Hollywood went slumming into the gay demimonde of London with the 1969 film "Staircase". The result was a fascinating mess becoming one of the worst films ever to come out of the latter part or the end of the 1960's. Producer-Director Stanley Donen(whose work includes working with stars like Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in "Charade"),had started out to make a small film about the human need for relationships in even the most desperate times. With the casting of Richard Burton and Rex Harrison as aging gay lovers,however,it turned into the kind of Hollywood tribute to "the little people" that inevitably comes off phony. There was too much talent involved in this film not display moments of insight,but as a whole the picture left audiences wondering just who was the intended audience for it. And furthermore,who would have thought that two of the greatest actors in the history of film cinema---Richard Burton("Cleopatra","Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?", "Becket"),and Rex Harrison("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir","Cleopatra","My Fair Lady",and Doctor Doolittle")stoop to a piece of dung like this to even knowing that their careers would be jeopardize by this?
However,Stanley Donen must have felt the same way after seeing the original London production starring Paul Scofield and Patrick Magee. When "Staircase" came out in 1969,and with the decline in film censorship,Hollywood was opening up to films about the subject of homosexuality. Whereas previous literary properties with gay or lesbian characters had been avoided or "straightened out" by the big studios. By the late 60's,such prominent works as D.H. Lawrence's novella "The Fox",Carson McCullers' "Reflections In A Golden Eye",and John Herbert's play "Fortune and Men's Eyes",not to mention the stage version of "The Killing of Sister George" were all brought to the screen with a certain degree of faithfulness. In that spirit,20th Century-Fox agreed to take on the film version of "Staircase". The result was one of the biggest mistake Richard Burton and Rex Harrison ever did,resulting in becoming one of the worst films of the year,since "Staircase" came out in around Christmas of 1969. Along with it the bad reviews this movie received especially by some critics who blame director Stanley Donen for making Burton and Harrison exploitations of a sideshow attraction. To make things even worst getting stage veterans Cathleen Nesbitt and Beatrix Lehmann as the strong supporting mothers was probably the best part of the whole movies,since they actually stole the show. The rest of it was a bonafide mess. Check it the musical score composed by Dudley Moore-- yes,that Dudley Moore(from the "10" and "Arthur" movies).