Oh good heavens was this film dreadful.
The Eugene O'Neill play might be brilliant on stage, but who would ever know from this turgid and DOA screen adaptation that makes every single line sound like nonsense. Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Katina Paxinou, Raymond Massey, and Kirk Douglas -- all of whom were either nominated for or won Oscars at some point during their careers, some for this movie! -- deliver absolutely terrible performances here. They clearly have no idea what to do with O'Neill's text and clearly aren't given much direction by Dudley Nichols, so they settle for screeching and opening their eyes really wide, like a bunch of high schoolers performing in a play that they don't remotely understand. Russell and Redgrave received Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar nominations, respectively, for this film, but neither has ever been worse. Russell was considered the odds on favorite but lost to Loretta Young. It's a good thing in the long run for Russell, or she would have joined the long and dubious list of actresses who were given Oscars for bad movies as a way to atone for not giving them Oscars when they actually deserved it.
Grade: D-
The Eugene O'Neill play might be brilliant on stage, but who would ever know from this turgid and DOA screen adaptation that makes every single line sound like nonsense. Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Katina Paxinou, Raymond Massey, and Kirk Douglas -- all of whom were either nominated for or won Oscars at some point during their careers, some for this movie! -- deliver absolutely terrible performances here. They clearly have no idea what to do with O'Neill's text and clearly aren't given much direction by Dudley Nichols, so they settle for screeching and opening their eyes really wide, like a bunch of high schoolers performing in a play that they don't remotely understand. Russell and Redgrave received Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar nominations, respectively, for this film, but neither has ever been worse. Russell was considered the odds on favorite but lost to Loretta Young. It's a good thing in the long run for Russell, or she would have joined the long and dubious list of actresses who were given Oscars for bad movies as a way to atone for not giving them Oscars when they actually deserved it.
Grade: D-