It is incredibly rare to find a film adapted from a play that actually works and remains faithful to spirit of the original story. "The Glass Menagerie" is one of the infinitesimally few efforts that manages to do both. Casting, direction, and acting are superb, with an especially priceless performance by John Malkovich as the poetic but stifled Tom Wingfield. The entire film is worth watching for his "opium den" rant at Joanne Woodward, though the remainder is in no way lacking. This is a much underrat..
A near-perfect film version of a downright gloomy play, "The Glass Menagerie" successfully captures the atmosphere of futility and hopelessness that permeated the play and made it such a success. The choice of actors is quite good, and I am thankful that the complete plot was preserved, rather than attempting to alter it in favor of a more active storyline. Eccentric, yes, depressing, yes, effective - quite so.
Of the numerous interpretations of this play that I've seen on stage and screen, this is the best--a strong statement considering the many excellent actors who've been attracted to Tennessee Williams's powerful characters (e.g. Katherine Hepburn and Sam Waterston). John Malkovich seems to have been born to play Tom, the artist torn between familial duties and wanderlust. Malkovich's intense and percussive style is an ideal match for Williams's play, in which the text and its poetry dominate. His performa..
![The Glass Menagerie (1987) [VHS]](http://www.upcscavenger.com/m/b189/b330/ae4418cec486a74d5d032bc10ad10c21.jpg)
