Sidney Lumet’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is a rather faithful adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s detailed study of one family in the 1910s, whose members are in turmoil–for one reason or another.
Grade: A (**** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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After two failed moves, Lumet was back on terra firma with a stunning version, which represents his only teaming with the great Katharine Hepburn.
O’Neill’s Masterpiece
A play in four acts written by O’Neil, Long Day’s Journey into Night was written in 1939–1941 and was first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus, and one of the great American plays of the 20th century.
It premiered in Sweden in February 1956 and then opened on Broadway in November 1956, winning the Tony Award for Best Play. O’Neill received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Dram posthumously for Long Day’s Journey into Night.
The title of the work, which is explicitly autobiographical, refers to the setting of the play, which takes place during one day, adding to s intimate and claustrophobic feel.
Considered to be O’Neill’s masterpiece, this dense, haunting personal play continues to be done on Broadway and in regional theater, with every actor and actress vying to play one of the splendidly written roles.
In this version, Katharine Hepburn plays Mary Tyrone, the morphine-addicted wife-mother, Ralph Richardson is her stern, pompous actor-husband, Dean Stockwell is the young son Edmund dying of TB, and Jason Robards plays the alcoholic son Jamie.
Unlike most American films based on stage plays, this adaptation is truly cinematic due to landmark work from lenser Boris Kaufman, whose superlative camera movements help accentuate every significant gesture and word of dialogue. (Kaufman was Oscar-nominated just once for the photography of Kazan’s “Baby Doll.”)
Boasting four astonishing performances (five if you count the small part of the maid), this is ensemble acting at its very best.
In fact, the whole cast received an acting prize at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, which happens very rarely.
Along with “Alice Adams” (1935) and “The Philadelphia Story” (1940), “Long Day’s Journey” represents the epitome of Hepburn’s screen acting. At Oscar time, however, only Hepburn was singled out with a nomination (see below). Then the National Board of Review honored Jason Robards.
Originally, the film’s running time was 174 minutes, but it was later to 136 minutes.
Despite universal critical acclaim, the movie was no popular upon initial theatrical release, probably due to the intensity of the text and the harsh, uncompromising dissection of one seeming happy American family, which is on the brink d a breakup.
End Note
Jason Robards, who had initially played the son Jamie, would later play the role of the father in a landmark Bicentennial production of the play.
Alongside with Tennessee Williams’ heroines (A Streetcar Named Desire, Sweet Bord of Youth), Mary Tyrone is one of the most challenging and demanding roles for an actress, which explains all the revivals.
Katharine Hepburn had told me in a long interview (for my biography of George Cukor, Master of Elegance, 1994) that she considers British icon Ralph Richardson as one of her best screen partners.
Most recently Oscar winner Jessica Lange won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Drama for her utterly compelling interpretation of the part.
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Nominations: 1
Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
This was Katharine Hepburn’s ninth Best Actress nomination; she would receive three more nod (1967, 1968, 1981), each of which will grant her an Oscar Award.
In 1962, Hepburn, who had never attended the ceremonies, lost the Oscar to Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker.
