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From:Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Burton , George Segal , Sandy Dennis , Frank Flanagan , Warner Brothers , Mike Nichols , Warner Home Video ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#1407 |
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2 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
 If You Give Metamorpho a Surprise Birthday Party-Please Don't Invite these People...., 2007-02-24
Yes People. I finally arrived to my castle in Scotland. Somewhere in Rhodes- but don't ask the address. It is reserved for only special people. Not that I am denying that you all aren't special. But, being inundated with tons of special requests is terribly hard -even for a reknown Seer (like myself!). I've had the chance to relax and watch a few videos that would relax my tired brain synapses. And I picked this one! I must have been crazy! But, not unlike the characters in this movie, believe me. Anyway, I have branched out to movie reviews and, after all, it is an art form like music- only more visual than audible. Needless to say-your Metamorpho has been well-versed in all the inner soul machinations. Thus, I take my crafty hand at reviewing this considerable movie.
I have been quite taken with it since it explores the human psychology in many vast and revealing ways. I seek answers. Why do people act the way they do? Certainly, we can all take behavior on a surface level only. But there is much, much more.
But first - let's talk about the acting here. It is perfect casting. Elizabeth Taylor has, absolutely, without a doubt, given one of the finest performances on screen ever. And, Richard Burton, is not far behind. With George Segal and Sandy Dennis completing the cast, it is about as perfect as it can be. Superb!
However, you must have alot of energy to view it because it will drain you. Why? Because the characters, George and Martha, who it seems are constantly at war, will exhaust you beyond your limitations. It is distasteful. It is crude. And, as your Metamorpho will testify, there really are people out there exactly like this.
There are many themes on display here. And, just like that miraculous onion universe - there are layers upon layers of revelations to discover. For the most part-on the surface - is the question of reality and truth. And how people make contracts to perserve their illusions to avoid reality.
It also makes the big statement of how we all hurt each other because of that illusion. How the illusion must be protected at all costs. .
But, in all this, it is revealing. It is a mirror to ourselves and begs us to answer within; how much of this are we complicit with? It is an examination- but also, an unveiling. And, those with introspection would be amazed at all the wealth that this movie contains.
I cannot reveal all the inner workings and levels that are within this movie. And, Edward Albee (the writer) has invented lines of sheer genius that, if you blink, and your ears don't hear for a second, you will miss entirely. So, BE AWARE my public!
The plot is so complicated that all I will give you is the scenario. George (Richard Burton) is an associate professor at a college. Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) is his wife and the daughter of the head of the college. They have constructed an illusion of having a son to make life more acceptable. But, this is a fantasy only between the two of them. And their bitterness surfaces at inopportune times. When Nick (George Segal) who is a new teacher of Biology and Honey (Sandy Dennis) are invited over after a college social gathering, the tension between George and Martha really starts to escalate. Why? Because the "pact" between George and Martha was broken because Martha spoke of their son to Honey. Information is gathered about the couple, then George and Martha include them in their illusion, turning Nick and Honey into victims as well. Understand, there are so many themes here and so many aspects to view this movie. The more you watch, the more layers of insight you are able to decipher.
In my mind, Edward Albee has created a masterpiece with this and should definitely be watched by those who seek to avoid illusion in their lives and those who need a mirror into their own lives. Absolutely superb. A dialogue and introspective movie which rates with the greatest.
I realize I have only touched on a very small part of this movie. But that only begs further examination on your part. Illusions are barriers, walls, if you will, to breaking through to reality and discovering your genuine own happiness in the world. But, like any other barriers in our lives, you can break them down and find a whole new world or richness within yourselves. That old adage is true. There definitely is a thin line between love and hate.
That is it for now. Your Seer always strives for true happiness in his life. This is a sacred right for me and everyone. Don't let anyone stand in your way for this quest because it is one of the very most important things in your lives. These characters deserve your understanding rather than derision. After all, it could be you.
