Martin Bradley
Eugene O'Neill may be considered one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century but apart from "Long Day's Journey into Night" you would never guess if from the films made from his plays. The epic "Mourning Becomes Electra" came out in 1947 under the turgid direction of Dudley Nichols. It was O'Neill's transference of "The Orestaia" to a post-Civil War New England and it's unbelievably bad with a great cast foundering on the almost unspeakable dialogue and it lasts forever. Amazingly both Rosalind Russell and Michael Redgrave were nominated for Oscars and more amazingly still Russell was the favourite in her category, (she lost to Loretta Young). Actually Redgrave isn't that bad, considering it may be the worst part he was ever given, and he did win the National Board of Review's Best Actor prize. This is the kind of filmed theatre in which the actors all shout at the top of their lungs so as to be heard at the back and as if by shouting the lines it gives them relevance. It doesn't and this monstrosity should be avoided like the plague.
Cheryl Vargas
I was dying to see this movie, it was on my "must see" list. I ADORE Rosalind Russell, but this time she was miss-cast. Watching the movie, in every scene, her age sticks out like a sore thumb. There are just too many dialogue moments that don't apply to someone who looks 35 years old, "Go to bed Lavinia", her father says. And I'm thinking to myself, she's old enough not to have a curfew. Yeah, this was a role for an 18-23 year old.Love Rosalind in Auntie Mame, Roughly Speaking, Night Must Fall, The Women...well, the list goes on. But someone blew the casting here. Great movie, great characters and storyline.
jarrodmcdonald-1
Rosalind Russell's Lavinia is engaged in a vicious war with her mother (Katina Paxinou) over the death of her heroic father (Raymond Massey) in this adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra from RKO studios. The drama intensifies when a brother, played by Michael Redgrave, returns from battle in the Civil War. He is soon drawn into simmering family entanglements. With his sister, he commits murder against their mother's lover to avenge the father's death. The film offers an eclectic array of acting styles, though Dudley Nichols' direction seems to skillfully weave all the elements together. Kirk Douglas gives a standout performance in a supporting role, but it's the ambitious interpretation of family justice and the explosive recriminations that characters continually experience which render it a riveting story, a riveting film– and an undeniable masterpiece.
edwagreen
Eugene O'Neil or not, this 1947 film is pure junk.Rosalind Russell was favored to win the Oscar for playing the horrid Lavinia. The picture was so lousy, that's what did her in.A story of love and continuous death, people literally die off like flies in this one, is depressing. The cinematography may also be described this way.Former Oscar winner, Katina Paxinou overacts. She literally screams her part. Michael Redgrave, who was also Oscar nominated here, is really vacuous here.Rosalind Russell was a superior actress who was given an inferior script. Had I been her, I would have headed to the exits right after this film was made.A pure a-one stinker.
AD
