Connecting Rooms is a 1970

1970 in film

The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....

 British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Franklin Gollings. The screenplay is based on the play The Cellist by Marion Hart.

The plot explores the relationships shared by the residents of a seedy boarding house

Boarding house

A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...

 owned by dour Mrs. Brent. Among them are busker

Busking

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 Wanda Fleming, who is flattered

Flattery

Flattery is the act of giving excessive compliments, generally for the purpose of ingratiating oneself with the subject....

 by the attention paid her by rebellious pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 wannabe Mickey Hollister, and former schoolmaster

Schoolmaster

A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...

 James Wallraven, who has been accused of pedophilia

Pedophilia

As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...

 and reduced to working as a janitor

Janitor

A janitor or custodian is a professional who takes care of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Janitors are responsible primarily for cleaning, and often some maintenance and security...

 in an art gallery

Art gallery

An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

.

Production notes

The Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 release was filmed on location in the Bayswater

Bayswater

Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...

 section of London, England. It was made in 1969, was given a limited release in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1970, and finally opened in the UK in 1972.

Scenes in which Wanda Fleming played the cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 featured close-ups of the hands of British classical cellist Amaryllis Fleming

Amaryllis Fleming

Amaryllis Marie-Louise Fleming was a British cello performer and teacher.- Early life and education :...

 .

In a scene set in the West End theatre district

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

, a theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 marquee lists Margot Channing as one of the cast of the play it is housing. Channing was the name of the character Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

 portrayed in the 1950 classic film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 All About Eve

All About Eve

All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve", by Mary Orr.The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star...

.

Principal cast

• Bette Davis
  Bette Davis
  Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
  
   ..... Wanda Fleming
• Michael Redgrave
  Michael Redgrave
  Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
  
   ..... James Wallraven
• Alexis Kanner
  Alexis Kanner
  Alexis Kanner was a French-born Anglo Canadian actor, most notable for appearing in the ground-breaking TV series The Prisoner....
  
   ..... Mickey Hollister
• Kay Walsh
  Kay Walsh
  Kay Walsh was an English actress and dancer. She grew up in Pimlico, raised by her grandmother....
  
   ..... Mrs. Brent
• Leo Genn
  Leo Genn
  - Early life :He was born at 144 Kyverdale Road, Stamford Hill, Hackney, London, England to a Jewish family. His father, Woolfe Genn, was a jewellery salesman and the maiden name of his mother, Rachel, was Asserson....
  
   ..... Dr. Norman
• Olga Georges-Picot
  Olga Georges-Picot
  Olga Georges-Picot was a French actress.Born in Shanghai, China, she was the daughter of Guillaume Georges-Picot, the French Ambassador to China, and a Russian mother. Olga studied acting at the Actor’s Studio in Paris. Her acting career covered many diverse French and English films and...
  
    ..... Claudia
• Richard Wyler  ..... Dick Grayson
• Mark Jones
  Mark Jones (actor)
  Mark Jones was a British actor, who appeared frequently in various television series.Credits include: A Family at War, Z Cars, Van der Valk, Doctor Who , The New Avengers, The Onedin Line, Target, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, Buccaneer, Blott on the Landscape,...
  
    ..... Johnny
• Gabrielle Drake
  Gabrielle Drake
  Gabrielle Drake is a British actress who was born in Lahore, British India and lived in several Far Eastern countries .-Career:...
  
    ..... Jean
• Brian Wilde
  Brian Wilde
  Brian George Wilde was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, including Mr Barrowclough in Porridge and "Foggy" Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine...
  
    ..... Ellerman
• John Woodnutt
  John Woodnutt
  John Woodnutt was a British actor.He was born in London, and at the age of 18 made his acting debut at the Oxford Playhouse....
  
    ..... Doctor

Principal production credits

• Producers
  Film producer
  A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
  
   ..... Dimitri De Grunwald, Jack Smith
• Original Music
  Film score
  A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
  
   ..... Joan Shakespeare, John Shakespeare
  John Carter (musician)
  For the jazz clarinet player John Carter, see John Carter .John Carter is an English singer, songwriter and record producer.-Overview:...
  
  
• Cinematography
  Cinematography
  Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
  
   ..... John Wilcox
• Art Direction
  Art director
  The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
  
   ..... Herbert Smith, Morley Smith
• Costume Design
  Costume design
  Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
  
   ..... Harry Haynes, Tina Haynes

Critical reception

In his review in the webzine Film Threat

Film Threat

Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...

, Phil Hall describes the film as "a compelling and often heartbreaking drama" and adds "Redgrave, who was never the most subtle screen actor . . . manages to reign in his hammy tendencies and find the angst and isolation in the disgraced teacher's existence." Regarding Davis, Hall writes: "When her secret is revealed, Davis' character says absolutely nothing. Instead, her body freezes slightly while her eyes (yes, those Bette Davis eyes) give a look which is initially shameful, but then suddenly appear to present endless relief. In her silence and her ocular expression, Davis achieves a state of grace which is astonishing to behold."

Time Out London says, "Riddled with act and scene pauses . . . it's a fairly classic condensation of several fetishistic concerns endemic to British cinema."

TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

calls it a "dull, sappy melodrama

Melodrama

The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

."