Product: Under Milk Wood [VHS] (1973)
Rating: 3.0
Three Stars for Dylan's Glorious Language, But....
This adaptation itself is a pretty soggy affair. Ploddingly literal more often than not, giving you an image that matches exactly what the text is describing, though the occasional bad idea from director Andrew Sinclair makes you wish he'd stuck to ploddingly literal. The design of the film's a mess, as well; the villagers seem to wear fashions from 1918 or so through the 60's, with the latter hideous beyond belief. As in the equally misguided Burton/Taylor FAUSTUS, La Liz doesn't bother with period hair, make-up, costume, or an attempt at a characterization (although her Welsh gurgle has to be heard to be believed -- sounds like someone's strangling a cat). Presumably she had a nice location holiday during the shoot (although even that's not apparent from her dim, studio-bound scenes on display here). Veteran favorites like Vivien Merchant, Victor Spinetti, Sian Phillips and Glynis Johns aren't onscreen long enough to brighten the proceedings much. And the top-billed stars, Burton and O'Toole, alternate between blank stares and bouts of scenery-chewing. In spite of all these negatives, the film can't completely choke the life out of Thomas. His wit, poetry and passion for the smallest detail of everyday existence poke through, perhaps here with the bedraggled air of a daisy growing in a cement sidewalk, but bringing pleasure nonetheless. At least, the film's likely to send anyone stumbling across it at their DVD rental outlet racing to the library shelf to try and figure out what the devil THAT was supposed to be. And for such crumbs, we must be grateful.