Customer Reviews

The Glass Menagerie (1987) [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is incredibly rare to find a film adapted from a play that actually works and remains faithful to spirit of the original story. "The Glass Menagerie" is one of the infinitesimally few efforts that manages to do both. Casting, direction, and acting are superb, with an especially priceless performance by John Malkovich as the poetic but stifled Tom Wingfield. The entire film is worth watching for his "opium den" rant at Joanne Woodward, though the remainder is in no way lacking. This is a much underrated, gut-wrenching, true cinematic treasure.

Of the numerous interpretations of this play that I've seen on stage and screen, this is the best--a strong statement considering the many excellent actors who've been attracted to Tennessee Williams's powerful characters (e.g. Katherine Hepburn and Sam Waterston). John Malkovich seems to have been born to play Tom, the artist torn between familial duties and wanderlust. Malkovich's intense and percussive style is an ideal match for Williams's play, in which the text and its poetry dominate. His performance in this role is the most convincing of any I've seen, and avoids the pitfall of allowing Tom to become too morose and self-absorbed. Joanne Woodward is also perfect as Amanda, who, though deluded, narrow, and even stupid, holds her family together through her unique mixture of courage and desperation. Karen Allen and James Naughton also capture what I think Williams must have intended in the characters Laura Wingfield and the gentlemen caller, and the two generate real chemistry in the pivotal scene with the glass unicorn. This is a must-see for anyone interested in American theater.

A near-perfect film version of a downright gloomy play, "The Glass Menagerie" successfully captures the atmosphere of futility and hopelessness that permeated the play and made it such a success. The choice of actors is quite good, and I am thankful that the complete plot was preserved, rather than attempting to alter it in favor of a more active storyline. Eccentric, yes, depressing, yes, effective - quite so.

The depth of feeling manifested in the acting on display here easily trumps both the (wildly miscast)Gertrude Lawrence and the (vastly overrated) Katherine Hepburn versions of this celebrated play.

Though everyone involved (on both sides of the camera) does a first rate job, special accolades are due to Joanne Woodward, who is perhaps the first actress to really understand Amanda, since the role's originator--Laurette Taylor.

The pathos in Miss Woodward's delineation of the character is almost unbearable on some occasions, as in the famous jonquil soliloquy, in which she conveys, with hushed voice and beatific eyes, a sentimental recollection for lost time (and lost love) that is not only wholly personally convincing, but also manages to imprint her sentiment onto the audience with all the deja vu of Proust's madeleine.

Her Amanda is never less than fully persuasive.

And Mr. Malkovitch, in his final address to the camera, ("blow out your candles Laura") achieves effects of the same high order, with emotions so confiding, intimate, and genuine that he leaves viewers of any sensitivity as heartbroken as he is.

All told a devastating achievement not to be missed by admirers of Mr. Williams.

This is the best most intelligent version of St. Tennessee's GLASS MENAGERIE I've ever seen! There is great humor and tenderness in this version, alonside the heartbreak. The direction by Paul Newman is subtle and insightful, the artful cinematography by the great Michael Ballhaus gives every scene layers and layers of meaning, and the acting is astounding. John Malkovich's Tom is achingly brilliant (the semi-literate lump Christian Slater playing Tom/Tennessee on Broadway was absurd) and bursting with resentment and anger and creative potential; Joanne Woodward perfectly inhabits mother Amanda's well-meaning but at times smothering narcissistic love and sing-song nagging and melancholic nostalgia; and then the revelation is Karen Allen (who knew?) whose wounded resigned Laura cannot achieve her mother's ambitions or her brother's cultural curiousity, but who compassionately loves these two human volcanos despite everything.
I love these characters---Tom, Laura, and Mother Amanda---and I want to be with them again and again, despite how heart-breaking they are.
I only wish this version of GLASS MENAGERIE, which gives oxygen to William's poetry and lets it breathe and live inside us all the more powerfully, will become available on DVD soon!

This is the best film version of the Tennessee Williams play, and one of the best transfers to film of one of his plays - right up there with the Kazan film of "A Streetcar Named Desire." I can still visualize so much of this film, it was that powerful - Joanne Woodward's "jonquils" speech, Malkovich's opening and closing monologues, Karen Allen's frightened, sensitive and shy portrayal, and James Naughton's kindly, clueless, then sensitive portrayal of the Gentleman Caller.

Since Paul Newman's death, can those of us out there who love this movie figure out whom to contact to petition a DVD release of this heart-rending film of Tennessee Williams' first masterpiece?

I think the other reviews of this adaptation are sound and say everything I would ever want to say. But what I want to know is why, oh why, can't someone turn this masterpiece of an adaptation into a DVD.? There is no excuse. I've used the VHS version in the classroom for about a decade and neither I nor my students tire of it. But, with each passing year people and schools will be dumping their VHS players, and this faithful and compelling adaptation will disappear. I no longer have access to a tape player, and I will not settle for any other versions, which are inferior (sorry Jessica Tandy and Katherine Hephburn). I have written the company, but received no reply.

Newman's version of Tennessee William's play is true to the work, John Malkovich is incredible as Tom and gives the character intense depth with many subtle layers. Scenes between Tom and Amanda are incredibly intense. Shot wonderfully, mood is set in perfectly with simplistic scenery. Excellently cast, wonderfully directed. The best of its kind.

In an age of modern technology, it is still pleasant to see some aspects of technology have not completely distanted itself. The performance given by John Malkovich was amazing on all levels. He made you believe it was Tom; instead of playing Tom; with whom is Tennessee Williams? Laura Wingfield and Karen Allen, as mother and daughter, offer a bond that only talented actors could pull off. The hardest part of anything is to make it easy and simple; which throughout the film all three did. The film captures a sense of St. Louis during the harsh and bleak times of Middle America. After watching the film, it leaves you a bitter taste of hope.

The story is, of course, good! After all, this is Tennessee Williams ... though actually it was this movie which got me to read the play and other works by him. Karen Allen is quiet, fragile, and subtle as Laura Wingfield, while John Malkovich is incredibly inspiring as Tom Wingfield. Unassuming at times, sensitive at others. But whichever it is, it all fits in ... he is Tom Wingfield brought to life. Watch it for a great story with wonderful characters. I don't care if there are technical flaws, as I've read in a lot of "professional reviews". What matters to me is the masterful writing and powerful emotions it inspires. And it didn't disappoint me in that aspect.