Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Vanessa Redgrave | ... | Fania Fenelon | |
Jane Alexander | ... | Alma Rose | |
Maud Adams | ... | Mala | |
Christine Baranski | ... | Olga | |
Robin Bartlett | ... | Etalina | |
Marisa Berenson | ... | Elzvieta | |
Verna Bloom | ... | Paulette | |
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Donna Haley | ... | Katrina |
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Lenore Harris | ... | Charlotte |
Mady Kaplan | ... | Varya | |
Will Lee | ... | Shmuel | |
Anna Thomson | ... | Michou (as Anna Levine) | |
Viveca Lindfors | ... | Frau Schmidt | |
Melanie Mayron | ... | Marianne | |
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Marcell Rosenblatt | ... | Giselle |
In World War II, the Jewish French musician and cabaret singer Fania Fenelon Goldstein is sent by the Nazis from Paris to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The guards take her clothing and luggage and they cut her hair very short. One day, when she is very weak, she hears someone asking whether any prisoner could sing Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly and she joins the group of musicians that have been spared from the gas chambers to entertain the Nazis performing music for them. She convinces the conductor Alma Rose to invite her friend Marianne, telling that she would be a talented singer. Along the years of abusive treatment, they survive but losing their dignity. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I don't know how many Holocaust films I have seen in my life, but I know they are still shocking. Shocking to know it all happened! Shocking to know there are still so many people who don't take it as a real fact.
Anyway, focusing on the film now. "Playing for Time", as many others movies, hits us. And not only because of the strong plot, but because of the performance of the cast. And what a cast! I confess I did not know most of the actors, but their talent is undeniable. But - there's no other way to put it - no one works in "Playing for Time" better than Vanessa Redgrave here. She's great!
When I went to IMDb to find out more about the film I saw it was made for TV. I imagine how strong would it be if Daniel Mann and Joseph Sargent had done this for the movie theatres.