The Comedians is a 1967 American political drama film directed and produced by British filmmaker Peter Glenville, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Graham Greene, who also wrote the screenplay.

Paul Ford and Lillian Gish had supporting roles as a presidential candidate and wife, as did James Earl Jones as an island doctor.

The film tells the story of a sardonic British hotel owner and his encroaching fatalism as he watches Haiti sink into barbarism and squalor under Duvalier.

Among the alighting passengers are: Major H. O. Jones (Alec Guinness), a British businessman with a letter of invitation to do business with the government; Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Paul Ford and Lillian Gish), an elderly American couple who wish to set up a vegetarian complex for education and nutrition for the locals; and the central character, a cynical, washed-up hotel owner named Brown, portrayed by Richard Burton.

Upon arrival, Major Jones presents his credentials to Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), a law enforcement officer.

Brown has an ongoing affair with Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), the German-born wife of Pineda (Peter Ustinov), the Uruguayan ambassador to Haiti.

There he discovers Jones has been released, is a guest of Captain Concasseur and is enjoying Brown's favourite prostitute, Marie Therese (Cicely Tyson).

Mr. Smith, a former "Vegetarian Party" candidate for President of the United States against Harry S. Truman, is given a tour of the new capital, called Duvalierville.

Captain Concasseur and his men enter Brown's hotel and beat him up until Mrs. Smith bluffs the thugs by threatening to inform her husband, the American "presidential candidate."

Because political conditions in Haiti made filming there impossible, location shooting took place in Dahomey (now part of the Republic of Benin).

A short promotional documentary titled The Comedians in Africa was released in 1967, which chronicled the difficulties encountered by the on-location crew and cast.

The film featured a group of black American actors who would become famous into the 1970s: Raymond St. Jacques, James Earl Jones, and Cicely Tyson.

Glenville previously directed the premier of Graham Greene's first play, The Living Room, at Wyndham's Theatre in April 1953.

[6] Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that "the movie tries to be serious and politically significant, and succeeds only in being tedious and pompous", and denounced the "long, very wordy discussions".

[7] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, praising the atmosphere and some individual scenes, but writing: "Mr. Greene's characteristic story of white men carrying their burdens cheerlessly and with an undisguised readiness to dump them as soon as they can get away from this God-forsaken place is no great shakes of a drama.

Alec Guinness in his role as Jones tied with Robert Shaw in A Man for All Seasons for the 1968 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor.