''Ride of the Valkyrie'' is a 1967 British

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

and starring

Julia Foster Julia Foster (born 2 August 1943) is an English stage, screen, and television actress. Life and career Foster was born in Lewes, Sussex. Her first husband was Lionel Morton, once the lead singer with the 1960s pop band The Four Pennies. She is ...

, Zero Mostel, and

Frank Thornton Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 192116 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was known for playing Captain Peacock in ''Are You Being Served?'' and its sequel ''Grace & Favour'' (''Are You Being Served? ...

Plot

An opera singer (Zero Mostel), dressed in full costume and dress, must navigate through the busy city streets to get to the theater in time for his performance.

Cast

* Zero Mostel * Julia Foster * Frank Thornton

History and production

It was originally commissioned by producer

Oscar Lewenstein Silvion Oscar Lewenstein (18 January 1917 – 23 February 1997)Robert Murph"Lewenstein, (Silvion) Oscar (1917–1997)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. was a British theatre and film producer, who helped create some of the leadin ...

, then a director of Woodfall, as one third of a 'portmanteau' feature entitled ''Red White and Zero'', with sections supplied by

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for h ...

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones (1963 film ...

and

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Saturday Night and S ...

Reisz dropped out with his section becoming Brook's ''Ride of the Valkyrie''. The two other planned sections of the film developed into what became Richardson's ''Red and Blue'' and Anderson's ''

The White Bus ''The White Bus'' is a 1967 British short drama film directed by Lindsay Anderson. The screenplay was jointly adapted with Shelagh Delaney from a short story in her collection ''Sweetly Sings the Donkey'' (1963). ''The White Bus'' was also the fi ...

''. Of these, only ''The White Bus'' received a theatrical release in the UK.Paul Sutton (ed.) ''The Diaries: Lindsay Anderson'', London: Methuen, 2004, p.146n.

References

External links

* 1967 films 1967 comedy films Films directed by Peter Brook Films scored by Howard Blake 1967 short films British comedy short films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{short-comedy-film-stub