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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 0012569821095 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Warner Home Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: December 05, 2006 Running Time: 131 minutes Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: June 22, 1966 Sales Rank: 5263 MPN: 82109
Product Description: Mike Nichols' first directorial effort represents a milestone in psychological realism and "foul" language in American cinema. George and Martha as played superbly and without vanity by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are as far from the bourgeois 1950s perfect married couple as you can get alternatively badgering berating abusing and loving each other both alone and accompanied by the naive young married couple that have come over for a nightcap (portrayed brilliantly by George Segal and Sandy Dennis). The fun and games in which George and Martha involve Nick and Honey are a lacerating look at the older couple's existence where the emotional brutalizing fill an unspeakable void at their center and a troubling preview of what the younger couple's life could become. Edward Albee's dramatic vision combines the banal the vulgar and the poetic and Ernest Lehman's adapted screenplay is amazingly faithful to the structure of Albee's play. The acting is uniformly excellent and Taylor and Burton were never better together. A harrowing movie experience but very worthwhile and finally unforgettable.System Requirements:Run Time: 131 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: NR UPC: 012569821095 Manufacturer No: 82109
Amazon.com essential video: A word of advice: If George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) ever ask you over for late-night cocktails--pass. On the other hand, if you have the opportunity to see Mike Nichols's scorching film version of Edward Albee's sensational play, don't miss it! Elegantly photographed in crisp black and white by the great Haskell Wexler, the play has been "opened up" for the screen by director Nichols (The Graduate, Primary Colors) and producer-writer Ernest Lehman (North by Northwest) without diluting its concentrated, claustrophobic power. Taylor has never been better or brasher as Martha, letting loose with all the fury of a drunken, frustrated academic's wife on one crazy Walpurgisnacht bender. Burton plays her husband, George, the ineffectual history prof married to the college president's daughter. And George Segal and Sandy Dennis are young, callow Nick and Honey, who have no idea what sort of mind-warping psychological games they're being drawn into. Among the most successful theatrical adaptations (artistically and popularly) ever brought to the screen. The entire principal cast was nominated for Oscars--and Taylor, Dennis, and cinematographer Wexler won. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - One of the best movies ever made
One of the best movies ever made. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are outstanding. It has some very humorous lines even though the overall movie is rather depressing. I've watched it over and over. ... Read More
Rating: - Virginia Woolf Review
I enjoyed this movie. I like how the directors of the movie move the fear of Virginia to the humbling of Virginia. I like how Burton comes up with his plan to overcome Woolf in the movie. I even wrote a thesis ... Read More
Rating: - Of its time and place
So many great reviews here that I think my expectations were too high. The performances were amazing, but the action and dialog seemed too theatrical at times (not surprising as this was originally a stage play. ... Read More
Rating: - Improved WOOLF
Very good remastering of the Albee classic, with great, insightful commentary by Mike Nichols, as well as the iffy one by cinematographer Haskell Welxer that was on the first pressing in the late 90s. A lot of specific ... Read More
Rating: - Watching the film again...
I'm not sure how many people would agree with me, but after watching this movie again I was struck by something that I'd never noticed before. (Spoiler alert.)
First, I've seen this movie about a dozen times ... Read More
- One of the best movies ever made
- Of its time and place
- Improved WOOLF