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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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33 of 36 customers found the following review helpful:
 Virginia Woolf? No Way, I'm Afraid of Martha, 2006-09-26
An absolutely flawless film adaptation of an absolute brilliant play by Edward Albee, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" was a triumph for first time feature director Mike Nichols. "Woolf" has long been one of my favorite films, I'd say it's in the top three of all time along with "The Lion In Winter" and "All About Eve". So, needless to say, I am thrilled that it's finally receiving an updated Special Edition. So many unworthy, mediocre films are getting deluxe makeovers that it is gratifying when something great gets included!
Because "Woolf" is based on a play, it relies heavily on performance and writing. The sets have been expanded a bit, but primarily what you see is concentrated to a couple of hours in a house. This can be jarring in the day of quick cuts and rapid scene change. This film is a lot more claustrophobic than what you might be accustomed to--but this closeness is used to great affect throwing these characters into confrontation.
This film has one of the strongest, most powerful screenplays ever. Primarily, the story is about George and Martha--a dysfunctional married couple in a university town. They spend their days fighting and retreating, sparring constantly, playing games of one-ups-manship. It is an absolutely chilling, grotesque portrait of codependency. One fateful evening a younger couple join them for some "entertainment", little suspecting that they will be drawn into an intense night where they are alternately challenged and used as pawns in George and Martha's struggle. This is not for the squeamish viewer. Even though the film is 30 years old, you will be shocked and surprised about how far George and/or Martha is willing to go for victory. It is an absolute verbal bloodbath--fast, cruel, uncompromising, adult. You will be challenged as a viewer, and what a treat that is to see something as razor sharp and super intelligent!
All four actors were all nominated for Oscars, with Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis winning. This is a Master Class of acting. Elizabeth Taylor is a wonder. Having an earlier career that capitalized on her beauty, she is a revelation as the desperate, viscous, sexual, middle-aged "hag". Probably regarded as one of film's greatest performances, it's a can't miss (I've heard Bette Davis also wanted to revitalize her career with this role). Richard Burton as a hen pecked husband, George Segal as a young rival, and Sandy Dennis as his naive wife are all spot on--captivating, moving, ferocious.
What I didn't mention is just how funny this movie is! It is a wicked, nasty, bitterly hilarious story. I want everyone to see this movie, especially if it's new to them. Treat yourself to an awesome entertainment, great writing, and magical performances. A classic for adults! KGHarris, 9/06.
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
An Astonishing Tour-de-Force, 2006-09-07
It is amazing how very simple yet profound the conflict in this story is. Two people who suffer devastating emptiness over their inability to concieve are sent over the edge when they divulge their private pain to a younger mirror of themselves.
This is the zenith of Taylor and Burton's careers. They leave you hanging on their every bitterly spewed word from the beginning and non-stop to the end.
An exhausting but worthwhile experience.
Liz & Dick , 2006-07-06
Liz and Dick were definitely at the top of their game when they stared in this movie. Although I wonder how much of it was actually acting???Their performances were Oscar worthy, no doubt.Even at a few pounds overweight for her frame, Ms. Taylor was still a raving beauty. Cream always rising to the top.The additional commentary by the cinamatographer on the DVD edition is most appreciated and enlightening. The special features are always a bonus on any classic film.
5 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 Slick--not much else, 2006-06-11
Think of this as the touring company of the original production, and they just happened to have a camera on-hand. Elizabeth Taylor catches some of the outlines of Uta Hagen's original performance, but only crudely, and without the sense of a desperate, vulnerable creature beneath all of the crude bluster. And just gaining weight and donning a fright wig do not a performance make. As George, Richard Burton bring a more serious talent to bear on the character, but he seems to share playwright Edward Albee's illusion that George is a sensitive, superior creature telling necessary truths, instead of a vicious weakling who strikes at other's vulnerabilities as a way to stifle his feelings of self-loathing and failure. As Nick, a smart fellow who may actually has something of value beneath his empty charm and predatory nature, George Segal is pleasant but suggests none of the intellect that would make him a college professor or the coldness that would make him the user that the script insists he is. Worst of all is Sandy Dennis as Honey. Melinda Dillon's peformance in the original Brodaway production was a small miracle, as a woman of substance emerges from beneath a soft and giggly exterior. Dennis just plays the surface, and plays it badly; shrieking and blubbering and generally getting on your nerves. You would never know from this performance that she was in fact a charming and gifted actress in films far less competent than this one.
The competence was guaranteed by Mike Nichols, who had made a name for himself as both a performer of original comedy with Elaine May and as a skillful director of other's comedies, from an off-Broadway production of THE KNACK (where he first worked with George Segal, who played the lady-killer Tolan) to the early plays of Neil Simon. His directorial debut shows that he had a good grasp of cinematic technique and vocabulary, but also that he had a tendency to use it glibly; the film is full of visual echoes of more serious directors, but recycled as shock tactics and quick grabs for stylishness. This glibness infects Haskell Wexler's photography, which goes for pockmarks on actor's faces and flashy lighting effects. The script, by Ernest Lehman, is mostly a matter or rearranging a few scenes to allow for exteriors and blue-pencilling a few of the rawer profanities in the Edward Albee original. What's lacking is the sense in the original that something profound is happening before our eyes--that sense may have been illusory, but as the original-cast recording on Caedmon Records (now out of print, alas) makes clear, the right production was full of it. This smooth, compromised film never achieves a whisper of it
3 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
"What a dump!", 2006-04-30
Elizabeth Taylor's Martha is a collage of luminosity and steely-knived heartbreak. With her gorgeous face and a past filled with easy-crowd pleasers, Ms. Taylor is typically remembered as a moviestar rather than an actress, but Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf clearly disproves that notion. She's a volatile bundle of wicked nerves and pain. I've never seen her so alive. Richard Burton, as her beaten-down and cold husband, is equally good, and the two of them rip up the scenery and in the process of devouring one another, tear their young visitors in two. It's impossible not to be drawn into their game.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is an amazing character study and a real heartbreaker.
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