Separate Tables

Delbert Mann's 1958 classic MGM drama Separate Tables, based on a Terence Rattigan play and co-scripted by Rattigan himself, is a star-studded character study of a group of eccentric residents of a Bournemouth boarding house who all share a common trait - loneliness. Major Pollack (David Niven) hides a dark secret behind a polished military career; Sibyl Railton-Bell (Deborah Kerr), is a shy neurotic who lacks the courage to break away from her domineering mother; John Malcolm (Burt Lancaster) is a disenchanted writer who hides his bitterness in a pool of alcohol; and Ann Shankland (Rita Hayworth) is an ageing model whose narcissism masks her deep fear of growing old alone. In one emotional evening, these four unhappy misfits will bare their innermost secrets and change each other's lives forever. (British Film Institute (BFI))