The Master Builder (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1960) Review

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(More customer reviews)Produced in 1960 by David Susskind, this Broadway Theater Archive production of one of Ibsen's most famous plays focuses on an older man's fear that he will be replaced by the younger generation before he has been able to reconcile his success with his personal sacrifices. Halvard Solness (E. G. Marshall) is a Master Builder who has built much of the small town in which he lives. Arrogant, manipulative, and often paranoid, there is little he will not do to appear in control.
When Hilde Wangel (Lois Smith) suddenly knocks on his door, the younger generation arrives. Exuberant and flirtatious, Hilde reminds Halvard that exactly ten years ago, when she was the twelve-year-old daughter of a client, he called her his little princess and promised to buy her a kingdom. Ingratiating herself with Halvard, Hilde listens as he reveals his guilt about his success, his fear of godly retribution, and his simultaneous belief that he is one of the "special people" who can bring his desires to fruition through the summoning of demons, "called 'luck' by others." Regarding herself as the person who will free him from guilt, Hilde urges the acrophobic Halvard to place a wreath at the top of the tower on the house he has built for his wife-a symbolic celebration of a new kind of life through Hilde, building castles in the air.
Though Robinson and Smith portray their roles with passion, their characters are not always realistic, and the psychological grounding seems uncertain, lacking unity. Their relationship, because of differences in age, background, and personalities, is unsettling and uncomfortable for the viewer, and the actors themselves do not seem to connect in this supposed relationship. The formality of E. G. Robinson matched with the bizarre flirtatiousness of Lois Smith feels more like a dramatic conceit than the natural attraction it is supposed to be. Halvard's seemingly bloodless wife (Joanna Roos), fully aware of the growing attraction between Halvard and Hilde, vividly conveys her frustration with her life and her wayward husband, and her behavior at the end of the play is touching--filled with a kind of hopeless sadness.
Set in Halvard's house, this black and white production depends on the viewer's acceptance of the characters and their peculiar interactions, since there is virtually no change of scenery and no color to provide distractions. The play, directed by John Stix and Richard Lukin, is filled with strong emotion, but it carries a pessimistic and ambiguous message conveyed through characters who are not quite believable. Mary Whipple


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Henrik Ibxsen's tale of an aging builder reaching for love, while clinging to a career on the vergeo fo collapse is astonishing for its power. This outstanding production stars E.G. Marshall, Lois Smith, Phyllis Love and Fred Stewart.

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Guests of the Nation (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1981) Review

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(More customer reviews)Frank O'Connor's famous short story becomes a stage play by Neil McKenzie in this Broadway Theatre Archives production, directed by John Desmond. Set in Ireland in 1921, the waning days of the fight for Irish independence, the play, like the short story, emphasizes the futility of war as two Irishmen capture two British soldiers while the British soldiers are bird-watching. Assigned to guard them in an Irish cottage for three weeks, the Irish soon discover that the British, like them, are country people who have been doing what they are expected to do by those in charge of their "side." None of them are really committed to the bloodshed which has marked this horrific war for independence.
To help the time pass inside Kate O'Connell's thatched cottage, they play cards together, practice step-dancing, share cigarettes, become friends on the most basic level, and even argue about the fine points of religion. The Irish think their prisoners are "decent chaps....to keep a guard on them is beyond sense," while the British acknowledge that "it's hard to remember what side you're on....I ain't even thinking of being set free no more." When a sixteen-year-old English soldier is killed in the western part of Ireland, the Irish soldiers must decide whether their emotional kinship with these simple, British "good lads" is stronger than their political kinship with the Irish army.
The almost slapstick high humor of the beginning becomes agonized decision-making in the course of the play. Frank Converse, as Barney, and Richard Cottrell, as Noble, the Irish guards, effectively convey the difficulties of wielding power over men very much like themselves. Charlie Stavola, as the irrepressible, harmonica-playing Hawkins, and Nesbitt Blaisdell as Belcher, the English birdwatcher, are so ingenuous that their efforts to be friends, rather than enemies, are completely believable.
Estelle Parsons, as Kate O'Connell, offers common sense advice, gradually changing from being a crotchety scold to a woman blossoming under their attention. The music by Elizabeth Swados, mostly flute, fiddle, and bodhran drums, suits the setting, and the outdoor scenes in the Irish countryside are beautifully filmed. A play that goes straight to the heart, Guests of the Nation, shows two sets of "lads" trying to understand their "duty" when it is "hard to remember what side you're on." Mary Whipple


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This drama tells the story of Irish insurgents and the captured British soldiers whom they are assigned to guard. While confined to a remote farmhouse owned by the spirited Widow O'Connell (Estelle Parsons of Bonnie and Clyde), the foursome - all equally attuned to "make peace, not war" - enjoy card playing, jig dancing, and a great deal of amiable bickering. Throughout the conviviality, however, Barney Callahan (Frank Converse) is haunted by the knowledge that reprisals will be in order if the Irish harm their captives.

