There are pointless arguments to be had as to whether Burton and Taylor in the main roles would have been better and wouldn't it have been good to see that Losey or, praise be, the Bunuel version get off the ground, but we have what we have. Almost fifty years on from when I read the deeply affecting book I cannot recall how faithful the telling is although I do retain a memory of it being more intense and foreboding than here. That volcano was not just a pretty picture but something like the forthcoming war that impinged upon the daily life. Nevertheless this is a very fine effort, Finney gives it his all and just about convinces, Bisset is pretty but less convincing and Huston has an eye for the Mexican setting, particularly the Day of the Dead celebrations and the final ghastly booze and debauchery sequence. But then, Huston himself knew more than a little about, not just drinking, but periods of drinking all the time, or as someone says here, 'drinking himself sober'.

I saw this film several times in the late 1980's and always thought that Albert Finney's performance was great but now, watching it all these years later in the very city in which it was set and shot I am convinced that Finney's performance is one of the greatest depictions of alcoholism EVER! Only Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas has done as well of a job of capturing the emotionalism and physical mannerisms of a drunk. I haven't read the novel (yet) but I think John Huston (no stranger to the effects of massive alcohol consumption himself) was probably the right choice to direct this tale of an alcoholic British consul drinking himself senseless in Mexico on the eve of WW2. Anyone interested in top-notch acting should see this film. Albert Finney was nominated for an Oscar, and in my opinion, he should have won! BRAVO, Mr Finney!

Towards the end of his career, John Huston adapted Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano", depicting a day in the life of an alcoholic British consul in Mexico on the Day of the Dead in 1938. I haven't read the novel but now I'd like to. Albert Finney plays the consul as a man who wants to be able to do the right thing but his alcoholism prevents it, even with the Nazis trying to infiltrate Mexico. I thought that the consul's wife (Jacqueline Bisset) wasn't as developed as extensively as she could've been, but I still liked Bisset's performance. With this movie Huston made clear that he had not lost his touch. I recommend it.

PS: Hugo Stiglitz (Sinarquista) was known for various horror flicks. He and John Huston co-starred in "The Bermuda Triangle" in 1978. Quentin Tarantino named Til Schweiger's character in "Inglourious Basterds" Hugo Stiglitz in reference to him.