Customer Reviews

Death of a Salesman (Broadway Theatre Archive)

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As a great admirer of Arthur Miller's work, I have always wished I could have seen the original 1949 production of his masterpiece, DEATH OF A SALESMAN. This video of a 1966 television production, featuring the original Willy and Linda, Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, is the next best thing -- especially as it was taped "live" and is more like a stage production than like a movie. As wonderful as Dustin Hoffman's portrayal is in the superb 1985 movie version of SALESMAN, Lee J. Cobb simply IS Willy Loman; he conveys the sadness and insecurity that lurk beneath Willy's outward bravado. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Act II scene with Bernard, when he offers Willy a cigarette from his expensive silver case. Cobb takes the case, holds it, looks at it, then slowly hands it back to Bernard. This one moment is so telling: Willy, who never achieved success, either for himself or for his sons, is envious of Bernard's success (and Bernard was never even "well-liked"), symbolized by the silver cigarette case. Mildred Dunnock is likewise ideal as Linda: fragile, but hard as steel when defending Willy to her two resentful sons, Biff and Happy (George Segal and the excellent James Farentino). Segal is especially fine in the hotel-room scene and at the end when, in the middle of a heated argument with his father, he suddenly grabs him and hugs him, weeping. This gesture tells us that Biff is furious with Willy not because he hates him, but because he loves him. Of the supporting actors, Edward Andrews stands out as Charley, Willy's prosperous but "laid-back" neighbor -- the antithesis of Willy himself. Only Bernie Koppel as Howard, Willy's boss, seems an odd choice: he looks more like a college student than like the head of a company. (But perhaps the director, Alex Segal, was just trying to emphasize Willy's age and his failure to "keep up with the times.") This, however, is the only possible weakness in a marvelous production that is essential viewing, if only for the classic portrayals of Cobb and Dunnock.

If you want to see a production of one of American Theater's most important playwright's most important works, then look no further. Though there have been several noteworthy productions over the years, this Broadway Theater Archive treat showcases the "perfect" Salesman cast, in a treatment that is essentially a reblocking of the famed Elia Kazan Broadway premiere of the play. Willie Loman's originator, Lee J Cobb, reprises his role, along with Mildred Dunnock. Though Geroge C. Scott and Dustin Hoffman received critical acclaim for their interpretations of Willie Loman, neither holds a candle to Cobb. He simply "is" Willie. George Segal and John Malcovich weigh in about evenly in the "best Biff" category, but the nod goes to Segal, because of the great ensemble cast he was lucky enough to play off of. Yet another winner in a BTA series that chronicles American Theater in its greatest era (60's and 70s).

Just a note to bear in mind that these plays are film versions of the plays exactly as they were staged on Broadway at the time, so don't look for cinematic production values. Sometimes the camera work is not ideal, but that doesn't get in the way of the consistently powerful performances, and that's what great theater is all about, anyway. I'm just grateful that most of the series is available and hope that the unavailable titles are just being restored and will be rereleased soon.

BEK

Seeing Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman in this David Susskind produced version is as close as possible to seeing the original play on Broadway, and a far sight better than just about any live production one could find nowadays.

Mr. Cobb's performance is so absorbing, so powerful and so disturbing, that we, (the audience) feel genuinely dazed at its conclusion. It's as though, by the time of the final scene, that we too, are attending Willy's funeral, and all stumble away drained and awed.

The supporting cast are each and all superb, with Mildred Dunnock probably topping anything else in which she has appeared. Set design is also inventive in its combination of abstract and realistic interiors and exteriors.

As to the character of Willy, it is to Mr. Cobb's credit, that for all of his past moral compromises and shabby aspirations, the most honest of us, will admit that we recognize something of ourselves in him.

Theater and television at its best! Thank you Mr. Susskind. (Also interesting to note Karen Steele relegated to a bit role while still such a young woman--what a step down from "Marty.")

