The Fugitive Kind - 1961 - 3½ Stars

Actors:  Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani
Director:  Sidney Lumet

The Fugitive Kind is based on a play, and plays often present big challenges to movie writers and directors.  There tend to be more monologues, and these can be difficult to stage and frame in an interesting way.  Plays often take place in a limited number of locations, so the film version can start to feel hemmed in by its setting.  Plays get by on the vitality of the actors right in front of us - movie acting has a larger barrier.

The Fugitive Kind is loaded with symbolism, and this is one element of plays that I don't think translates well to the screen - plays are clearly bounded by three walls. We know at all points that it is a production, and we're more willing to forgive unrealistic choices for the sake of symbolism, because we're always confronted with the artifice.  (This is part of why Dogville works as a movie - stage that film on a set made to look like a small town and it likely falls apart).  Lumet makes some great choices - his close-in work reminds me of 12 Angry Men - but he cannot fully overcome the play-ness of the source material.