A son longs to escape from his stifling home, where his genteel mother worries about the future prospects of his lame, shy sister.
Complete credited cast: | |||
Joanne Woodward | ... | Amanda Wingfield | |
John Malkovich | ... | Tom Wingfield | |
Karen Allen | ... | Laura Wingfield | |
James Naughton | ... | Jim O'Connor (the gentleman caller) |
A son longs to escape from his stifling home, where his genteel mother worries about the future prospects of his lame, shy sister.
The depth of feeling manifested in the acting on display here easily trumps both the (wildly miscast)Gertrude Lawrence and the (vastly overrated) Katherine Hepburn versions of this celebrated play.
Though everyone involved (on both sides of the camera) does a first rate job, special accolades are due to Joanne Woodward, who is perhaps the first actress to really understand Amanda, since the role's originator--Laurette Taylor.
The pathos in Miss Woodward's delineation of the character is almost unbearable on some occasions, as in the famous jonquil soliloquy, in which she conveys, with hushed voice and beatific eyes, a sentimental recollection for lost time (and lost love) that is not only wholly personally convincing, but also manages to imprint her sentiment onto the audience with all the deja vu of Proust's madeleine.
Her Amanda is never less than fully persuasive.
And Mr. Malkovitch, in his final address to the camera, ("blow out your candles Laura") achieves effects of the same high order, with emotions so confiding, intimate, and genuine that he leaves viewers of any sensitivity as heartbroken as he is.
All told a devastating achievement not to be missed by admirers of Mr. Williams.