Justine

Even those who have read Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet" (Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, and Clea) will find this film heavy going. An attempt to meld all four novels into one cohesive story, the film is dragged down by screenwriter Marcus' sloppy writing and ham-fisted direction by Cukor (who replaced Joe Strick just as the film began). Told in flashback, with York as the narrator, JUSTINE is the story of Aimee, an Alexandrian Jewess, and her husband, Vernon, a Christian millionaire. They are planning to send arms to Palestine so the Jews there can overcome the Moslems and thereby help the various Christian Arabs who fear the w...