Details

Release year: 1962

Storyline

An English couple and a deposed ruler head for the border during a South American revolution.

Top credits

Directors

Anthony Asquith

Writers

Cast

Leslie Caron — Claire Jordan
David Niven — Tom Jordan
James Robertson Justice — Bryant
David Opatoshu — Rivera

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Did you know

• Throughout filming, the film was known as "Act Of Mercy," the title of writer Francis Clifford's novel. At the last minute, the title was changed to the meaningless Guns of Darkness (1962). The front office was worried about its box-office potential and thought the new name was more dramatic, as well as being similar to The Guns of Navarone (1961), which had been a big hit for star David Niven the previous year. It was also reported the film was re-titled for the American market.

• Leslie Caron and David Niven did not get along during filming. In her 2009 autobiography 'Thank Heaven,' Caron writes: "Having nothing particularly nice to say about David Niven, I'll clam up --- only this: He had the largest hands of any partner of mine. It seems that during my young years scripts often included scenes in which I am slapped." Indeed, in closeups where the two hold hands, it is visible that Niven's hands are huge compared to hers.

• Graham Lord, authorized biographer of David Niven, interviewed the movie's screenwriter John Mortimer, who became one of the actor's 'closest friends.' He is quoted: "He found Leslie Caron slightly irritating .... (on location in Spain) we spent a lot of time together. We went to see things like the Alhambra, which was not really his thing because it was a bigger star than he was! He was very funny. We drank a lot of cheap Fundador brandy, so he called me Fundador."