The Human Voice (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1967) Review

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(More customer reviews)Human Voice is initially unassuming and it takes about 5 minutes or more to fully realize the potential of this painful expose of a woman's emotions. The scenes all take place in one room.
Ingrid Bergman plays a woman in the most painful state she could possibly exist in besides the state in which she is mourning the loss of a child. She has just lost the love of her life and has tried to commit suicide. Fortunately she wakes to find she has survived taking all the pills in her medicine cabinet.
What happens next is rather disturbing really. When a woman feels these emotions, she may happen to glance at herself in the mirror, but more than likely she is in bed crying her eyes out. The honesty is captivating, but painful to observe.
Through a one-sided telephone conversation a woman first tries to hide her feelings and then after numerous attempts to talk to the man she loves and convince him she is handling the break up, she finally breaks down. She experienced devastation, desperation, completely heartache, longings of the soul, everything a woman feels when she has lost the man she thinks she will spend the rest of her life with; it is poetic and tragic.
Ingrid Bergman wanders about in a pink housecoat, clinging to a old-fashioned phone and is stunning in this solo performance. At one point she wraps the phone cord around her neck and says that her lover's words are now around her neck. It is very provocative at times as she plays with ideas in creative ways.

This movie may stir up memories from the past and may cause you to hunt down doughnuts, chocolate or anything comforting. Watching this movie is similar to riding the waves in a storm. The sad part of this movie is that women feel these emotions all too often. The callousness of her lover is especially difficult to take. While we never hear his voice, we hear her reactions. Even when she is expressing her undying affection, he seems angry with her and displays an almost inhuman disregard for her feelings.
This movie might make you angry, it might make you cry and it will definitely leave you with a lasting impression. Human Voice is a true classic and one of the best representations of complete desperation and loss of self-esteem I've ever observed.
~The Rebecca Review

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Ingrid Bergman plays a middle-aged woman going through a psychological crisis as a love affair ends. French playwright Jean Cocteau's one-character drama unfolds in the form of an extended monologue--a one-sided telephone conversation in which the woman tries to win back her lover despite her growing suspicion that he is calling from his young fiancée's home. "A tour de force... Ingrid Bergman gave a formidable display of passionate despair, showing a side in her talent not often vouchsafed by the movies." --Variety

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The Good Doctor (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1978) Review

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(More customer reviews)The cream of the Broadway Theatre Archive, this production has it all--the stories of Anton Chekhov, Neil Simon to mold the stories into exquisitely timed and hilarious theatre, and a cast that is hard to duplicate. Starring Marsha Mason, who plays everything from a maid to a lady of the night; Ed Asner who is a terrific, blustering general; and Lee Grant, who ranges from a wily and assertive employer to a wild woman with a "nervous disorder," the production also includes Bob Dishy, who has an elastic face and expressive eyes, starring in "The Sneeze" and "The Seduction," and Gary Dontzig as the "Drowned Man" and a 19-year-old son about to be introduced to sex for the first time.
The seven Chekhov stories which become one-act plays here are filled with dry humor, surprise endings, and clever common people in confrontations with "superiors" which end in absurdity. "The Sneezer" cannot apologize enough to the general who is his boss at work, then believes that he himself has been humiliated. In "The Governess," an employer (Grant) tricks a subservient governess (Mason) out of 80% of her pay. "The Seduction" shows a man-about-town (Chamberlain) using a husband as the conduit for his seduction of the man's wife, a story with a twist at the end. "The Drowned Man" (Dontzig) claims to be in the "maritime entertainment business" and will "drown" for a small fee. "The Defenseless Creature" gives Grant her star turn, and she is hilarious as the clever wife who wants money from a banker (Chamberlain), threatening him with a curse if he refuses. In "The Arrangement" a father takes his shy, 19-year-old son to a house of ill repute, then realizes that the son will no longer be a boy.
The most stunning episode is "The Audition," and anyone interested in acting would do well to study Marsha Mason, who is magnificent here. Playing the parts of all three sisters from the conclusion of Chekhov's The Three Sisters, she is sensitive, bursts into tears on cue, then becomes rational and straightforward. As Mason convincingly plays the three different roles, one witnesses a truly great acting moment. Each of the scenes is beautifully produced and sensitively acted, and the viewer comes away from the production awed by Chekhov's writing, Simon's dramatic sense, and the ensemble cast's incredible talent. Mary Whipple


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Anton Chekhov's early short stories, which so eloquently capture the comic and serious sides of the 19th century Russian Bourgeoisie, were the source and inspiration for this hit by Neil Simon--one of the most prolific and beloved playwrights of all time. Simon's tribute to Chekhov resonates with great feeling and warm humor. Richard Chamberlain as The Writer, who ties everything together, glides through the production in a variety of guises, opening with "The Sneeze" and progressing to "The Governess." He is joined by an all-star team of farceurs including Ed Asner, Bob Dishy, Lee Grant, and Marsha Mason. "Studded with the kind of names that make hearts palpitate... an elaborate conceit by Neil Simon." --The New York Times

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