Thank-you for listening. Now I am off to change the light bulbs in my library. I am currently reading a book and using only full moonlight doesn't cut it anymore. Wait! Is that Elizabeth Taylor on a broomstick, streaking across the sky? Or is it--illusion?
Who's Afraid of Metamorpho's spoof? - thumbs up- Metamorpho
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
 Liz Taylor: an actress underneath the star..., 2007-01-17
Responding to Mike Nichols' detailed direction, Liz overcame the celebrity jinx and proved, once again, that there was an actress underneath the star... There are chinks--moments when you can feel the strain, can see, she's "acting"--but on the whole it's a spectacular job...
Liz brings some needed shading and softening to Edward Albee's tightening, deeply misogynistic portrait... A sentimental actress, Taylor eases her character toward the play's final reconciliation when, after George (Richard Burton) has destroyed their imaginary child, Martha surrenders, giving in to her need for her husband and looking forward to a bruised but salvageable married life... But Taylor's Martha is no milksop... She enters into the game playing with high spirits; her delight in attacking and humiliating George is as keen as her dependence on him...
Albee's award-winning 1962 play is about the taming of the shrew, and the part, except for the age obstacle, is Taylor-made, exploiting both her spoiled child bitchiness and her inevitable vulnerability... A twitchy woman fighting to save her marriage, Martha certainly has cross-references to the archetypal Taylor of Maggie the Cat...
Albee's classical structure gives the material a clearly theatrical flavoring... And yet his long and powerful play is perhaps the best movie in which Taylor ever appeared... Nichols' direction not only has pace and tension, but he avoids the confined, static look of a prestige play transferred to an alien medium...
Photographed in a rich black and white, the action has movie-like rhythm and texture... The stars in a superb team performance, George Segal and Sandy Dennis as the depressing young academic couple whose late-night visit catalyzes George and Martha's "show," Nichols Albee--the movie was a triumph for them all...
What did Virginia Woolf do for Elizabeth Taylor? It compensated for "Cleopatra." She won her second Oscar, this time for what happened 'on' screen rather than off... Her success as the spiteful, cynical, domineering wife, in fact, was the inspiration for her new movie image... The film released the Taylor vulgarity and emphasized the qualities that had been in the Taylor iconography all along: the sharp tongue, the temper, the keen enjoyment for a good fight...
29 of 29 customers found the following review helpful:
Special Edition DVD Showcases Albee's Vitriolic, Take-No-Prisoners Marital Combat Zone, 2006-12-17
Edward Albee's vituperative play about marital warfare, an acknowledged classic even during its first run, came to the screen with searing fervor by an unlikely combination of talents at that time - stage director Mike Nichols helming his first film, screenwriter Ernest Lehman coming off the big box office treacle of "The Sound of Music", and two mega-stars who were more famous as notorious tabloid-saturated lovers than as character actors. The highly successful 1966 adaptation of the Broadway hit was considered quite daring because of its frank portrayal of a sadomasochistic marriage and the frequent use of profanity throughout. The groundbreaking film also signaled the end of the Hayes Code, which held a censorship stranglehold over Hollywood productions since 1934. Now in a new 2006 two-disc DVD set, the movie seems marginally tamer now, but the lacerating wit of Albee's fearless dialogue and the powerful performances still make this a great picture albeit not a joyous one.
The simple-sounding story focuses on the aptly named George and Martha, a middle-aged associate history professor and his older, shrewish wife. Staggering home after an alcohol-fueled faculty party, they trade their usual barbs and then are joined by Nick, a young assistant math professor, and his wife Honey, whom a drunken Martha had invited over for a late-night nightcap. Despite the late hour, Nick readily accepts the invitation since Martha's father is the university president. What ensues is a series of vitriolic cat-and-mouse scenes of tension and black comedy among the four principals. In fact, there is no one else in the movie other than a roadside café owner and a waitress in the background. Delusions and deceptions contaminate the often nasty comments, and the conversations strip away the characters' self-protective veneers. With his debut film, Nichols manages to open up the story with scenes in the front yard and at the café, but he maintains the claustrophobic atmosphere necessary for the primal instincts to ignite and fester among the quartet.
