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Sunday December 1st 2024

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever | 1970

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever location: the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, Sussex
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever location: Daisy Gamble regresses: the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, Sussex

In Vincente Minnelli’s strange reincarnation musical, Daisy Gamble (Barbra Streisand) tries to quit smoking with the aid of hypnosis, but ends up regressing to past lives.

Set in New York, where hypnotist Dr Marc Chabon (Yves Montand) sings Come Back to Me from the roof of the Metlife Building (still known as the Pan-Am Building) in central Manhattan, sending out his thought waves to Daisy at the corner of Lexington Avenue; filming also in Central Park and at the Lincoln Center.

The regression scenes used the kitchens of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, East Sussex on the South Coast of England. In the 1780s, the fishing town of Brighton was being developed into a retreat for the rich and famous when George, Prince of Wales, the fun-loving son of King George III, had his modest lodging house expanded into a villa, which became known as the Marine Pavilion.

When George III's mental state meant he became incapable of acting as monarch, the Prince became Prince Regent and, within a few years, commissioned John Nash to transform this Pavilion into the very un-British, wildly exotic fantasy, complete with Chinese furniture and hand-painted wallpaper.

This famous Regency extravagance can also be seen in Richard Loncraine’s 30s-set Richard III, with Ian McKellen, as well as Neil Jordan's 1999 adaptation of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair.