Customer Reviews

Desire Under the Elms

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The tape quality is excellent and the fact that's it's in black and white enhances the somber tones of the story and stark contrast of the characters. The highlight of the film is a fine (however brief) performance by a pre-Bonanza Pernell Roberts whose portrayal of a spirited brother lifts some of the oppression that runs throughtout this tale. I've watched this film more than once for it's cinematic beauty and the quality of acting...but this is not a love story, rather a story about love at it's darkest. If I were a fan of Eugene O'Neill I probably would have given this 5 stars.

Burl Ives plays Ephraim Cabot a greedy miser of a man who has managed to estrange his sons Peter (Pernell Roberts), Simeon (Frank Overton) but most especially Eben (Anthony Perkins) who wears bitterness like an oversized suit. When Ephraim brings home a new, young step-mother for the boys and wife, Anna (Sophia Loren) causes rivalries to begin anew between the brothers, their father but most especially Anna. It seems Ephraim has made the decision to leave the farm Anna when he dies. Eben confronts Anna but their confrontation erupts into passion as the two sleep together.

Eugene O'Neill occupies the same place in American Literature as a playwright as, say, Sophocles did for the Greeks. While Sophocles told of great and heroic characters who fall from grace with the gods, O'Neill focuses on anyone from the average American to the celebrity (I suppose in our screwed up world that's what passes for a "heroic" figure now). O'Neill's best plays ("The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey into Night") tend to focus on the everyman and his or her struggles with temptation and how they seek their redemption. While "Desire Under the Elms" isn't O'Neill's best work, it still resonates with a number of difficult and forbidden themes. It's O'Neill's version of "Oedipus" but with characters that for all their heroic qualities, are flawed and simple human beings.

That said this is a so-so film adaptation of O'Neill's play. The fault lies in making the film a "star" vehicle more than anything else. The script compromises the integrity of O'Neill's original play and the direction, although imaginative at times just doesn't bring the drama to life. Mann's opens up the play a bit but some of the sequences still have a static quality to them. The performances range from decent to so over-the-top that they add a campy quality to the film and bring out the soap opera elements of O'Neill's plot. This is definitely an O'Neill play that deserves a reinterpretation despite the fact that it's a fairly minor work in his canon.


Shot in Vistavision one of the earliest widescreen processes, the black and white images would probably have been a bit sharper and with better clarity if there was some sort of full scale restoration done on the film. As it is, "Desire" looks decent although some of the sequences look a bit muddy while other parts look a bit washed out. There's also quite a bit of analog blemishes. Given the age of the film, the black and white images look pretty decent. It's unlikely that Paramount gave the producer responsible for this film-to-DVD transfer the budget for the necessary restoration of this film. The sound is pretty decent although the frequency response isn't as good as it could be. Still, Elmer Bernstein's striking score comes across with good presence and the dialogue is fairly clear.
There are no extras included. There is no commentary track.

Although not a complete disaster, this adaptation of O'Neill's play leaves a lot to be desired. Basically a star vehicle for Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, the fine moody cinematography and director Delbert Mann's imaginative direction can't overcome a script that takes a piece meal approach to O'Neill's play.

I think this is one of the best Sophia Loren movies I've ever seen. It is very dark and disturbing. The cast is great, Anthony Perkins (Psycho) Sophia, Burl Ives. When it first came out I think people were a little put off that Sophia Loren, considered more of a Pin-Up was given the role of Mrs Cabot (not originally written as a foriegner). She does outstanding though and both her and Perkins play well together. They fight over the farm, here are some quotes:
"Say it Eban! Everything here is mine and some day I'll take it!" -
"Your Farm! You mean MY FARM!"
There is good support cast too. "So this is our new Ma huh?(refering to Sophia Loren) Why don't you put her in the pen with the other sows?"
The don't make movies like this anymore - Classic! Get it now while you can! The Transfer is very good. Its not perfect but as far I'm conserned it is a perfect release for this era of picture. Good clear picture (B&W,mono ect) and you can hear it fine. Not much for extra features but price is good. It is the first time I've seen it Widescreen. Bravo for Paramount.

This is a classic film in every sense of the word. Taken from an original Eugene O'Neill work, with a screenplay by Irwin Shaw, this 1958 film is shot in black and white, underscoring the sparse rock-filled Vermont landscape with a chilling intensity. Burl Ives is cast in the role of a 76-old man who takes young Sophia Loren for a wife. There is serious conflict because he has three grown sons. Two are from a first wife who he worked to death. The third, Antony Perkins, is from his second wife who gave her husband the money for this farm. She's taught her son about this when he was a boy, showing him where his father has buried his treasure and supporting him in claiming his rightful birthright.

