Customer Reviews

The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) [VHS]

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Having just watched the 1973 television production of "The Glass Menagerie" I have now seen every Katharine Hepburn performance she ever did on film or television. From "A Bill of Divorcement" to "This Can't Be Love" I now have everything on tape (yes, even "The Iron Petticoat"). This was Hepburn's first television performance and she was working with Anthony Harvey, who directed the actress in her third Oscar winning role in "The Lion in Winter." Hepburn had seen Laurette Taylor's exquisite performance in the original stage production of "The Glass Menagerie," and had long considered Tennessee William's "memory" play to be an American classic. Even though she is the quintessential Connecticut Yankee, Hepburn trotted out an affect Southern accent and tackled the role.

The play is essentially a gigantic flashback told by Tom Wingfield (Sam Waterston), who is now a merchant seaman in a distant port recalling the final days he spent in the family home in St. Louis with his mother, the faded Southern belle, Amanda (Hepburn), and his painfully shy sister, Laura (Joanna Miles). Stuck in a dead end job at a shoe factory and constantly going to the movies to escape his mother, Tom wants to be a poet. Laura, made physically ill by any attempt to go out and function in the real world, has retreated to her imagination and her titular collection of glass animals. Amanda is constantly talking about the old days on Blue Mountain, browbeating Tom for his lack of incentive, or hustling subscriptions for "The Lady's Home Companion." When his mother badgers him into finding a "gentleman caller" for his sister, Tom brings home Jim O'Connor (Michael Moriarty) from work. Even better, Jim is the boy the Laura had a crush on in high school, although she certainly never would have said anything at the time. But in a Tennessee Williams play, no good deed goes unpunished.

The centerpiece of the play becomes the scene between Laura and her gentleman caller. The scene is remarkable in that it is certainly unconventional to give two characters so much time on stage alone like this. Suffice it to say that on the basis of this extended scene both Morairty and Miles won a pair of Emmy awards each, for Best Supporting Actor/ess in a Drama and Supporting Actor/ess of the Year (the Emmys have had their fair share of strange awards over the years). Hepburn was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama while Miles received a nod in the Supporting Actress category.

This version of "The Glass Menagerie" has the virtue of sticking to the play's original conclusion, which is not what happened with the 1950 film adaptation with Gertrude Lawrence, Jane Wyman, Arthur Kennedy, and Kirk Douglas. It seems that Hollywood always felt a strong urge to make Tennessee Williams' plays more upbeat on the silver screen. Once you get past her accent, Hepburn's performance is as nuanced as you would expect, and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. Given that their paths would almost cross on "Law & Order," it is ironic to find Waterston and Moriarty together in this production.

Kudos to the Broadway Theater Archive for preserving these fine performances on tape and many others as well. There just are not as many televised plays as there used to be in the old days, and it is great to see that many lost treasures are again becoming available to us as lovers of the theater.

I just received this yesterday, and immediately settled down, with the cats fed and strict orders of silence, to watch it. What a wonderful, lost jewel. This made for t.v. film was produced the year I graduated from high school, and, the life I then lived in the apartment next to a city train trestle, that I dismally shared with my mother and my dear little sister, was probably a little too similar to Tennessee Williams beautiful play to be of much interest to me then. That this play is based upon his early years is now well known, and, though she denied it most of her life, "Amanda", the suffocating mother played by Katherine Hepburn, is undoubtedly Edwina Williams, Tennessee Williams mother. Though she is the focal point, this "memory play" is as much about Williams beloved sister Rose, whose tragic mental illness and subsequent lobotomy froze her in time. The crippled "Laura" inhabits another world, as did Rose. Williams remained devoted to his institutionalized sister, who outlived him, for his entire lifetime, and always proclaimed her his lifelong love. "Tom", the brother and narrator of the play, dreams of a life filled with adventure, outside of the despised warehouse where he performs his menial work, and free of the unwanted obligations to his abandoned mother and sister. Tom was Tennessee Williams real name, and there is much of him in the fictional Tom. When this play was first produced in the 1940's, Williams career was very young. He considered himself a failure, and, the play was not initially well received. Starring as "Amanda" was Laurette Taylor, formerly a renowned theatre actress, now a Broadway has-been, whose downfall to drink was well known in the theatre world. Upon seeing her in the first early rehearsals of this play, the financial backer screamed to the producer..."HOW could you do this to me?" Williams was also sure he had a failure on his hands, and the play produced modest crowds upon opening, and readied for closing. However, two local Chicago critics sang its praises, and, it subsequently received immense critical acclaim and major awards. As did Laurette Taylor, whose performance went down in theatre history, and was her "comeback" (she died the following year.) Katherine Hepburn, who saw the original production, is wonderful in this role. How lucky we are that The Theatre Archive has preserved her performance. There are close-ups and little bits of business here that make one realize just how rare and skilled an actress she was. What a joy she is to watch. She perfectly conveys "Amanda's" suffocating behavior, all in the name of love for her children, of course. With her at times false joy, and, at other times, her eyes brimming with tears, she repeatedly relives the memories of her bygone youth, beaus of past, and her faded promise, to the all too familiar resignation of her claustrophobic children. You may find her incessent instructions to them on how to breath, eat, stand, etc...exasperating, but this is her controlling nature. Having been abandoned 16 years earlier by her husband, she is determined to make her children "winners", saving them and herself from the obvious fact that they are not. Her grown children are wonderfully and convincingly played by Sam Waterston and Joanna Miles, and Michael Moriarty is equally moving as "The Gentleman Caller." A touchingly beautiful version of a classic, and a total pleasure from a gentler, simpler time. Tennessee now lies next to his beloved Rose, whose gravestone is inscribed...."Blow out your candles, Laura..."

