1967 Oscar Best Supporting Actress
1967 Oscar Best Art Direction Black and White
Faithful adaptation of Edward Albee's waspish Broadway sensation. It's hardly opened up from the stage and mostly set in George and Martha's rather scruffy campus residence as they take us on a tour of their esoteric fantasy life while they initiate a couple of new arrivals.
George (Richard Burton) is in history and married to Martha (ElizabethTaylor) the daughter of the university chancellor. They entertain an assertive biology teacher (George Segal), burdened by his frail, irksome, alcoholic wife (Sandy Dennis). The games the foursome play through the long, boozy night are irresistible.
And Albee's dialogue is intelligent and very funny. Burton and Taylor ruined the play for any other actors. This is her best performance, as the aggressive, insolent, yet hugely vulnerable woman stuck in middle age with an unambitious husband. He is particularly adept at the coruscating verbal sparring.
It's so much fun just watching the Burtons warming up in the opening scenes. What unfolds is astonishing. They are like two warring civilisations. Segal and Dennis are actually very good but they get blown away in the storm. This is a dazzling intellectual experience made definitive by its brilliant stars.
i saw this film years ago and was bored.Seeing it now has a totally new impact.Just goes to show how we change over time.
If I wanted to watch drunk people shouting at each other, I'd go into town at the weekend. The stars are for the acting.