Presumably, the reason for this take on the subject of Arthur Miller's masterpiece was to give a broader overview as well as incorporate more recent historical research this into this oddly brutal chapter in American history. Odd not because of its brutality, brutality was of course so much a part of early American life, but odd because the brutality was of a community turned in on itself - rather than settlers against natives, slaves, the latest wave of immigrants, and so on.
Obviously made-for-tv, it accomplishes those objectives to some degree, but 3 hours is a long haul without the point of view of a master like Arthur Miller. Lacking that focus, it over-compensates with such ongoing hysterical screeching and writhing, that any moment of simple dialogue is a relief.
The teleplay is probably better than I can give it credit for. Outside of a public theater, I do most of my watching films while practicing piano exercises ( I no longer need sound after many years for this) or even physical exercise, to economize my time. But this one was too much to take even for that. So I was wandering in and out my screening room, working on various chores - I missed whole scenes, at least visually. Strangely, this one probably works better with actual commercials breaking it up - it was designed that way, as distracting as the ads would be.
What could have taken the place of the commercial breaks? Exactly what is missing here - the quiet of pre-industrial life, punctuated by the sounds of nature and the long hours of repetitive chores of peoples' daily lives. What a Terrence Malick could do here, he demonstrated amply in The New World. Against the backdrop of the natural rhythms of the settlers' lives, the hysteria of the children and consequent spread of madness throughout the community would be a hundred fold more terrifying than the onslaught of screaming we are subjected to.
And that's the rub. Like Miller's Playing for Time, which Joseph Sargent also directed for television, these are stories not meant to be told with commercial breaks for sodas and indigestion.
It has its moments, and a cast that can deliver them, whenever the screaming subsides. Shirley Maclaine has a beautifully directed scene in the cell with her fellow accused, which I would bet she had a hand in creating, as her Rebecca Nurse's spiritual transformation beyond the Puritanism of the times is a little on the money, when we know the actress's personal beliefs she's written extensively about. It's my favorite moment in the film, as she and Gloria Reuben and the women let their hair down and their true feelings out, something that would have been truly shocking at the time. In the misery of their circumstances, it is utterly believable, and I would even add, as revelatory for us as it is for the characters.
My 2nd favorite scene, or part of a scene, is the speech given to John Proctor before his hanging. I was curious to see how this would be handled, as this is the speech in Miller's play that delivers his great thesis - that play written largely in response to the McCarthy hearings, Proctor refuses to give up his "good name" by giving up "names" and confessing guilt to holding a belief he neither has, nor should be subjected to inquisition upon. The writer Maria Nation wisely avoids that angle, waits right up until the last moment - I'd given up on expecting her Proctor to have anything truly interesting to say - and just when I thought the scene had reached its climax with the noose, she gives Proctor a speech that preserves his dignity and miraculously as it were throws the culpability of the evil at hand onto the village participants and onlookers for all time.
To take in these 2 scenes again, I will save it on my List on IMDB, where it is available without charge. But the work as a whole is too arduous to go back and search for other great moments that I could have missed. Let me know if you find any, and where they are, and I'll gladly take a look.
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