Connecting Rooms (1970)

Set in London, an old maid (Bette Davis) who plays the cello and a schoolmaster (Michael Redgrave) forced to leave his job because of a sex scandal live in adjoining rooms in a shabby boarding house. Based on the play THE CELLIST by Marion Hart and directed by Franklin Gollings. The excitement of seeing two great actors play opposite each other is undermined by the flaccid direction and erratic screenplay by Gollings whose only feature film this is. I'm not familiar with the source material (so I stand to be corrected) but I suspect a subplot has been added which destroys the intimacy of the narrative. The subplot involves an untalented songwriter (Alexis Kanner) and a French pop singer (Olga Georges Picot). When the movie focuses on the two lonely protagonists, the film is at its strongest. Redgrave does some beautiful work here and while Davis seems miscast (the garish bright lipstick she wears is often distracting), she has a couple of moments where her talent is in full force. The inferior underscore by John Shakespeare is distracting. With Leo Genn and Kay Walsh.