The Visit
Original film poster
Directed by	Bernhard Wicki
Screenplay by	Ben Barzman Maurice Valency (adaptation)
Based on	The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck Julien Derode Ingrid Bergman Anthony Quinn
Starring	Ingrid Bergman Anthony Quinn Irina Demick Paolo Stoppa
Cinematography	Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by	Samuel E. Beetley Françoise Diot
Music by	Richard Arnell Hans-Martin Majewski
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	May 6, 1964 (1964-05-06) (France) October 4, 1964 (1964-10-04) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Countries	United States France West Germany Italy
Languages	English French
Box office	$1.1 million (US/ Canada)[1]

The Visit is a 1964 French, Italian, German and American international co-production film distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Julien Derode. The film's stars Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn also served as coproducers.

The screenplay was written by Ben Barzman and adapted by Maurice Valency based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1956 play Der Besuch der alten Dame (literally, The Visit of the Old Lady). At the film's end, protagonist Serge Miller's life is spared, but in the original play, the character (named Alfred Ill) is killed.

Along with Bergman and Quinn, the cast includes Irina Demick, Paolo Stoppa, Hans Christian Blech, Romolo Valli, Valentina Cortese, Claude Dauphin and Eduardo Ciannelli. Bergman and Quinn would later costar again in the 1970 romantic melodrama A Walk in the Spring Rain.

Plot

Karla Zachanassian, a fabulously wealthy woman, returns to a decaying village that she had been forced to desert years earlier in disgrace. She bore a child by Serge Miller, who denied paternity. The purpose of Karla's visit is to arrange a deal with the town's inhabitants: in exchange for a vast sum of money, she wants Miller killed.

At first reluctant, the townspeople eventually accept the arrangement and Miller is condemned to death. At the last moment, Karla stops the execution and tells the citizens that they will have to live with the guilt of their murderous choice for the rest of their lives, while Miller will have to live with the knowledge that his friends and neighbors were willing to kill him for money.

Cast

• Ingrid Bergman as Karla Zachannassian
• Anthony Quinn as Serge Miller
• Irina Demick as Anya
• Claude Dauphin as Bardick
• Paolo Stoppa as Doctor
• Romolo Valli as Town Painter
• Valentina Cortese as Mathilda Miller
• Eduardo Ciannelli as Innkeeper
• Jacques Dufilho as Fisch
• Leonard Steckel as Priest
• Ernst Schröder as Mayor
• Fausto Tozzi as Darvis
• Hans Christian Blech as Captain Dobrik
• Lelio Luttazzi as First Idler
• Marco Guglielmi as Chesco
• Renzo Palmer as Conductor
• Dante Maggio as Cadek
• Richard Münch as Teacher

Reception

According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $6,100,000 in film rentals to break even but earned only $2,635,000, losing money for the studio.^[2]

Awards

• Bernhard Wicki was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]
• The film received a nomination for Best Costume Design-Black and White (René Hubert) at the Academy Awards.^[4]