Thank the theatre gods for releasing this absolutely spellbinding and majestic version originally produced for television in 1973.

Deftly balancing Williams' poetry and Hepburn's staunch strength, this version directed by Anthony Harvey absolutely resounds with gentle power and grace.

Waterston makes a delicate Tom without any of the overpowering effiminate qualities that undermines so many other actors who essay the role. He makes the consumate Thomas Wingfield by acknowledging Tennessee Williams' autobiographical reality and marrying it to idealized forms. Like Jason Robards was born to interpret O'Neill, Waterston was born to bring Williams' to life.

Of course one cannot be too effusive in praising the late great Miss Hepburn. Her Amanda is subtle, heroic and painfully tragic as she tackles one of the American theatre's greatest roles. Her work in this version stands as one of the great performances waiting to be discovered.

Thankfully this version is now availbe and serves as a must own for all fans of this play. Along with Paul Newman's equally excellent version, this demands purchasing and cherishing. Absolutely brilliant.

A brilliant cast gives life to this 1973 production, lending new interpretations which overcome the dated aspects of this 1944 play. Set in St. Louis, the action takes place entirely in the crowded tenement apartment of the Wingfield family, which has fallen upon hard times. Amanda Wingfield (Katharine Hepburn) is a domineering but good-hearted woman with two children, her husband having long vanished. Her daughter Laura, pathologically shy, spends most of her time polishing her collection of glass animals. Unable to adjust to the requirements of secretarial school, Laura is totally dependent on Amanda and Tom, her brother. Amanda is determined to find a husband for Laura so that Laura will be taken care of--and she begs Tom to bring home a friend as a "gentleman caller."

Hepburn is wonderful as Amanda, creating an Amanda who is strong and domineering, yet remarkably dedicated to her children. Hepburn conveys none of Amanda's vulnerability, emphasizing instead her commitment and determination to control the future. She tries to make Laura into her own image, but Laura is so overwhelmed by life that she lacks the confidence she needs to live.

Michael Moriarty, as Jim O'Connor, the gentleman caller who comes for a family dinner, is terrific in his role. His "gentleman caller" is an enthusiastic young man with plans for his future, but he is also an innocent, not quite aware of what Amanda has planned and unprepared for the depth of Laura's vulnerability. Rattling on about his life, he is insensitive to Laura's feelings, having no real appreciation for the fact that she idolized him in high school and is overwhelmed by his presence in her home. Joanna Miles, as Laura, is almost a cipher, a young woman so helpless that she is at the mercy of life's ordinary "tragedies," a woman who obeys her mother because in obeying she has some sort of focus to her life.

Despite these three fine performers, the play, believe it or not, belongs to Sam Waterston. He shows the agony of a man trapped with a domineering mother and a helpless sister, and though he longs to make them happy, heknows that this is impossible. He shows a Tom whose desire to make a life for himself while there is still time is almost palpable, and he exudes the angst which makes the play's action "work." Waterston draws all the aspects of the play together, providing the only point upon which the action and climax can pivot with any sense of realism.

