Six Characters In Search Of An Author (1976)

While rehearsing a television show, a director (John Houseman) and his crew and cast are surprised when six people suddenly emerge. First, on the TV monitor and then "in person" on the set. The six are characters in an unfinished play looking for an author to complete their story. Based on the play by Luigi Pirandello and directed by the actor Stacy Keach. The theatrical setting of Pirandello's play has been updated to a TV studio. While the TV studio setting doesn't quite work, the casting of the stepdaughter (Beverly Todd in the play's best performance) and her two siblings (H.B. Barnum III, Claire Touchstone) with black actors gives the play an interesting dynamic. Like Pirandello's play, the production examines the fine line between Art and reality, how illusion is simply that and how an actor's interpretation of a role or a director's vision can often distort the reality of a character's truth to serve the production. A character's truth is on the page but once taken and put into the service of play's production or filmization, it is no longer theirs. There's no underscore but Jerry Goldsmith composed the title credit to Saul Bass's main title. With Andy Griffith, Julie Adams, James Keach, Laurence Hugo, Timothy Blake and Patricia Hitchcock.