Haskell Wexler's textured black-and-white cinematography and Sam O'Steen's edgy editing add immeasurably to the often harrowing proceedings. However, what remains most memorable is the fine cast guided by Nichols. Even though Elizabeth Taylor is nearly two decades too young to play the 52-year old Martha, she throws herself into the harridan with abandon. Overweight with a gray wig and bosom-heaving outfits, Taylor makes Martha flamboyantly vulgar and sadly pitiable at the same time. It's her best movie work by miles. Richard Burton is more ideally cast as George, who begins as a despondent, beaten-upon husband but soon matches his wife's emotional blackmail ploys with cyclonic force. Out of a dozen professional attempts, this is the only time Taylor and Burton seem to justify the intrigue of their off-screen exploits. In her first major role, Sandy Dennis is impressive as the fragile Honey liberating herself with alcohol. Perhaps because Nick is the least developed role, George Segal comes off as the most pallid of the foursome.
The print is clean and nicely presented in a letterbox format. The DVD extras start out strong with two alternate commentary tracks - the first a newly recorded one with Nichols and director Steven Soderbergh, the second with Wexler that was recorded for the Laserdisc release several years ago. Nichols and Wexler both provide invaluable insights into the production, while Soderbergh seems rather superfluous with his fan reactions to the movie. The second disc has two new featurettes - the twenty-minute "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A Daring Work of Raw Excellence", which discusses the production in retrospect, and the ten-minute "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Too Shocking for Its Time" about the censorship problems around the film and how it kick-started the rating system still in use today.
Also on the second disc are two archival pieces of lesser interest - an eight-minute 1966 interview with Nichols on NBC's "Today Show", which shows the filmmaker as less than illuminating at this point in his career, and a superficial 1975 TV special called "Elizabeth Taylor: An Intimate Portrait". Hosted by a meandering Peter Lawford, the latter program has interviews with Rock Hudson, directors Vincente Minnelli and Richard Brooks and even Taylor's American mother Sara but no involvement from Taylor herself, who is seen only in archival footage. Of more interest is footage from Dennis's screen test opposite Roddy McDowall, showing the actress already well prepared for her complex role. There are four trailers included for the films included in the newly released Taylor-Burton DVD set, of which "Woolf" is surprisingly the weakest. The others in the collection are 1963's "The VIPs", 1965's "The Sandpiper" and 1967's "The Comedians".
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
Most compelling and powerful film, 2006-12-14
This is quite possibly my most favorite film EVER. I'm only 26 years old, yet this film feels as though it could have been filmed yesterday. The acting is spot-on (except for a few inconsistencies by "Nick"), and the story is amazingly intense. Not for the easily-offended (but, then, no good stuff is!).
4 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
 another five star film on a 1 star Warner Bros DVD, 2006-12-08
I was appalled, but not surprised, to find that this Warner Bros DVD was almost inaudible when I played it. It's got the same truly dumb Dolby Digital (only - no PCM) audio set up as for "Blow Up" and "Death In Venice". They all offer "1.0" ONLY - and even then it's at about one fifth the volume it needed to be.
I cannot believe that Warner Bros didn't see the clear logic that even a mono film should be encoded as 2.0 at the very least, but having the volume so low is not only totally inept - it shows complete disregard for the consumer. It is necessary that the volume of DVD's be relatively uniform - otherwise pressing "stop" while playing this DVD on your DVR (with inbuilt tuner) might just see your expensive speakers die in one almighty blast of whatever televison channel it was tuned to.
A good example of how a mono soundtrack can be used to best advantage on DVD in Dolby Digital is "A Night To Remember" - which makes effective use of both front and centre speakers (in 3.0). Many people these days will be hearing their DVD's through surround sound systems - so why on earth would anyone design sound to come from the center speaker only?
I've no doubt that this is a great film - but my ability to enjoy it in this particular DVD format has been hugely discounted. Warner Bros deserve a good slap.
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