A Touch of the Poet (Broadway Theatre Archive)
by Kirk Browning
List Price:
Our Price: $22.49
You Save: $2.50 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 days
Buy Used: from $10.23 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carrie Nye, Donald Moffat, John Heffernan, Nancy Marchand, Roberta MaxwellDirector: Kirk Browning
Producer: David Griffiths
Producer: Jac Venza
Writer: Eugene O'Neill
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of A Touch of the Poet (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Movie Review: Terrible Production of a Great Play
Summary: 2 Stars
What a shame that this production didn't have a director who knew anything about style, because "A Touch of the Poet" is the only remaining complete play of his planned play cycle "A Tale of Possessors, Self-Dispossessed" which, if it had been completed, would have stood along side the great works of Shakespeare. To direct "A Touch of the Poet," a director has to know where it stands in the cycle. Then and only then can one begin to see the force of this play. What this production has done is to minimalize the play into a costume soap opera, completely ignoring the psychological undertones that O'Neill was so adroit at writing.
"A Touch of the Poet" is a challenge because it doesn't easily fall into any one category. It is not a tragedy; it is not a melodrama; it is, as Gore Vidal has labeled, a "rose" not "noire." It must be directed to strike at the very fabric of American life and values. It is far more timely now than it was when first produced.
And yet this production has no force whatsoever and this is due in part by the reticent portrayal of Roberta Maxwell as Sara Melody. Part of it must be the director's interpretation, because Ms. Maxwell can easily tap into the O'Neill pysche as can be witnessed in "Mourning Becomes Electra." But here we never see Sara's hatred for her father. Her conversion in Part Four is so flat and non-chathartic one can easily miss it if the viewer doesn't know the play.
Fritz Weaver is better as Con Melody, but again we don't get to see his inner conflict in the beginning of the play because he is much too much the country squire. We never see his inner working to keep the facade from crumbling.
This is a play about facades: Sara's mask which she only lets down to her mother; Con's mask which is finally cracking because of years of boozing; all of the other characters's masks to get what they want which is usually a free drink. Only Nora Melody is transparent in this play. She is mother earth deeply and forever in love not matter what. And that kind of love is painful indeed. Nancy Marchand shows none of this.
Carrie Nye as Deborah is flat and one dimensional in a truncated role. In fact, the play has been drastically cut for television.
Do not get this DVD. Read the play aloud. I pray that some other version of "A Touch of the Poet" is recorded for posterity, because it is a subtle, scarring masterwork from one of America's greatest playwrights.
Summary of A Touch of the Poet (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Tony Award-winner Fritz Weaver and Emmy-winner Nancy Marchand (Livia in The Sopranos)star in Eugene O'Neill's "A Touch of the Poet." Set in a shabby tavern outside Boston in 1828, the play centers on Cornelius Melody (Weaver), a proud Irishman who clings to memories of European gentility. The play was conceived by O'Neill - regarded by many as America's greatest dramatist - as part of a nine-play chronicle spanning 175 years in the life of an American family. LIke other O'Neill works such as "A Moon for the Misbegotten" and "Long Day's Journey into Night," this play explores it's characters' conflicts with reality and illusion, as well as their joys and sorrows in love.Drama DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Eugene O'Neill on Film
A Touch of the Poet (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-07-30; DVD
Best price: $12.14
Price in other shops:
Desire Under the ElmsParamount; Release date: 2004-08-31; DVD
Best price: $5.46
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! (Broadway Theatre Archive)Kultur; Release date: 2002-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $15.29
Price in other shops:
Ah, Wilderness!MGM (Warner); Release date: 1992-12-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $30.00
Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2001-12-18; DVD
Best price: $17.05
Price in other shops:
The Long Voyage HomeWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $5.60
Price in other shops:
![Strange Interlude (1988) [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
Strange Interlude (1988) [VHS]Fries Home Video; Release date: 1990-03-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Strange InterludeMGM (Warner); Release date: 1992-12-11; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $49.95
Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre Archive)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2001-10-30; DVD
Best price: $21.63
Price in other shops:
Mourning Becomes ElectraRelease date: 2004-12-21; DVD
Best price: $12.34
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
The Journey of the Fifth Horse (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-04-16; DVD
Best price: $9.02
Price in other shops:
A Memory of Two Mondays (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-07-30; DVD
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops:
Long Day's Journey Into NightIngram; Release date: 2004-05-11; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Eccentricities of a Nightingale (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-06-11; DVD
Best price: $10.74
Price in other shops:
Hogan's Goat (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-05-14; DVD
Best price: $11.67
Price in other shops:
Awake and Sing! (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-04-16; DVD
Best price: $10.73
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2001-12-18; DVD
Best price: $16.96
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-01-15; DVD
Best price: $16.46
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre Archive)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2001-10-30; DVD
Best price: $21.87
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten (Broadway Theatre Archive)Release date: 2002-04-23; DVD
Best price: $17.19
Price in other shops: