Under the Volcano **** (1984, Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Andrews, Katy Jurado, James Villiers) – Classic Movie Review 4,123

John Huston’s intensely smouldering 1984 metaphorical drama film Under the Volcano finds Albert Finney on scalding form, giving a blazing performance as an alcoholic former British consul in Thirties Mexico.

Director John Huston’s intensely smouldering 1984 metaphorical drama film Under the Volcano finds the variable Albert Finney on scalding form, giving a blazing performance as an alcoholic former British consul in Thirties Mexico.

Once thought unfilmable, Malcolm Lowry’s semi-autobiographical 1947 novel springs to vivid life in Huston’s outstanding realisation of his long-cherished plan to film it. There are hints of Graham Greene and Tennessee Williams everywhere, but it still manages to be its own individual thing.

Though Finney is blazing as British consul Geoffrey Firmin, and it is certainly his film, acting-wise, there are excellent performances too from Jacqueline Bisset as Finney’s separated wife Yvonne, who left him the year before, and Anthony Andrews as his wandering, idealistic half-brother Hugh.

Popocatépetl, from the summit of Iztaccihuatl.

The film focuses on a day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, living in alcoholic obscurity in the small southern Mexican town of Quauhnahuac on the Day of the Dead in November 1938. He wanders the streets in a despondent stupor, observing the festivities and crashing a Red Cross charity ball.

The consul’s self-destructive behaviour troubles Hugh and his wife Yvonne, who has returned hoping to heal Geoffrey and repair their marriage which she broke when she was unfaithful.

Under the Volcano is downbeat and disturbing, but is recommended for the peerless acting and atmosphere, as well as an exquisitely realised personal project for its maverick director. It is all the more extraordinary when you consider that Huston made it immediately after three commercial projects: Phobia (1980), Escape to Victory (1981), and Annie (1982), the last also with Finney. Under the Volcano took $2,556,800 at the box office, so it was never going to be a commercial project.

Also in the cast are Katy Jurado, James Villiers, Ignacio López Tarso, Dawson Bray, Carlos Riquelme, Jim McCarthy, José René Ruiz, Eliazar Garcia Jr, Salvador Sanchez, Sergio Calderon, Araceli Ladewuen, and Emilio Fernandez.

Guy Gallo provides the screenplay, the photography is by Gabriel Figueroa, and Alex North provides one of his five scores for Huston. North and Finney were both Oscar nominated, and Finney was voted Actor of the Year by those canny folks behind the London Critics Circle Film Awards (1985), though the perhaps cannier Los Angeles Film Critics tied Finney with F Murray Abraham for Amadeus (1984) for their Best Actor award.

At the Golden Globe Awards, Finney was nominated as Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, and Bisset was nominated as Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Drama, acknowledging her fine performance.

RIP John Huston (1906 – 1987).

RIP Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019).

English poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) is best known for his 1947 novel Under the Volcano, voted number 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list. It was his second (after Ultramarine published in 1933) and last complete novel.

Lowry had adapted his novel into a screenplay and attempted unsuccessfully to interest MGM to film it in the late 1950s. The novel was out of print when Lowry died but the film restored its popularity.

Under the volcano cinema release film poster.

Principal photography began on 8 August 1983, in the village of Yautepec de Zaragoza in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The film premiered on 18 May 1984 at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or, and was released in the US on 12 June 1984.

Firmin’s friend Dr Vigil is notably played by Ignacio López Tarso, one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, winning the Ariel Award for Best Actor in 1973 for Rosa Blanca.

The cast are Albert Finney as Geoffrey Firmin, Jacqueline Bisset as Yvonne Firmin, Anthony Andrews as Hugh Firmin, Ignacio López Tarso as Dr Vigil, Katy Jurado as Señora Gregoria, James Villiers as Brit, Dawson Bray as Quincey, Carlos Riquelme as Bustamante, José René Ruiz as the Dwarf, Emilio Fernández as Diosdado Brell, Jim McCarthy as Gringo in Brothel, Hugo Stiglitz as Sinarquista,  Günter Meisner as Herr Krausberg, Araceli Ladewuen Castelun as Maria, Eleazar Garcia Jr, Salvador Sánchez, and Sergio Calderón as the Chiefs.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,123

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