jcriton

It's hard to believe that anyone would find this movie inspiring. Eighty percent of the acting was mediocre and unconvincing. The editing was sloppy. Jarre's music was unimaginative and sappy. The simultaneous historical portrayal of the Sonnenschein family and Hungary was one-dimensional, muddled, and dishonest. However, the most perverse feature of this film was the unflattering and stereotyped depiction of Jews. A distasteful subtext of the movie is that at the heart of the Hungarian bourgeois Jewish family is incest, infidelity, cowardice, and Jewish self-hatred. This is an insufferable film.

This TV movie rivals the best of the British renditions of 19th century novels. Cather's classic American story of hard-won success is beautifully transformed into a compelling visual drama with quality acting, top-notch cinematography, and an elegant sound track. Karen Arthur directs with a clarity and subtlety that one rarely finds in a television drama. Her attention to physical details of character and setting illuminate practically every scene. Alison Eliot's performance as Thea Kronborg could not have been better. Her portrayal rarely misses a beat as she embodies Thea's rise from naivete and innocence to worldliness and success. The triumph of this drama was facilitated by the superior acting of entire cast including Tony Goldwyn, Arliss Howard, Robert Floyd, Endre Hules, Linda Carlson, and Maximilian Schell. Strongly recommended.