Having been fully mesmerized by the Roundabout’s currently-running production of Eugene O’Neill‘s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, I was moved earlier today to buy a combination DVD and faux-Bluray of Sidney Lumet’s admired 1962 film version with Ralph Richardson, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell.
I’m presuming the DVD/Bluray will look like weak tea, which is a shame. Lumet’s version is surely one of the finest American dramas ever captured on film. Some outfit (Kino, Twilight Time Criterion) should create a proper Bluray out of the elements, whatever their present condition. Producer Joseph E. Levine (The Graduate) bought Lumet’s film for distribution but then took a bath. “You cannot stay in business by making O’Neill pictures,” he allegedly said.
