this movie should have be entitle hateful and self loathing and bitter and ugly and hopeless staircase . make no mistake about it this movie send a clear message to audience that homosexual live miserable life . it 1 hour and 49 minute of mincing and bickering and sniping and and degradation . thank god this film bomb when it be release while otherwise and who know how many gay men would have commit suicide or stay forever in the closet after see it . that say and the film be an important time capsule reflect heterosexual attitude toward gay during the 1960s and a reminder of just how far image of gay on screen have progress in the last 38 year . rex harrison and richard burton play long term lover charles and harry and respectively . charles don mascara and male cosmetic before venture outside . he a narcissistic heel who go out drink nightly and sometimes bring home trick to flaunt in front of harry . harry be the long suffering partner who recently be afflict with alopecia and can not bear to leave his bald head unwrap and even when he take a bath . harry endure charles verbal abuse and philandering and dutifully clean the flat and fix charles meal and and tend to his own bedridden mother who live with with them both ( the scene between burton and cathleen nesbitt a the mother be particularly distasteful ) . harry own and work in the chez harry barbershop below the men flat . charles help out at the shop and but spend most of his time lament his failed attempt at an act career . charles daughter from his marriage to a woman be come to visit and and charles be worry about how he will explain harry presence . on top of that and charles have be serve with a notice to appear in court for an incident involve cross dressing and put on a performance in a local pub . the thought of have to explain the whole ugly mess and be out a homosexual have charles either lash out bitterly at harry or sob uncontrollably over what he see a the end of his world . charles and harry clearly detest one another after be together for so long and yet they can not possibly envision their life without each other . charles need harry to wait on him hand and foot and to comfort him when he break down while harry need to feel needed and and charles be the only person who can fit the bill for him . the exchange between harry and charles be vile and bitchy and and condescend . at one point and they resort to physical violence . only once and when charles fear that harry be dead and do any sort of humanity come through . otherwise and it like an all male version of who afraid of virginia woolf and with rex harrison in the elizabeth taylor role . harrison character share the same name a the film screenwriter and charles dyer and who also pen the stage play upon which the movie be base . i do not know if dyer be straight or gay and but he homophobic and make no attempt to disguise it . director stanley donen and know for classic like sing in the rain and drain any semblance of warmth or hope from the film . even the staging be cold and dreary and depress most of the film take place in harry and charles run down and cramped apartment . harrison and burton be surprisingly effective a the spar partner . though they generate no spark together and they bring out in each other the physical and spiritual despair the character be live . staircase be a film lack any sense of pride or dignity . it a sad look back at how homosexual be once regard and but it get two star for at least be a sobering gay history lesson .