Mourning Becomes Electra
by Dudley Nichols
List Price:
Our Price: $13.00
You Save: $6.94 (35%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Katina Paxinou, Leo Genn, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Rosalind RussellDirector: Dudley Nichols
Brand: RUSSELL,ROSALIND
Cinematographer: George Barnes
Producer: Dudley Nichols
Writer: Dudley Nichols
Editor: Chandler House
Editor: Roland Gross
Producer: Edward Donahue
Writer: Eugene O'Neill
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 159 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-12-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Mourning Becomes Electra
Movie Review: A Film That Transcends Its Own Flaws: A Neglected Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
The script reduces the stage original by approximately two-thirds. The cinematography is clunky and the production values are weak. Direction is indifferent and the acting styles are all over the map. Even so, the 1947 MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA is a startlingly powerful film, a melodrama that leaps and crackles and which will hold the attention of discerning viewers through two and a half hours to its remarkably bitter end.
Loosely based on the ancient Greek tragedy THE ORESTIA, Eugene O'Neill's 1931 drama was and is an extraordinary creation. Strangely ritualistic in tone and requiring approximately six hours to perform, it stunned audiences upon its debut, was a powerful factor in O'Neill's winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and remains one of the great pinacles of American theatre to this day. It is also a warped, sick, and twisted tale of adultry, incestuous affections, blackmail, murder, and suicide, and as such it held Hollywood at bay for close to twenty years.
The story concerns the Mannons, a family that has dominated a small New England town for more than a hundred years, dominating through social status and supposed family and civic duty even as they conceal several internal scandals. The film opens with father Ezra (Raymond Massey) away from home, acting as a leader in the Civil War; in his absence wife Christine (Katrina Patinoux) has taken a lover who visits the house under the guise of courting daughter Lavinia (Rosalind Russell.) When Lavinia discovers the truth, she attempts to blackmail her mother into giving up the relationship--but the attempt backfires into a horrendous cycle of murder and revenge that ultimately destroys the family and drives Lavinia to her her doom.
The script actually does manage to encompass all the primary plot points of O'Neill's original, and although the result is a bit talky in a forced sort of way the story itself possesses a relentless quality that does indeed approximate the stage original. Even more surprisingly, the script makes no effort to soften the incestuous nature of the various relationships that characterize the tale, relationships that increasingly pervert and twist the family as the story progresses. This is dark, dark stuff indeed.
As previously noted, the cast is all over the map in terms of acting style and indeed each of the principles seem to be performing for a different film. Rosalind Russell is distinctly "classic Hollywood;" Michael Redgrave is distinctly "English theatre." Katrina Patinoux, a memorable performer, is Greek and therefore somewhat out of place as the matriach of a New England family; Raymond Massey, an equally memorable performer, seems to reprise his earlier portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. Each and every one of them, in their own different ways, play at white-hot intensity, and many find the resulting mix too uncomfortable. I myself did not: if anything, I felt it added to and intensified the overall strangeness of the piece.
Eugene O'Neill dramas do not, as a rule, film extremely well: they are too clearly designed for the stage and as such they work best in front of a live audience. All the same, and in spite of its numerous flaws, this is one of the few film versions of an O'Neill play that actually manages to capture the intensity of the stage original. Dark, brooding, and deeply disturbing, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA deserves a great deal more attention than it has ever received.
When the film failed at the box office, RKO responded by cutting it in re-release. This Image Entertainment DVD restores those cuts, and that is a very good thing indeed. Unfortunately, it is also the only good thing that one can say for the DVD. The print quality is at best mediocre, a bit fuzzy, occasionally streaked, and riddled with artifacts. There are no extras of any kind. But just as the film transcends its own flaws, so too does it transcends this poor transfer. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Summary of Mourning Becomes Electra
Near the end of the Civil War, the proud residents of Mannon Manor await the return of shipping tycoon Ezra Mannon (The Old Dark House?s Raymond Massey) and son Orin (Dead of Night?s Michael Redgrave). Meanwhile Extra?s conniving wife Christine (Rocco and His Brothers? Katina Paxinou) and daughter Lavinia (Auntie Mame?s Rosalind Russell) vie for the love of a handsome captain (Leo Genn) with a dark secret while well-meaning neighbor Peter (Academy AwardŽ winner Kirk Douglas) sets his sights on Lavinia. Poisoning, infidelity, gunshots and shocking family secrets explode in a haunting climax that will never be forgotten. Adapted from the classic play by Eugene O?Neill, this powerhouse classic is a tour de force of American cinema! This often censored drama features a dramatic all-star cast! Now presented in the longest restored version in existence!Similar DVD Movies
The Films of Rita Hayworth (Cover Girl / Tonight and Every Night / Gilda / Salome / Miss Sadie Thompson)Sony; Release date: 2010-12-21; DVD
Best price: $26.49
Price in other shops:
The Animal KingdomBayside ENT Dist; Release date: 2004-05-25; DVD
Best price: $2.54
Price in other shops:
Red RiverMGM; Release date: 1997-11-19; DVD
Best price: $4.01
Price in other shops:
The Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2 (A Woman's Face / Flamingo Road / Sadie McKee / Strange Cargo / Torch Song)CRAWFORD,JOAN; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
It Happened One NightSony; Release date: 2008-12-09; DVD
Best price: $6.19
Price in other shops:
WingsParamount; Release date: 2012-01-24; DVD
Best price: $13.25
Price in other shops:
Long Day's Journey Into NightLions Gate; Release date: 2004-05-11; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Icons of Screwball Comedy, Volume 1 (If You Could Only Cook / Too Many Husbands / My Sister Eileen / She Wouldn't Say Yes)Sony; Release date: 2009-08-04; DVD
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Auntie MameWarner Brothers; Release date: 2010-11-09; DVD
Best price: $5.85
Price in other shops:
Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (Broadway Theatre Archive)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2001-10-30; DVD
Best price: $25.88
Price in other shops: