Sidney Lumet directed A View from the Bridge, written for the screen by Norman Rosten and Jean Aurenche, based on Arthur Miller’s play of the same name.
Grade: C+
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The film was an international co-production between French and Italian studios, with exteriors shot on-location in Brooklyn and interiors filmed in Paris.
The international cast includes Raf Vallone as Eddie Carbone, Maureen Stapleton as Beatrice, Carol Lawrence as Catherine, Jean Sorel as Rodolpho, Raymond Pellegrin as Marco, and Morris Carnovsky as Alfieri.
The Carbones are a working class Italian-American family–patriarch Eddie, his wife Beatrice, and their niece Catherine–in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. Eddie is a longshoreman on the waterfront, and he and Beatrice have raised 18-year old Catherine from infancy.
When two of Beatrice’s cousins from Sicily, Marco and Rodolpho, illegally enter the US and take refuge in Eddie’s home, an attraction develops between Catherine and the young Rodolpho. Eddie’s incestuous love for his niece drives him into cruel criticism of Rodolpho, accusing him of being opportunist who plans to marry Catherine only to obtain his citizenship.
When Eddie’s efforts fail to influence Catherine, he brands Rodolpho a homosexual and degrades him by kissing him on the lips. His desperation only serves to further alienate Catherine, however, and when she and Rodolpho make plans to marry, Eddie betrays both Marco and Rodolpho to the immigration authorities. As the two brothers are led away, Marco spits on Eddie, denouncing him as informer.
A waterfront lawyer, Alfieri, succeeds in winning freedom for Rodolpho because of his pending marriage, but Marco is slated for deportation. While out on bail, Marco goes to the Carbone house and forces Eddie to his knees. Humiliated before his family and neighbors, Eddie commits suicide by plunging a cargo hook into his chest.
A View from the Bridge was shot in English and French versions. It was Lumet’s first time directing outside the US.
Kiss of Homophobia
It was the first time that a kiss between men was shown on screen in America, when an intoxicated Eddie Carbone kisses his wife Beatrice’s cousin Rodolfo in order to demonstrate the latter’s homosexuality.
However, this overture was intended as a brutal accusation of a family member being gay.
Changes from Play
Unlike the play, in which Eddie is stabbed to death with his own knife in a scuffle with his Beatrice’s cousin Marco, in the film, Eddie commits suicide by plunging a cargo hook into his chest.
Lumet, one of the great American actors director, here stumbles with giving the film a unifying view or style; the film unfolds as a series on episodes.
Some of the faults are in the theatrical source–A View from the Bridge (in my opinion) is not one of Arthur Miller’s great plays.
The other obstacle might have been working with an international cast of Italian, American, and French actors, with each adhering to a different technique.
Lumet would encounter similar problems in his later screen version of Chekhov’s play, The Sea Gull.
Critical Status
A View from the Bridge premiered on January 22, 1962 to negative reviews, with critics complaining about the adaptation and the lack of depth of the main character as scripted.
For his performance as Eddie Carbone, Raf Vallone won the David di Donatello (Italian Oscar) for Best Actor.
Cast
Raf Vallone as Eddie Carbone
Maureen Stapleton as Beatrice Carbone
Jean Sorel as Rodolpho
Carol Lawrence as Catherine
Raymond Pellegrin as Marco
Morris Carnovsky as Alfieri
Harvey Lembeck as Mike
Mickey Knox as Louis
Vincent Gardenia as Lipari
Frank Campanella as Sam
Credits:
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Screenplay by Norman Rosten, Jean Aurenche, based on A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller
Produced by Paul Graetz
Cinematography Michel Kelber
Edited by Françoise Javet
Music by Maurice Leroux
Production companies: Transcontinental Films, Produzioni Intercontinentali
Release dates: Jan 22, 1962
Running time: 118 minutes
Countries France/Italy
