As everybody knows , Williams hated Mankiewicz's version (1959),particularly Katherine Hepburn's performance ;although Gore Vidal's adaptation somewhat cut the corners , it has remained memorable today, one of the director's triumphs. It was one of those movies (along with "advise and consent" and "the children's hour" ) which helped to overcome the dreadful Hayes code.
But it was then and it is now ; a drama which dealt with homosexuality ,lobotomy -it happened to Williams's sister Rose and the playwright never got over it-and cannibalism was hard to swallow in 1959 ;nowadays the first subject has become common,and fortunately people have become more tolerant ,that's why the costumes are fifties fashion. This MTV version is much more faithful to Williams and there're no adding scenes:gone is the heroine lost in the loony bin, gone is the final terrifying flashback .
But the stiffling atmosphere remains :the tropical garden where Violet Vanable grows carnivorous plants is a good idea to introduce the play : those flowers echo to the flesh-eating birds of the islands and to the ravenous natives .
Dame Maggie Smith is true to form ,that is to say one of the best actresses in the world ;looking like one of her insectivorous plants ,she seems to devour Catherine ; in the famous monologue of "the terrible encantadas,those heaps of extinct volcanoes" ,she equals Hepburn ;in the others scenes she surpasses her. Matching her every step of the way is Natasha Richardson's Katherine ,who runs the whole gammit ,from a whisper to a scream ; the scenes with her aunt and her greedy mother and brother are more violent than in the 1959 version; the fours actors overplay ,which makes sense , for Williams' best plays are over the top, hence their strength and the fascination they exert on today's audiences .However ,in her final monologue, in which Elizabeth Taylor screamed "nobody could believe it" ,Richardson uses an exhausted voice as though she hardly found the strength to utter these appalling words .
As for Rob Lowe, he's OK ,but outshone by his co-stars ; anyway it's not easy to take on a Montgomery Clift's role.
I wish Mr Williams (died 1983) had seen it!
But it was then and it is now ; a drama which dealt with homosexuality ,lobotomy -it happened to Williams's sister Rose and the playwright never got over it-and cannibalism was hard to swallow in 1959 ;nowadays the first subject has become common,and fortunately people have become more tolerant ,that's why the costumes are fifties fashion. This MTV version is much more faithful to Williams and there're no adding scenes:gone is the heroine lost in the loony bin, gone is the final terrifying flashback .
But the stiffling atmosphere remains :the tropical garden where Violet Vanable grows carnivorous plants is a good idea to introduce the play : those flowers echo to the flesh-eating birds of the islands and to the ravenous natives .
Dame Maggie Smith is true to form ,that is to say one of the best actresses in the world ;looking like one of her insectivorous plants ,she seems to devour Catherine ; in the famous monologue of "the terrible encantadas,those heaps of extinct volcanoes" ,she equals Hepburn ;in the others scenes she surpasses her. Matching her every step of the way is Natasha Richardson's Katherine ,who runs the whole gammit ,from a whisper to a scream ; the scenes with her aunt and her greedy mother and brother are more violent than in the 1959 version; the fours actors overplay ,which makes sense , for Williams' best plays are over the top, hence their strength and the fascination they exert on today's audiences .However ,in her final monologue, in which Elizabeth Taylor screamed "nobody could believe it" ,Richardson uses an exhausted voice as though she hardly found the strength to utter these appalling words .
As for Rob Lowe, he's OK ,but outshone by his co-stars ; anyway it's not easy to take on a Montgomery Clift's role.
I wish Mr Williams (died 1983) had seen it!