Night Of The Iguana

After recently re-watching director John Huston's Criterion edition of Under The Volcano the third installment of Huston's Mexico trilogy (the first was The Treasure of The Sierra Madre), I realized that I haven't seen the second installment of the trilogy, an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play Night Of The Iguana (1964). Williams is one of my favorite American playwrights and I was intrigued about the gossip about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor joining him there, during production after having read Jess Walter's novel Beautiful Ruins. The novel featured Burton as a minor character in the novel during the filming of Cleopatra with Taylor. In Williams' play, Burton is a defrocked priest giving religious tours in Mexico. He is struggling to survive with his dignity until a group of women, including a young nymphet played by Sue Lyon-she played a similar role in Lolita. It was a great location (Puerto Vallarta where Huston lived for several years), an interesting storyline, and some memorable performances from the cast with the likes of Burton, Ava Garner, Deborah Kerr, Grayson Hall, and Sue Lyon. I feel the need to read the play and short story that inspired the film.