Desire Under the Elms (1957)

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Desire Under the Elms (1957)

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Desire Under the Elms (1957)
Desiderio sotto gli Olmi - Désir sous les ormes - Begierde unter Ulmen - Deseo bajo los olmos
A Film by Delbert Mann
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL Area 2 | 1,78:1 | 16:9 | Dolby Digital 2.0 | 01:46:22 | 5% Recovery | 6.76 Gb
Languages Available: English, Italian, French, German, Spanish
Subtitle: English, Italian, French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Czech, Turkish, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish
Norwegian, Dutch, Portoguese, Greek, Romanian, Slovenian, Serbian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish
Genre: Drama | Extra: Trailers, Scene Selection, Audio Options | Nominated for Oscar, 2 Nominations

Ephraim Cabot is an old man of amazing vitality who loves his New England farm with a greedy passion. Hating him, and sharing his greed, are the sons of two wives Cabot has overworked into early graves. Most bitter is Eben, whose mother had owned most of the farm, and who feels who should be sole heir. When the old man brings home a new wife, Anna, she becomes a fierce contender to inherit the farm. Two of the sons leave when Eben gives them the fare in return for their shares of the farm. Meanwhile, Anna tries to cause some sparks by rubbing up against Eben.

IMDB Rating: 6.5/10

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Religious zealot and tyrant Ephraim Cabot (Burl Ives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) rules over a piece of prized farm land he received from his late wife. The rightful owner is son Eben (Anthony Perkins, Psycho), a calm, sensitive soul whom Ephraim browbeats endlessly. Eben's claim on the land is taken from him after Ephraim takes a new bride, Anna (Sophia Loren, Houseboat). Anna has plans of her own regarding the land and butts heads with the angry Eben. Little do the two realize that from hatred can spring love…one that is forbidden, with consequences of its own.

So begins Desire Under the Elms, a film that is maddening yet interesting. The interesting aspects of the film remain the earth-shattering performances, gorgeous photography, and haunting Elmer Bernstein score. The maddening aspects consist of the pacing and flaws in the thin story.

The film is based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, whose best-known works are Long Day's Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh. O'Neill remains one of the greatest authors of tragedy in American theater, often using single locations and leisurely pacing over a mammoth running time to get deep within the characters he creates in his dark material. On the basis of this film, I have a suspicion that Desire Under the Elms must not have been one of his major works. At 111 minutes, this is awfully brief for an O'Neill adaptation. Previous film adaptations of O'Neill works run anywhere from three hours (Mourning Becomes Electra, Long Day's Journey into Night) to four and a half hours (The Iceman Cometh) in length. Then again, those films used O'Neill's text, while this film was scripted by Irwin Shaw. The structure is rather sloppy, with a painfully slow beginning followed by a quickly paced middle, capped by a confusing, muddled ending that doesn't make clear what exactly happens. I have seen the film three times, and I still can't make heads or tails of it.

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Yet there are good things about it. Despite the uneven pacing, Desire Under the Elms is an absorbing piece of cinema. I remained interested in what was going to happen next, even while shaking my head in disbelief during the routine self-destruction of the third act (which I will not reveal since it would involve revealing a major series of spoilers). A great deal of that success lies in the solid lead performances. Anthony Perkins is superb as Eben, the sensitive soul trapped within a sham of a life. Perkins brings not only his trademark nervousness to the role but also strength and gumption. His performance is sincere and convincing, managing to win the viewer over in spite of the problematic material. Many critics claim that Sophia Loren was miscast as Anna, but I cannot think of more perfect casting; her earthiness and strength foreshadow her Oscar-winning work in Two Women, and her great beauty is well showcased along with her fine acting in a most difficult role.

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Perkins and Loren also have excellent chemistry, making the romance completely believable and full of life. Best of all is Burl Ives, who is brilliant as the tyrannical Ephraim. Ives was known primarily as a singer but made the leap into acting in 1946 in Smoky. Unlike many singers who attempt to become actors, Ives had a genuine acting talent and a radar for finding superb material to work with. Desire Under the Elms was his fourth standout performance in 1958, following great work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Wind Across the Everglades, and The Big Country, the latter of which earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor. Looking at those four performances, note how different each one is and how well Ives does with each one. In Desire, he takes the clichéd role of the vile father and adds real human qualities to it. This isn't a one-dimensional riff but rather a fully fleshed-out characterization that manages to provoke anger, sadness, and even sympathy in the viewer.

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The moody black-and-white cinematography is by Daniel L. Fapp, a first-rate cinematographer whose credits include West Side Story, The Great Escape, and Billy Wilder's underrated One! Two! Three!. Fapp's work remains among the finest black-and-white photography ever done for a major studio. There is something about the unique textures of black and white that suits O'Neill's material. Those textures are beautifully realized by Fapp in work that earned him an Oscar nomination. Pay close attention to his lighting choices; every choice helps bring out an extra dimension to the story that the printed page alone cannot evoke. Shadow contrast is also well used in this film.

