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Crucible Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 29 Reviews)

Not the definitive version, but ultimately moving and powerful
The Crucible is considerably simplified from the play. Despite Arthur Miller handling the adaptation himself, so much of the historical detail and motivation for the witchhunts is dropped to get the narrative moving faster that at the end of the day the whole thing seems to have been reduced to a simple case of a woman spurned and a bad case of mass hysteria. Some awkward performances in the first half don't help either - Bruce Davison is shrilly ineffective, Daniel Day Lewis still seems to be doing Hawkeye, Joan Allen does her serious face again and the jury's still out on whether Winona Ryder is giving a convincing performance as an unconvincing liar or and unconvincing performance as a convincing liar. Yet the strength of the material shines through and suddenly, by the halfway point, you suddenly realise that you are completely gripped by it and that most of the performances have improved immeasurably once Paul Scofield has arrived to up the ante. Indeed, by the end the piece is genuinely tragic and moving (that said, I still maintain that the real hero of the piece is not John Proctor but Pastor Hale - the only character to realise his terrible error and to have the courage to publicly try to remedy it, however hopelessly). Excellent supporting performances from Karron Graves and, surprisingly, George Gaynes, although the houses seem a little too large for Puritan stock. Definitely a film of two halves, but worth seeing for the sheer power of the latter half.



Disturbing and well made
I'm not sure why I ordered this movie, given that usually I don't like too much suspence, but maybe the historical aspect of it drew me. In any event, I'm happy I've ordered it--it is very well made, the acting is unnervingly convincing, and the story makes one be VERY grateful for not living in that village at that time! The analogy to present time abuse of power, mass histerias and tendency for 'witch hunting' (though no longer in the literal sense, still very much in other finger-pointing-to-save-one's-own-face and terrorizing others to join or else...as well as pompous know-it-alls) is eerie. Ideas and locations change, but the human flock-factor seems to be an ever present enemy...
The authentic setting of the movie--down to the hens, the clothing, and the buggies--is amazing.
Loved it would be a strong word to use, but I definitely recommend it to anyone brave enough to look humanity's dark side in the face and learn some history in the process.

excellent film of a great play
If you can believe it, the first play I was ever in was The Crucible, when I had just finished sixth grade. We had a rather progressive director for the YMCA summer drama workshop. Her philosophy was that this was not theatre for children, but theatre by children and we did the last couple of scenes of this great play. I got to play Judge Danforth and my little brother was the Reverend Mr. Hale. I doubt any of our cast fully understood the play's ramifications then, but some of us understood enough to learn more, to read the entire play, and to try out for more plays when the chance came.

Arthur Miller did an excellent job of adapting his play for the screen, making the most of the opportunity to do things impossible on the stage without losing what made the play work well live. The movie is well-directed and features a superb cast.

My one regret is Miller's omission of Proctor's line about 'those who quail to bring men out of ignorance,' a line which has resonated again and again for me in the over 35 years since I first had the chance to appear in the play. Well worth the money, especially if one wants to know more about either the Salem witch trials or the McCarthy debacle.

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