The Crucible (1957 film)
The Crucible | |
---|---|
Directed by | Raymond Rouleau |
Screenplay by | Jean-Paul Sartre |
Based on | The Crucible by Arthur Miller |
Produced by | Raymond Borderie |
Starring | Simone Signoret Yves Montand Mylène Demongeot Jean Debucourt Pierre Larquey |
Cinematography | Claude Renoir |
Edited by | Marguerite Renoir |
Music by | Georges Auric Hanns Eisler |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Variety Distribution |
Release date | 26 April 1957 |
Running time | 145 minutes |
Countries | France East Germany |
Language | French |
Box office | $12.7 million[1] |
The Crucible (
Plot
1692, Salem, Massachusetts. John Proctor is the only member in the town's assembly who resists the attempts of the rich to gain more wealth at the expense of the poor farmers, thus incurring the wrath of deputy governor Danforth. Proctor's sternly puritanical wife, Elizabeth, is sick and has not shared his bed for months, and he was seduced by his maid, Abigail. When he ends his affair with her, Abigail and several other local girls turn to slave Tituba. Reverend Parris catches the girls in the forest as they partake in what appears to be witchcraft. Abigail and the rest deny it, saying that they have been bewitched. A wave of hysteria engulfs the town, and Danforth uses the girls' accusations to instigate a series of trials, during which his political enemies are accused of heresy and executed. When Abigail blames Elizabeth Proctor, the latter rejects John's pleas to defraud Abigail as an adulteress. Eventually, both Proctors are put on trial and refuse to sign a confession. The townspeople rebel, but not before John is hanged with other defendants; his pregnant wife has been spared. Elizabeth tells the angry crowd to let Abigail live.
Cast
- Simone Signoret as Elizabeth Proctor
- John Proctor
- Chantal Gozzi as Fancy Proctor
- Abigail Williams
- Alfred Adam as Thomas Putnam
- Françoise Lugagne as Jane Putnam
- Raymond Rouleau as Thomas Danforth
- Francis Nurse
- Marguerite Coutan-Lambert as Rebecca Nurse
- Jean Debucourt as Samuel Parris
- Darling Legitimus as Tituba
- Michel Piccoli as James Putnam
- Gerd Michael Henneberg as Joseph Herrick
- John Hale
- Pascale Petit as Mary Warren
- Véronique Nordey as Mercy Lewis
- Jeanne Fusier-Gir as Martha Corey
- Jean Gaven as Peter Corey
- Aribert Grimmer as Giles Corey
- Alexandre Rignault as Samuel Willard
- Pâquerette (Marguerite Jeanne Martine Puech) as Sarah Good
- Gérard Darrieu as Ezekiel Cheever
- François Joux as Judge
- Sabine Thalbach as Kitty
- Ursula Körbs as Wollit
- Hans Klering as Field
Production
Jean-Paul Sartre began writing the script in late 1955,[2] during what author David Caute defined as "the height of his rapprochement with the Soviet Union". He was inspired by the success of Marcel Aymé's French-language adaptation of Miller's The Crucible, titled Les sorcières de Salem, which was staged in Paris' Sarah Bernhardt Theater, starring Simone Signoret as Elizabeth Proctor. Sartre later said he was moved to write his adaptation because "the play showed John Proctor persecuted, but no one knows why... His death seems like a purely ethical act, rather than one of freedom, that is undertaken in order to resist the situation effectively. In Miller's play... Each of us can see what he wants, each public will find in it confirmation of its own attitude... Because the real political and social implications of the witch-hunt don't appear clearly." The screenplay was 300 pages long.[3] Sartre's version was different from the original play in many ways; Elizabeth saves Abigail from lynching and the townspeople rise up against Thomas Danforth, who becomes the chief antagonist.[4]
The film was one of four major Franco-East German co-productions made during the late 1950s - the others were
Pascale Petit made her debut in the film. She was discovered working as a hairdress by Françoise Lugagne who recommended her to her husband Raymond Rouleau.
The sets and costumes were designed by
Reception
Les Sorcières de Salem sold 1,686,749 tickets.
The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "out of The Crucible... Jean-Paul Sartre and Raymond Rouleau have got a powerful and compelling film... For now Mr. Miller's somewhat cramped and peculiarly parochial account... comes forth as a sort of timeless drama... This is a persistently absorbing film."[12] Time magazine's reviewer commented that "Witches of Salem is a foredoomed but fascinating attempt... But it hardly helps the scriptwriter's case... When he sums the whole story up as an early American instance of class warfare."[13]
Michel Contat and Michel Rybalka, who edited and annotated Sartre's writings, wrote that Sartre introduced a strong element of communist
According to Susan Hayward, the picture's release shortly after the crushing of the
Arthur Miller wrote: "Mylene Demongeot, was [in The Crucible] truly beautiful and so bursting with real sexuality as to become a generalized force whose effects on the community transcended herself."[18]
Releases
This section's factual accuracy is disputed. (January 2021) |
For decades, general exploitation of the film was blocked at Arthur Miller's request, as Miller, who had been granted partial distribution rights, claimed to disapprove of Sartre's adaptation, endorsing instead the 1996 film directed by Nicholas Hytner. However, rumors often mentioned that Miller had a grudge against Yves Montand, because Montand had an affair with Miller's then-wife Marilyn Monroe during production of Let's Make Love (1960). This theory was later confirmed by cast member Mylène Demongeot. French studio Pathé was ultimately able to purchase the stake owned by Arthur Miller's estate in the distribution rights, and a restored version of the film was released on home video in France in 2017.
See also
References
- ^ "Les Sorcières de Salem (1957)". Jpbox-office.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ISBN 978-3-03910-280-8. p. 219.
- ISBN 978-0-19-924908-4. pp. 211-212.
- ISBN 978-0-7910-9828-8. pp. 65, 191-193.
- ^ Marc Silbermann. Learning from the enemy: DEFA-French co-productions of the 1950s. Film History, 1 January 2006.
- ISBN 978-3-412-04403-9. p. 319.
- ISBN 978-3-486-57802-7. p. 355.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84150-318-9. pp. 83-85.
- ^ Jean-Louis Perrier (June 28, 2000). "Rotislav Doboujinsky". Le Monde.
- ^ 1957 BAFTA Awards. bafta.org.
- ^ 10th Karlovy Vary Festival Archived 2011-09-13 at the Wayback Machine. kviff.com.
- ^ Bosley Crowther. The Witches of Salem (1957). Screen: French Crucible. New York Times, 9 December 1958.
- ^ Cinema: The New Pictures. Time magazine, 5 January 1959.
- ISBN 978-0-8101-0430-3. p. 607.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-0839-0. p. lviii.
- ISBN 978-0-8160-6194-5. p. 77.
- ISBN 978-0-472-11650-8. p. 40.
- ISBN 978-1-4725-9175-3.
External links
- The Crucible at IMDb
- The Crucible at AllMovie
- The Crucible at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Crucible at Variety Distribution
- Die Hexen von Salem on filmportal.de.
- Die Hexen von Salem on defa.de.
- Die Hexen von Salem on 2001.de.