christie (who was then riding high after bagging an Oscar for Darling in 1965) and George C. Scott in the lead roles, but needed someone who could convincingly play the former's husband. The Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company also added an authentic Sixties mood with on-screen appearances.

Despite being American, Lester had worked extensively in the UK where he'd seen Dr. Kildare - and he knew just who he needed to join his cast. "Richard Chamberlain came to mind immediately," says Lester. "It's not to say the part was written for him, but in re-writing he kept coming to mind. Physically he was perfect."

Kildare had been pulled from TV in 1965, and so luckily Richard was available. Unfortunately though, Warner Brothers, the studio behind the film, weren't as sure as the director about who should play the role. According to Lester, on their part there was "extreme hesitation. First of all I was told they wouldn't have him at any price." Thankfully, the director was prepared to fight for who he wanted, and after much argument won the right to employ Chamberlain.

The actor's reasons for taking the part were simple: "First, it meant I could work with a director I admire - everybody needs to work with an interesting and stimulating director to bring the best out of him, and any case they usually have the best scripts. Secondly, it would stretch me a little. (I needed) to show critics I could play a villain as well as a good guy."

Richard described Danner as "a man who has been utterly destroyed by Julie (Christie), who married him as her ideal man and then pulls him down, so he becomes weak and vicious. It's everthing Kildare was not. I talked to Lester for two hours at Twickenham Studios and he gave me the part. I was delighted."

Working with Richard Lester turned out to be a rather mystifying experience after the urgency he was used to following four years on television. However, it can't have been all that bad - Petulia turned out to be the beginning of a seemingly beautiful friendship between Chamberlain and the director, who have worked together several times since on the various Musketeer movies. Lester himself describes it as "a happy film as I remember it - as much as films can be pleasant to do."

However, despite Lester being credited as director, it's rumoured that Nicolas Roeg (who acted as cinematographer on the project) had a hand in behind-the-camera work. And it certainly bears some of his visual trademarks. The movie even has Julie Christie's character enjoying a psychic connection with a child - spookily like Roeg's own Don't Look Now, made six years later with the actress in a starring role.

Petulia was the US' Cannes entry that year and received excellent reviews. Unfortunately, the box office receipts weren't so good, although it did fare better in Europe.

The important matter for Chamberlain was that it gave his career the boost it needed after a few minor disasters, and showed that he was more than just a pretty face. It also gave Richard the confidence to try his hand at becoming a 'real English actor' across the Atlantic.

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