Customer Reviews

Medea [VHS]

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I saw this "Medea" for the first time on television a couple of years after it was made in 1959. Though only a sophomore in high school at the time, I never forgot it. Now, almost forty years later, I've encountered it again on this black and white video. My feelings and opinions are once again validated. This is the legendary Greek tragedy of Euipides adapted for modern audiences by Robinson Jeffers. Medea, of course, is the ominous Colchian princess who possesses evil and magical powers. She stole the Golden Fleece, as well as having killed her own brother for the love of Jason, whom she married and with whom she had two sons. But Jason has grown tired of Medea and has decided to marry Criusa, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Medea's response to this state of affairs sets the stage for a bloodbath that would surpass even the most publicized crimes of passion we would encounter in today's newspapers and tabloids. The role of Medea is one that only a great actress could bring to life, and Judith Anderson was, of course, one of the most acclaimed and accomplished actresses of the twentieth century. Her face speaks volumes, and her outbursts and declamations would give the Greek gods themselves anxiety attacks. When the 107 minutes of this very fast-moving epic were finished, I felt completely drained and exhausted. The Robinson Jeffers dialogue is easy to discern, and the picture quality is exactly what you would expect from a 1959 televised broadcast. The picture is slightly murky in the beginning, but soon rights itself. This, I believe, was the production seen on Broadway during the 1950's (which also starred Judith Anderson), and if one can countenance the black and white and somewhat undefined scenery, this video will prove to be one of your proudest possessions. This is real "theater" at its most searing ---- and it preserves the greatest role of one of the greatest actresses who ever graced any stage or film.

I hope the excellence of this production will mean it becomes more widely available. Yes, it's black and white. No matter: it never stops one from watching film noir; why should it matter when one has such a wonderful example of another genre! The cast is uniformly good - and sometimes very much better than good - though Jason is a bit pedestrian. Fortunately we see little of him. But Judith Anderson - what to say about Judith Anderson? Her characterization is superb. She inhabits such a mythic and archetypal plane that every gesture, stance and cadence re-defines reality - and everyone else seems small and shadowy by comparison, part of some other world sketchily realized. Others seem to say their lines compellingly - until she speaks; and then everyone else seems to be speaking somewhat by rote, reaching for the grand manner but never quite attaining it. She simply acts the whole lot of them off the stage and out of the theatre - not because she wants to do that, but because no one else can compare no matter how hard they try. I suspect that one has the chance to experience such a performance very rarely in life. Such things are treasures. Find a way to see this one! [As an aside, I notice that some of Anderson's stances and gentures echo Callas' in her Medea, as preserved in the many stills from the later performances. I wonder who influenced whom? Or perhaps they both tapped into something timeless, who knows? In any event, we have Anderson on film. Find it.]