Acting like they don't do anymore forcefully and beautifully delivers Arthur Miller's story of a failed salesman and his thoroughly dysfunctional family. The message of the original play, definitely opposing certain traditional American values, was too threatening for some business executives and flag-wavers of the time to accept, and the issues are just as valid today. Yet the play is in no way preachy nor overtly political. Instead, it's highly personal and devestatingly effective. This version is somewhat reduced from the original Broadway hit but is not perceptibly damaged by the cuts. Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, of the original stage cast, are excellent again--in fact, Cobb's performance is possibly the best acting I've ever seen in any medium. You'll recognize Gene Wilder playing Bernard, but he lacks expressiveness in the role. The bright colors are a little too cheerful for the material. Otherwise, the film is just about perfect. Good citizens should see it to understand more fully the effects--good and bad--of our competetive culture.

An insightful play about the realities of life. Cobb gives a standup performance in this classic play equal to none. Actors of his caliber are few and far between. Simply the best performance of this play to date. Lee becomes Willy in a somewhat scary portrayal. It is hard to tell the difference between Lee and Willy. Highly Recommend this version to serious theatre affcianados.

Startling and ambitious vintage network TV production from 1966 is a heart-breaking and unrelentlessly tragic drama with Lee J. Cobb in such a supoerb performance, you want to reach out and console the troubled sympathetic character. So downbeat as to be almost dismal, the play succeeds in it's grip on the realities of grief and doom and the undying hope of a better tomorrow. The rest of the cast is equally superb and I loved the fake realism of the CBS cameras taping a obviously theatrical set.

... the closest you'll get to the original cast of arguably the greatest American play of all time. Stunning.

Having assembled the vast majority of Broadway Archives and even classic movies, modern and B&W alike.......this along with Jason Robards in "The Iceman Cometh" simply stand alone.

After watching Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront, certainly you can understand why he was one of the great character actors of his day. But this performance stands alone from anything I have ever seen and heard. It is as powerful, as resonate, as skilled a performance as one can expect. It is said that when an actor can make you feel his pain, his suffereing, think his thoughts beyond the words...that is what happens here, it transcends the work itself almost.

I have seen many and heard many versions of this play (George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Brian Dennehy, Frederich March, even Paul Douglas on cassette), but this creation of Willy Loman belongs only to Mr. Cobb.

The supporting cast is stellar, but they do revolve around this tragic truly American character, akin perhaps even to King Lear in a sense. No one can heap to much praise for this production, you might as well start at the top if you're going to watch the American Stage on DVD in your home. I don't know that we can expect to see something this powerful again. It is that good.

Arthur Miller had a good ear for the foibles and traumas of the ordinary people of the old middle class put up against the wall in a world that was dramatically changing after World War II. The time of the man in the gray flannel suit and the victory of corporate culture that destroyed the old independent professions was not Willie Loman's time. In this play, seemingly only about the trials and tribulations of Everyman Willie Loman a used up salesman at the end of his career, the underlying tension is that he cannot keep up with those changes and therefore has to be discarded. This has a fallout effect on his personal life as well. He does not understand what has happened to destroy the integrity of his dysfunctional nuclear family. The old standards that had guided him do not stand up in the new suburban-dominated world where he must try to survive. Obviously there is some dramatic tension between him and his sons who have in their own way nothing but contempt for the old man, his old ways, his illusions and his duplicity. But also, as is always the case with rebellious children, love, at least their conception of it, as well. That this is not good enough to save him in the end is one of the lessons to be learned from the play. Read the play and see the Lee J. Cobb version of the movie. Cobb is Willie Loman.

"Death of a Sales," with Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, is fantastic. It made me cry, which is something I don't remember doing when I saw it before. I loved Fredrick March's and Dustan Hoffman's Willie Lowman, after all they are two of the most tallented actors to ever grace the silver screen, but until you've seen Mr. Cobb's Willie Lowman, you aint seen Willie Lowman. This production is very "stagie" but this is a "play." It's simpely perfect.