I disagree with previous comments. This a perfect production of UNCLE VANYA, one of the world's great dramas. We should be thankful that the stage production was recorded so that all of us can continue to enjoy and be moved by these brilliant performances. Michael Redgrave and Joan Plowright are particularly moving, but Olivier as Astrov and the lovely Rosemary Harris and the legendary Fay Compton are also memorable. Yes, it is not presented in an artificially cinematic style. With this play and this production that doesn't matter. In fact, the nature of the play demands that the camera focus on the faces and body language of the actors. It's their emotions, their reactions to each other that matter. With the camera so close to them, we can see them lying to each other and to themselves. Heartbreaking, brilliant, and unforgettable. A masterful rendition of a masterpiece.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Master Builder
(1960 TV Movie)
Definitive production of THE MASTER BUILDER
27 March 2006
This is the best production of Ibsen's THE MASTER BUILDER you are likely to see. E.G. Marshall is superb, but it's that great actress Lois Smith who makes this production a masterpiece. She is both enigmatic and heartbreaking as Hilda, incomparably brilliant. I saw this in 1960 and can remember her every inflection and expression. She should be designated a national treasure. She has made all too few movies, but has done great work on the stage. If you can see THE MASTER BUILDER and experience her passionate idealism, her strange infatuation for the architect Master Builder, and her ambiguous yet powerful reactions to his frailty as a man, you will never forget it. A performance to treasure forever.
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