Special relationships… Separate Tables (1958), BFI Dual Format

Featuring a mighty cast list including a host of great British character actors, Separate Tables famously saw David Niven win a long overdue Oscar and Wendy Hiller deservedly winning Best Supporting Actress. This adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play – or rather plays – is a “home game” for the Brits and no one is over-shadowed by the glamour of Rita Hayworth or the muscularity of Burt Lancaster, strangers in this strange land of repression and ancient manners… the film was however, shot entirely in Hollywood.

In his commentary, director Delbert Mann, says that a sound stage was the only way of creating a cinematic narrative based on a play with originally just two sets: the living room and the dining room with those separate tables. Harry Horner’s innovative design used a lot of glass which not only gave an impression of the hotel space it also showed action around the characters. Even as the film begins, and the camera pulls towards the hotel, we can see the characters moving inside and, many times after this, action continues beyond the glass either inside or outside. As Burt Lancaster’s character goes outside we can see Rita Hayworth’s already following him – this constant motion creates a very fluid rhythm for the film as characters move from one scene to the next and the narrative baton is passed directly onto the next runner.

Wendy Hiller, a midfield general moving the narrative through Harry Horner's glass set

The glass also allows for some sublime lighting both from without the “rooms” as well as within; for example, one room is darkly lit for an intimate scene between Burt and Rita but with a glow from outside the walls reminding us of the pressures of their circumstance.

It’s such a well-controlled and thoroughly entertaining film that it’s hard to believe Mann was initially reluctant about directing given the “Britishness” of the story. He was duly sent to Bournemouth to find out more about the largely-retired population that informed Rattigan’s work – the writer’s mother lived there along with other inspirations for his characters – and this re-assured him that, fundamentally, this was a universal story about loneliness and fear.

Rita Hayworth and Burt Lancaster sitting at their own tables

Separate Tables was originally two separate stories featuring the same two actors playing the four leads with only the hotel manager, Miss Cooper, playing the same character across the two parts. Mann merged the two narratives together and had Rattigan re-write with help from John Gay. The result is a masterclass of ensemble playing honed not only by the theatrical experience of the largely British cast but also Mann’s insistence on rehearsing for three weeks before shooting. His camera direction and placing of the characters in the controlled space of the set is masterful.

As we begin, the camera moves down as Sibyl Railton-Bell (Deborah Kerr) walks out of the Beauregard Hotel, and sits pensively on the steps, sad face framed by the iron railings of the place she lives under her mother’s command. She is waiting for her friend Major David Angus Pollock (David Niven) to come back from his walk and when he does the two share a strange intimacy; his cliched formalities hiding something and she tentative and far younger than her years. Inside the Beauregard they are greeted coolly by her mother Mrs. Maud Railton-Bell (Gladys Cooper, forces’ sweetheart from the Great War and one of the great Dames of 20th Century theatre), who is clearly not impressed with the Major and barely tolerant of her daughter.

Deborah Kerr: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave?

Mann establishes his characters quickly and economically and we soon understand the other residents, mild-mannered Lady Gladys Matheson (Cathleen Nesbitt), Racing Post subscriber Miss Meacham (May Hallatt, who played the role in London and on Broadway) and retired teacher Mister Fowler (Felix Aylmer) who will spend the day waiting in vain for a former pupil to arrive. Almost everyone is older than they want to be and lonely, even Sibyl, prevented by her mother from the slightest independence.

The exceptions are a couple of young students, Charles (Rod Taylor) and Jean (Audrey Dalton) who have booked the Hotel for revision and a little more.

Deborah Kerr and David Niven, two lonely people

Buzzing purposely around her guests is the hotel manager Pat Cooper (Wendy Hiller) who keeps her head whilst so many are about to lose theirs… and despite Doreen (a lovely cameo from Priscilla Morgan, who will one day marry Clive Dunn), a waitress with attitude.

Then Hollywood comes staggering drunkenly through the patio doors in the form of Burt Lancaster playing John Malcolm, a writer who lubricates his work with frequent trips to the local pub. John and Pat are engaged but the latter is perhaps under no illusions; why does her man drink so much?

Then a car pulls up and the guests rush to the window to see a glamorous new arrival, Anne Shankland (Rita Hayworth); two Americans in Bournemouth at the same time? As John sits down at his table for dinner his mouth drops as he sees Anne, his former wife, seemingly diverted to the seaside on route to her wedding to catch up with her ex…

I read the news today, oh boy...

Meanwhile the Major has seen something shocking in the local paper, he has been put on probation for inappropriate behaviour towards women in the local cinema and what had been private is now public. Before long, Mrs. Railton-Bell, discovering his secret and the truth of his rank and background, is agitating to have him removed from the hotel. Sibyl is beside herself, her friend guilty of such behaviour… her worst nightmare from the only man she trusts.

The two stories play out in balance, a narrative challenge especially as resolution nears, but the passions are well balanced between Mrs R-B’s puritanical mania and the still vibrant affections of John and Anne. In the middle of both is Pat… in love but logical.

Pat has John's number

Wendy Hiller was apparently reluctant to play the role after seeing that Miss Cooper was less significant than in the stage play but she is excellent – the glue holding everything together, a moral and physical centre connecting the characters as she maintains order in the Beauregard. Mann praised Hiller for her consistency of performance and style; she never over-emphasises but it’s all there and you know what she’s thinking as the bravest person in the hotel, no doubt with a huge backstory we can only glimpse.

For Rita Hayworth this was quite unlike anything else she’d ever done, and Mann said he thought she “frightened to death” with all the experience around her but this was one of the roles she was proudest of.

Rita radiates

In David Niven’s case he tapped into depths Mann didn’t expect he could given the distance between himself and the “Major”, he’s superb throughout and if the last scene doesn’t bring a tear to your eye you may need to check your heart. That’s partly down to Deborah Kerr and Mann was convinced that if her part hadn’t been cut down to speed up the introduction of the Hollywood contingent (not his choice) she may well have won the Oscar she was nominated for.

Separate Tables is out on 20^th August on BFI dual format and comes with a handsome booklet and extras including Mann’s commentary and an in-depth audio interview with Burt Reynolds at the BFI in 1972.

Essential watching and listening available from the BFI onlineand in their shop. If you're quick you can pre-order!

Gladys Cooper in 1958 and back in the 1910s...