A "memory play" of a family at a crisis between the old and new ways of life, The Glass Menagerie, and this cast in particular, illustrate the conflict between independence and subservience, and between southern tradition and national post-war opportunities. Laura, who does not even know what to wish for, represents the old ways; Tom, the direction of the new. A sterling cast gives sterling performances here. Mary Whipple

THE GLASS MENAGERIE is one of the theatre's great masterpieces. Originally opening on Broadway in 1944, the play established playwright Tennessee Williams as a force to be reckoned with and provided Laurette Taylor with her final great Broadway role as Amanda Wingfield (check out Rick McKay's outstanding BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE to hear Marian Seldes and others discuss their memories of Taylor).

For this 1973 television production, Katharine Hepburn, at the request of Williams himself, stepped into the hallowed role of Amanda. Hepburn gives her usual tour-de-force, especially the scene where Amanda is on the telephone attempting to sell magazine subscriptions (the scene is tragic and comic in equal measures).

The story is a memory play, told in flashback by son Tom Wingfield (played by Sam Waterston with all the brashness of youth), of his years living with his mother Amanda and lame sister Laura (Joanna Miles). Amanda's sole purpose in life is to secure happiness for her children, in particularly Laura, who spends most of her days in seclusion tending to her collection of glass animals. Amanda, in the meanwhile, finds more pleasure reliving past glories than trying to make sense of her ever-uncertain future. Tom cannot stand his mother's machinations and spends most of his time `at the movies', though when Amanda presses him to find a `gentlemen caller' for Laura, the balance of the household grows ever more precarious.

Joanna Miles simply glows as the repressed Laura. Katharine Hepburn, as mentioned above, gives Amanda a frailty and strength which is heartbreaking. Sam Waterston and Michael Moriarty as the `gentlemen caller' offer well-rounded performances. There is some debate as to which character is the genuine lead role of the play. True, Amanda is the main role but the story hinges so much on the trials and agonies of the painfully-shy Laura that the play might as well belong to her. "Blow out your candles, Laura".

I have seen several versions of this play on DVD, and I would say that this is the best of what I know to be currently available, mainly because I think Katharine Hepburn is the best Amanda Wingfield. However, I wish Joanna Miles had portrayed a less robust Laura. She doesn't limp; she wears stylish shoes while dashing athletically out the door to the store; she demonstrates no more than an occasional interest in the glass animals that are supposed to be her obsession; under her subdued demeanor I felt enough personal strength from her to deny the sense of despair about her future that is supposed to hang in the air at the end of the play. Perhaps Jane Wyman's Laura should have been in this production rather than being stuck in the 1950 version, with its own lamentable ending. Perhaps this play is too dated to be believable today and they don't make helpless females any more. (TV has sent such types into therapy.) Nevertheless, this is a great late-career performance for Katharine Hepburn, and that's the best reason for owning this DVD, a good companion to "Lion in Winter" and "On Golden Pond." She was born to play this faded Southern belle who has no talent for sales except as the determined purveyor of a lost culture. Her physical fragility plus the trademark Hepburn patrician accent and mannerisms are simply perfect and utterly priceless (whereas Joanne Woodward in the same role is too perky and liberated). Those two veteran "Law and Order" ADAs are also very good in their roles -- Sam Waterston as Laura's restless, henpecked brother and Michael Moriarty as the cheerful and clueless Gentleman Caller.

I really love this movie. The play has always been a favourite of mine and to now own a version with Kataharine Hepburn speaking those wonderful lines is just fantastic. I could watch this over and over again. Highly recommended.

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) This product was delivered on time and in good condition. The play is excellent and highly recommended to view.

Wonderful! Now I can get the version I've wanted all the time. (not the c**p containing John Malkovich) Now if they would only release the Ann Margaret version of "Streetcar"....

"The Glass Menagerie" was Tennessee Williams first successful play. The classic film made in 1950, Tennessee Williams hated. They had butchered his play and wrote a new happy ending to please the theater audiences. This filmed Broadway production is an excellent performance true to Tennessee Williams' original play as he wrote it. There is also a 1987 film adaptation of the play starring JoAnn Woodward and John Malchovich, which is true to the play.
In interviews and his memoirs, Tennesee Williams denied that the play was autobiographical. But every detail of the play is true to his younger life in St. Louis (with the blatant absence of his brother, Dakin).
This is one of Tennessee Williams' best.