It's one thing to take a book, which is always considerably longer and rife with characters, and do some cutting and re-tooling. It is quite another to take a scripted play, one that has survived the test of time, and abuse the author's intent. This is like taking "A Glass Menagerie" and having Laura Wingfield regain the proper use of her legs. What a joke that would be. This is every bit as startling. It uses the cheapest Hollywood, 1940's encroachment on artistic rights to tell its own story. Without the sadness of death this is a different story. Maybe if they changed the name of the movie to "Your Town," we wouldn't have any expectation of truth. Apparently, Thornton Wilder had his own wishes imposed upon. I'm glad there are three other versions of this, so we can see it done properly.
