Among Tennessee Williams ' greatest plays,it's certainly the most difficult to tranfer to the screen: the most autobiographical work in his canon ,it only features four characters ,and it's a stiffling huis clos where two of them (Tom and mom) tear themselves to pieces .
With the exception of the mediocre "boom" by Losey (based on "the milk train does not stop here anymore" ), Williams did not like the filmed versions of his plays (and however "streetcar named desire" "cat on a hot tin roof" " suddenly last summer " and "night of the iguana" ,to name but but four, spawned all-time classics.
"The glass menagerie" was watered down ,even cheapened .The part of Jim O'Connor was fleshed out ,and Kirk Douglas' name appears before Arthur Kennedy's ,whose part is much more important in Williams ' play(check the first name);he 's even given an extra scene in a dancing in which all the lines were invented .And perhaps to cheer the audience up , they sweetened the denouement ,leaving them some hope , thus giving a totally false rendering of the playwright's pessimistic atmosphere.
Laura's fiasco in her business college is only told in the play : the typewriting exam is a very good idea and Jane Wyman is up to scratch , when she crosses the room limping , and then lost in the clickety-clack of the writing machines perhaps the best scene in the whole movie .Although Jim appears too soon , it's not bad to show both friends in their warehouse before he meets "Shakespeare's sister."
Too little time is given over to Gertrude Lawrence and highly talented Kennedy to display all their hate ,all their rancour ; the overpossessive mother is a monster to the author's eyes -in real life ,his sister's Rose (Laura) 's fate was unspeakable -see also for that matter "suddenly last summer".Tom ,whom she treats like a ten year old (she urges him to chew his food) ,cannot assume his manliness;Kennedy ,fortunately , makes up for the so so screenplay and succeeds in making us believe in his longing for adventure ,a thing the pictures can't provide him anymore .He's impressive when he depicts his imaginary nights to his horrified mom.Amanda's romantic dreaming side is not passed over in silence and Lawrence can convey her coquetry (it's actually her who woos Jim).The part of Laura was tailor made for Wyman , the star of "Johnny Belinda".She's a delicate ,as frail as her glass menagerie,her eyes longing for something she does not know herself.
Irving Rapper was good at melodrama ("now,voyager" "the corn is green" ) ,but Williams' work is psychological drama and if you want to see a faithful rendering ,you'd better take Paul Newman's color version starring his wife Joanne Woodward.
With the exception of the mediocre "boom" by Losey (based on "the milk train does not stop here anymore" ), Williams did not like the filmed versions of his plays (and however "streetcar named desire" "cat on a hot tin roof" " suddenly last summer " and "night of the iguana" ,to name but but four, spawned all-time classics.
"The glass menagerie" was watered down ,even cheapened .The part of Jim O'Connor was fleshed out ,and Kirk Douglas' name appears before Arthur Kennedy's ,whose part is much more important in Williams ' play(check the first name);he 's even given an extra scene in a dancing in which all the lines were invented .And perhaps to cheer the audience up , they sweetened the denouement ,leaving them some hope , thus giving a totally false rendering of the playwright's pessimistic atmosphere.
Laura's fiasco in her business college is only told in the play : the typewriting exam is a very good idea and Jane Wyman is up to scratch , when she crosses the room limping , and then lost in the clickety-clack of the writing machines perhaps the best scene in the whole movie .Although Jim appears too soon , it's not bad to show both friends in their warehouse before he meets "Shakespeare's sister."
Too little time is given over to Gertrude Lawrence and highly talented Kennedy to display all their hate ,all their rancour ; the overpossessive mother is a monster to the author's eyes -in real life ,his sister's Rose (Laura) 's fate was unspeakable -see also for that matter "suddenly last summer".Tom ,whom she treats like a ten year old (she urges him to chew his food) ,cannot assume his manliness;Kennedy ,fortunately , makes up for the so so screenplay and succeeds in making us believe in his longing for adventure ,a thing the pictures can't provide him anymore .He's impressive when he depicts his imaginary nights to his horrified mom.Amanda's romantic dreaming side is not passed over in silence and Lawrence can convey her coquetry (it's actually her who woos Jim).The part of Laura was tailor made for Wyman , the star of "Johnny Belinda".She's a delicate ,as frail as her glass menagerie,her eyes longing for something she does not know herself.
Irving Rapper was good at melodrama ("now,voyager" "the corn is green" ) ,but Williams' work is psychological drama and if you want to see a faithful rendering ,you'd better take Paul Newman's color version starring his wife Joanne Woodward.