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The score is by Elmer Bernstein, and I cannot think of a more perfect score for this film. It is haunting and moody, with Bernstein using the pipe organ to particularly great effect. I have always been a firm believer that music should enhance a scene without giving away the content and feeling at the same time. Bernstein keeps that in mind and delivers a score that helps bolster the film without giving away any crucial secrets.

Desire Under the Elms was shot in VistaVision, a widescreen format developed by Paramount to counter the then red hot CinemaScope format. There were two primary advantages to this new homegrown widescreen format. First, CinemaScope was not without problems, particularly regarding depth of field, leaving the image vulnerable to distortion. Second and more important, Paramount wouldn't have to pay a steep rental fee to rival studio Twentieth Century Fox in order to use CinemaScope. Instead, they could rent out VistaVision lenses to other studios, therefore creating healthy competition. Paramount would continue to use VistaVision until 1961 (Marlon Brando's One Eyed Jacks was the final film shot in the format), when they switched to the new Panavision widescreen format.

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Paramount presents Desire Under the Elms in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. VistaVision was unique in that the film was shot and projected horizontally instead of in the traditional vertical method. This allowed for a smoother projection, resulting in a crisper, cleaner image. The transfer accurately recreates the VistaVision experience. Except for a few scratches and specks here and there, the image is clean and crisp. The luscious deep focus photography is beautifully recreated. Blacks are dark and brooding; whites are chalky and luminous. This is the best way to see Desire Under the Elms if you cannot see it on film.

Audio is presented in a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 mono mix. Unfortunately, the audio isn't nearly as impressive as the video transfer. It doesn't have the sweeping majesty a film score from the fifties should. The tone is awfully muted, and dialogue is sometimes difficult to comprehend. Don't get me wrong; this isn't a terrible mix. But it should be much better than this.

Italian
Ephriam Cabot è un rude contadino settantenne, rimasto vedovo due volte. Dal matrimonio con la sua seconda moglie, che con la sua cospicua dote lo ha trasformato in un uomo ricco, è nato il minore dei suoi tre figli, Eben. Il ragazzo riesce a far sì che i suoi due fratellastri rinuncino alla loro fetta di eredità e lascino la casa paterna per andare in cerca di fortuna. Il giorno della loro partenza, il vecchio Ephriam porta a casa Anna, la sua nuova moglie, che ha sposato per avere compagnia e conforto negli ultimi momenti che gli restano da vivere. Tra Anna e Eben scocca subito una simpatia, ma entrambi aspirano all'intera eredità del vecchio e quindi si evitano. Quando il vecchio Ephriam promette ad Anna di lasciarle tutto il suo patrimonio se gli darà un altro figlio, la donna sfrutta la situazione e diventa l'amante di Eben. Dopo poco tempo, Anna aspetta un bambino, ma la situazione precipita quando Ephriam instilla in Eben il sospetto che la donna lo abbia ingannato riguardo all'eredità. Eben è furioso, ma Anna ormai si è innamorata di lui e, per dimostrarglielo, uccide il suo bambino. Inorridito, Eben la denuncia ma poi, sentendosi ugualmente colpevole, lascia anche lui la fattoria per espiare.

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French
Le vieux Éphraïm Cabot se remarie avec la jeune et belle Anna. S’ensuit des luttes intestines entre les fils d’Éphraïm et la nouvelle épouse, tous s’estimant héritiers légitimes. Mais Anna et son beau-fils Eben, qui revendique le titre d’héritier unique, tombent réciproquement amoureux

Spanish
Efraín Cabot es un anciano de la vitalidad asombrosa que ama a su granja de Nueva Inglaterra con una pasión codiciosos. Odiarlo, y la distribución de su codicia, son los hijos de dos esposas Cabot tiene exceso de trabajo en una tumba prematura. Más amargo es Eben, cuya madre había sido dueño de la mayor parte de la finca, y que siente que debe ser el único heredero. Cuando el viejo trae a casa una nueva esposa, Anna, se convierte en un competidor feroz para heredar la finca. Dos de los hijos se van cuando Eben les da la tarifa a cambio de su participación en la granja. Mientras tanto, Anna intenta causar chispas por el roce contra Eben.

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German
Ephraim Cabot ist ein alter Mann von erstaunlicher Vitalität, der seine New England Bauernhof mit einem gierigen Leidenschaft liebt. Ihn zu hassen, und die gemeinsame Nutzung seiner Gier, sind die Söhne von zwei Frauen Cabot hat überarbeitet ins frühe Grab. Die meisten bitter Eben, dessen Mutter im Besitz meisten der Farm, und wer fühlt, sollte Alleinerbe werden. Als der alte Mann nach Hause bringt eine neue Frau, Anna, wird sie einen erbitterten Kämpfer zu erben dem Bauernhof. Zwei der Söhne verlassen, wenn Eben ihnen die Kost im Gegenzug für ihre Anteile an der Farm. Unterdessen versucht Anna zu führen, dass einige Funken durch Reiben gegen Eben.

From DVDverdict.com

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