Staircase (film)

Staircase
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStanley Donen
Screenplay byCharles Dyer
Based onStaircase
by Charles Dyer
Produced byStanley Donen
Starring
CinematographyChristopher Challis
Edited byRichard Marden
Music byDudley Moore
Production
company
Stanley Donen Films
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • 20 August 1969 (1969-08-20) (New York)[1]
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6,370,000[2]
Box office$1,850,000 (US/ Canada rentals)[3]

Staircase (also known as L'Escalier) is a 1969 British comedy-drama film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Richard Burton and Rex Harrison.[4] The screenplay was by Charles Dyer, adapted from his 1966 play of the same name.

The film concerns an ageing gay couple who own a barber shop in the East End of London. They discuss their loving but often volatile past together and ponder their possible future without each other, as Charles is about to go on trial for dressing as a woman in public.

The two main characters are named Charles Dyer (the name of the playwright/screenwriter) and Harry C. Leeds, which is an anagram of his name.[5]

  1. ^ "Staircase - Details". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  2. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
  3. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
  4. ^ "Staircase". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  5. ^ Canby, Vincent (1969-08-21). "Burton-Harrison Team On View in 'Staircase'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-02.