Day 30.1: The Glass Menagerie (1973)
Jun. 14th, 2024 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunshowerdandelionNow this was a really good TV movie. Katherine Hepburn is an amazing woman and an amazing actress, easily the most sympathetic character in her cast. What didn't come across to me as a non-U.S. person was the humor, the wryness of the Amanda Winfield character, whom Katherine plays as vivacious and full of forlorn hope, but not at all delusional - just rightly anxious about the future.
I think they made a bold choice omitting Tom's signature monologue in the beginning, and putting Tom's visions of Laura there instead (the ending of the play). I think this does the job of establishing the 'memory play' nature while also getting things along nicely. Also, his fourth-wall breaks are very poignant as a result, although the actor played him as (I think) more volatile than in the script. The highlight of his performance I think was the last scene, where he stares with grief at horror at Laura blowing out the candles.
Laura's played with more vivacity than how I imagined her, which again is a really pleasant surprise. As the center of Tom's memory, Laura could very easily be played as an object: i.e. an item of her glass menagerie herself, but Joanna Miles does such a good job of suggesting interiority. I think the highlight of her performance is (of course) the candlelit scene, where you can see Laura flower out by degrees to Jim's entreaties. When her dream shatters it is wonderfully subtle.
Jim of course is a delight in the way fizzy drinks are a delight. The way he mills his hands around for American democracy and casually breaks Laura's heart is delightful.
This is a movie to be watched while drinking fizzy drinks and lemonade.
I think they made a bold choice omitting Tom's signature monologue in the beginning, and putting Tom's visions of Laura there instead (the ending of the play). I think this does the job of establishing the 'memory play' nature while also getting things along nicely. Also, his fourth-wall breaks are very poignant as a result, although the actor played him as (I think) more volatile than in the script. The highlight of his performance I think was the last scene, where he stares with grief at horror at Laura blowing out the candles.
Laura's played with more vivacity than how I imagined her, which again is a really pleasant surprise. As the center of Tom's memory, Laura could very easily be played as an object: i.e. an item of her glass menagerie herself, but Joanna Miles does such a good job of suggesting interiority. I think the highlight of her performance is (of course) the candlelit scene, where you can see Laura flower out by degrees to Jim's entreaties. When her dream shatters it is wonderfully subtle.
Jim of course is a delight in the way fizzy drinks are a delight. The way he mills his hands around for American democracy and casually breaks Laura's heart is delightful.
This is a movie to be watched while drinking fizzy drinks and lemonade.
