Arch of Triumph (1984 film)

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This article is about the 1984 TV film. For other uses, see Arch of Triumph (disambiguation).

Arch of Triumph
DVD cover
Directed by	Waris Hussein
Produced by	Mort Abrahamson Peter Graham Scott John Newland
Written by	Charles E. Israel Erich Maria Remarque(novel)
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Lesley-Anne Down Donald Pleasence
Music by	Georges Delerue
Cinematography	Bob Edwards
Distributed by	Harlech Television (HTV)
Release dates	19 December 1984
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Arch of Triumph is a 1984 British television film by Harlech Television. It is based on the novel Arch of Triumph by Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front. The novel was previously adapted in 1948 for a film of the same name with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. It was released on 19 December 1984 in the UK, and on 29 May 1985 in the US.

It was directed by Waris Hussein and produced by Mort Abrahamson, Peter Graham Scott and John Newland. The adaptation was by Charles E. Israel, the music score by Georges Delerue and the cinematography by Bob Edwards.

The film stars Anthony Hopkins, Lesley-Anne Down and Donald Pleasence with Frank Finlay, Joyce Blair and Richard Pasco.

In the film, Joan Madou (Lesley-Anne Down) sings "J'attendrai"

Synopsis[edit]

Ravic (Anthony Hopkins), is an Austrian doctor who helped Jews escape from the Nazi regime. He was tortured in a concentration camp. In 1939 he is living in Paris, under a false name and without any documents, constantly aware of the risk of being arrested.

At night, on one of Paris bridges over the Seine, Ravic meets Joan Madou (Lesley-Anne Down), a woman about to (possibly) attempt suicide, and helps her. This is the start of a romance. But the prickly Ravic has unfinished business with the Nazis, and he is separated from Joan after being discovered as refugee without papers With no communications possible between them, they each try to manage under difficult circumstances and, when they finally met up again after six months of unexplained absence, there are shadows hanging over their relationship. They cautiously try to mend their broken affair as international events spin out of control around them.

Films directed by Waris Hussein
A Touch of Love (1969) Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970) Melody (1971) The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972) Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) Princess Daisy (1983) The Winter of Our Discontent (1983) Arch of Triumph (1985) Surviving: A Family in Crisis (1985) When the Bough Breaks(1986) Killer Instinct (1988) Those She Left Behind (1989) The Shell Seekers (1989) Switched at Birth (1991) The Face on the Milk Carton (1995) A Child's Wish (1997) Sixth Happiness (1997)