The two older sons are losers, taunting their younger brother all of their lives. But as this young son matures, he pledges to own the land. His mother is dead now and the three young brothers live with their father. When the father goes away for a few weeks young Anthony Perkins takes part of the hidden treasure, gives it to his two good-for-nothing brothers and makes them sign over their inheritance of the farm to him.

The father brings home Sophia Loren and soon she and Perkins are deep into a romance. When she has a son, the father assumes it is his. And then the plot develops into a tragedy of operatic proportions.

The drama of this film is outstanding and so are the performances. I felt I had stepped back in time, even further back than 1958 when the film was made, to the kind of drama that echoed with the passions of hundreds of years in the past. And, in spite of the critics' poor reviews, I really loved this film.

During the late Fifties began to appear those hidden bedroom secrets, paving the way to a new genre of cinematography . Unsaid issues like the conjugal unhappiness (A cat on the tin roof), tantalizing seduction (Niagara and Picnic), the arouse of the deprived sexuality (Baby doll), adultery (Anatomy of a murder) or the crude desperation of the existential loneliness (Butterfly 8) hovered the North American Cinema, since 1953 until the late seventies (Diary of an unmarried woman)

This demolishing story of strong erotic burden for those days, find in this superb adaptation of Eugene O' Neil a fabulous picture around the dilemma of a young woman who will get marry induced for the greed and ambition who finally falls in love with the youngest son of his husband.

The film is for these times definitively dated. However the notorious greatness of the cast composed by Burl Ives, Anthony Perkins and the young Italian promise, the captivating beauty of Sophia Loren still maintains its power to involve and bewitch us.

With all these pieces in motion I recommend you. One of the most mature and remarkable films of 1958.

I can remember seeing this film when I was a teenager and I never forgot it. I think it is one of Tony Perkins' best acting parts. This DVD is a sharp black and white copy and is first rate. The musical score and sound is perfect.

Robert Moon

Loren, Perkins, and company reduce one of the American Theatre's masterworks to overwrought trivia in this lifeless adaptation of the Eugene O'Neil classic. Given the obvious talent of the cast, one expects considerably more--and although the basic story of a wife who betrays her much older husband with her step-son remains more or less intact, the film version entirely misses the spirit of the original. Those who have not seen nor read the original may find the film entertaining as soap-opera; those familiar with the original, however, will be outraged.

The cast was very good and I was intrigued enough by the story to keep watching, although I feared that something by Eugene O'Neill might be a little darker than what I was looking for. The chemistry between Loren and Perkins was good and after a while I thought that her statement that they were very lucky people might bring some sunlight into this film. Wrong.

I'm not saying that O'Neill wasn't a great playwright but the plot twist in the end didn't make sense to me. It wasn't just that this didn't have a happy Hollywood ending, it seemed unrealistic and that's what made the conclusion so horrible. Without giving it away, I'll just say that the ending made sitting through the whole two hours a waste of time.

See it if you must but don't say you weren't warned.

It is the 1850s in a rocky New England farm that is home to the despotic owner, Ephraim Cabot (Burl Ives) and his resentful son Eben (Anthony Perkins). At 25, Eben is only staying on the farm because he expects to inherit the land, even though his greedy and cruel father swears that will never happen. The old man goes off and marries Anna (Sophia Loren), a seductive woman of Eben's age. She is repulsed by her husband, but desperately wants the farm, so there is immediate friction between Anna and her new stepson. Hatred soon turns to lust, however, and the two make good use of the hay loft. Anna gives birth to a son and Ephraim declares that the farm will be his alone one day, a decision that leads to a shocking act.

Eugene O'Neill's classic tragedy makes just an OK transition to the screen, despite the talented cast, literate script, and dramatic score by Elmer Bernstein. Something is missing; one never feels any passion or joy or urgency between Eben and Anna; in fact, they both seem to sleepwalk through the story, reciting their lines when it's their turn and glowering throughout. The one who really shines is Burl Ives; he is totally convincing as the hateful, Bible-quoting father and his robust and gleefully evil performance is reason enough to watch the movie. A big problem was the farm; it was the sole location and the object of everyone's desire, and yet the scenes were obviously filmed indoors, giving it a false, stagey look. The pervasive mood is of unremitting gloom, and since none of the characters is likeable or heroic, one is left feeling empty, wishing there had been more of an emotional connection between them and with us.