THE CRUCIBLE
A film review by Laura & Robin Clifford
Copyright 1997 Laura & Robin Clifford
(This review is an excerpt from Reeling, a movie review show hosted by Laura and Robin Clifford, running on Boston Cable TV. Note that the film descriptions vary in completeness due to the fact that they're actually intros for running film clips.)
THE CRUCIBLE ------------
LAURA:
I find it odd that Nicolas Hytner's first two films both deal with mob hysteria in less enlightened times - what a strange theme.
"The Crucible", like "The Portrait of a Lady," is very well acted, but the standout performances come from the supporting cast. Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder are both solid in the lead roles. Joan Allen, however, could very well score another Best Supporting Actress nomination (after last year's recognition for her Pat Nixon) as Elizabeth Proctor, a devoutly religious woman whose sexual coldness has left the door open for her husband's infidelity. Paul Scofield turns out another finely shaded performance as the judge sent in from Boston to attend to the witchcraft trials. Rob Campbell (the young gunslinger in "The Unforgiven") is a surprise as the investigator who is the audience's representative - he's one of the few that begins to devine the truth amid accusations. Elizabeth Lawrence is Rebecca Nurse, the community's conscience. Peter Vaughan is strong as Giles Corey, a neighbor and friend to the Proctors. Karron Graves makes an impressive debut as Mary Warren, the teenage girl who dares to tell the truth about Abigail Williams and her followers.
"The Crucible" was shot on Hog Island off the coast of Massachusetts and painstaking attention has been paid to period detail, right down to dental cosmetics.
Although Arthur Miller originally used the story of the Salem witchcraft trials to criticize the McCarthy era, "The Crucible" is a timeless story of corruption, greed, suspicion and religious fanaticism.
B+
ROBIN:
I'm not a big play fan, but "The Crucible" is one of those few plays that I have read a number of times. I love Arthur Miller's metaphor of the Salem witch hunt for the other, Red-tinted, kind of McCarthyesque witch-hunting that strangled the United States at the time of the play's writing in the early fifties.
I was pleased to see, with Miller adapting his own play, that the integrity of his indictment against misled tyranny, no matter how just, remains intact in director Nicolas Hytner's telling.
Complementing the excellent screenplay of "The Crucible", are a number of good and better performances, especially in supporting roles, excellent period costume and set design - an entire 17 century Pilgrim village was built on location on Hog Island, about 45 minutes from Boston - and photography. The tremendous attention to historical detail is right up there on the screen and is some of the best I have seen.
Stars Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis are solid, but not outstanding.
Joan Allen gives a great performance as a woman who loves her husband, but cant overcome her Puritan upbringing to give him the physical love he desires, driving him, John Proctor, briefly into the arms of the conniving Abigail Williams, played by Ryder. Allen, as she overcomes her hurt and understands her husband's love, gives ranges of emotion and understanding that are palpable to the viewer.
Paul Scofield, as Judge Danforth, does a notable job as the jurist assigned responsibility for stamping out the devil across "every inch" of Massachusetts. He portrays an honestly religious, if misguided, man of the cloth.
"The Crucible" is a solid, entertaining period piece that gets top tech credits and has some exceptional acting, earning it a deserved B+.
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