Le vergini di Salem

Arthur Miller's knockout play The Crucible was published in 1952, so it always struck me as odd that we didn't get a film version until 1996- after the Cold War ended. It's been a decade since I saw the 1996 adaptation, and I wasn't impressed by it. I don't totally remember why, but I thought it was a mistake to actually show the girls engaged in witchcraft-like activities and thought the ending was a bit abrupt, cutting off Proctor's prayer on the gallows. But as it turns out, it actually wasn't the original film version. The first was a French movie from 1957- The Crucible, or The Witches of Salem.

I did like this version better. Although it too shows the girls engaged in witch-like activities (indeed, in this version Abigail appears to be a bona fide witch), it seems slightly more restrained. All of the subject matter involving the supernatural and the political made this movie intriguing and compelling to me. After watching 15 minutes or so, I knew I wanted more. The 1957 film definitely borrows from Miller's play but in a way it is its own take on the Salem witch trials of 1692. It manages to get its point across adequately. It does strike me as odd that the French and Germans would take interest in a witch case from America when Europe had many brutal witch hunts of its own- but setting the story in Salem is true to Miller's story which is the obvious inspiration.