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The Master Builder (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1960) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Produced in 1960 by David Susskind, this Broadway Theater Archive production of one of Ibsen's most famous plays focuses on an older man's fear that he will be replaced by the younger generation before he has been able to reconcile his success with his personal sacrifices. Halvard Solness (E. G. Marshall) is a Master Builder who has built much of the small town in which he lives. Arrogant, manipulative, and often paranoid, there is little he will not do to appear in control.
When Hilde Wangel (Lois Smith) suddenly knocks on his door, the younger generation arrives. Exuberant and flirtatious, Hilde reminds Halvard that exactly ten years ago, when she was the twelve-year-old daughter of a client, he called her his little princess and promised to buy her a kingdom. Ingratiating herself with Halvard, Hilde listens as he reveals his guilt about his success, his fear of godly retribution, and his simultaneous belief that he is one of the "special people" who can bring his desires to fruition through the summoning of demons, "called 'luck' by others." Regarding herself as the person who will free him from guilt, Hilde urges the acrophobic Halvard to place a wreath at the top of the tower on the house he has built for his wife-a symbolic celebration of a new kind of life through Hilde, building castles in the air.
Though Robinson and Smith portray their roles with passion, their characters are not always realistic, and the psychological grounding seems uncertain, lacking unity. Their relationship, because of differences in age, background, and personalities, is unsettling and uncomfortable for the viewer, and the actors themselves do not seem to connect in this supposed relationship. The formality of E. G. Robinson matched with the bizarre flirtatiousness of Lois Smith feels more like a dramatic conceit than the natural attraction it is supposed to be. Halvard's seemingly bloodless wife (Joanna Roos), fully aware of the growing attraction between Halvard and Hilde, vividly conveys her frustration with her life and her wayward husband, and her behavior at the end of the play is touching--filled with a kind of hopeless sadness.
Set in Halvard's house, this black and white production depends on the viewer's acceptance of the characters and their peculiar interactions, since there is virtually no change of scenery and no color to provide distractions. The play, directed by John Stix and Richard Lukin, is filled with strong emotion, but it carries a pessimistic and ambiguous message conveyed through characters who are not quite believable. Mary Whipple


Click Here to see more reviews about: The Master Builder (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1960)

Henrik Ibxsen's tale of an aging builder reaching for love, while clinging to a career on the vergeo fo collapse is astonishing for its power. This outstanding production stars E.G. Marshall, Lois Smith, Phyllis Love and Fred Stewart.

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An Enemy of the People (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Television's Golden Age," the 1950s, gets that moniker because the best of that decade's live drama anthologies -- such as "Playhouse 90," "Studio One" and "Kraft Television Theater," featured innovative plays that made insightful comments about contemporary life.
Though "Enemy of the People" aired on National Educational Television (the precursor of PBS) in 1966, Arthur Miller's adaptation of the Ibsen classic feels like an extension of the "golden" era.
In the Norway of the 1880s, an idealistic doctor (James Daly of "Medical Center") discovers that water from a new spring is contaminated with deadly bacteria. Because the spring is expected to bring a solid tourist trade to this small town, his repeated attempts to convince the town's officials and citizens are met with hostility -- most notably by the mayor, who happens to be the doctor's brother (Philip Bosco).
The acting here is uniformly excellent, delivered in normal theatrical style. Daly is ideal in the lead role, never sounding a false note. Kate Reid is solid as his concerned wife, though sometimes encumbered by wild motivational swings in her character, as written.
Bosco is appropriately maddening as the doctor's brother, though viewers may be somewhat amused by his stage mustache, which becomes skewed during one sequence.
A number of very good actors from the period inexplicably go unbilled on the box, and are even absent from the IMDB entry. Among them are George Voskovec as the doctor's scheming father-in-law; James Olson as an unscrupulous newspaper editor; and William Prince as the battle-scarred publisher of the newspaper. Tim Daly, best known for his role on "Wings," plays one of the doctor's young sons; he is the real life son of the late James Daly.
Rue McLanahan appears in a bit role.
In what might have been rather startling for TV viewers of the mid-'60s, the mild profanity of Miller's adaptation is kept intact.
The play was shot on black-and-white videotape, and the print that was used for this DVD is very good. It's always so much better to see the straight video from this period, rather than a kinescoped copy.
"An Enemy of the People" will be rewarding viewing for any lover of classic television.

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Adapted by master playwright Arthur Miller from Henrik Ibsen's groundbreaking 1882 play, An Enemy of the People is a scathing indictment of a corrupt society. An idealistic doctor, played by 1966 Emmy-winner James Daly, discovers that the medicinal springs- source of a small Norwegian town's wealth and fame--are in fact poisoned. "Few dramas... clamor with as much present-day social relevance," declared Variety. Veteran Broadway, screen, and television actress Kate Reid plays the doctor's indomitable wife who stands by him in the face of the town's hostility to his findings, as he becomes "an enemy of the people." "Few dramas...clamor with as much present-day social relevance." --Variety

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