Our Town

This version plays more like a greeting card than a vital alive play to me, I much prefer the Spalding Grey/Eric Stoltz/Penelope Miller 1989 version. Hal Holbrook is so folksy he comes off like one of those talking racoons from a Disney movie. John Houseman is great, as is Ford Rainey, but overall there is a self -importance about this production that distances it from you, and doesn't let you feel anything because they're too busy showing you it's a 'classic'. Better than the 1940 version, but stick with the 1989 version.

This is a really fine version of "Our Town." It is much better than the 1940 version which both changed the plot and set the play in a real set. Perhaps what is most charming about this version was the set which had outlines of the houses in which the actions took place.

I especially liked Hal Holbrook as the stage manager and the late John Houseman as the professor.

Our town is a fine piece of literature and this is probably the best version made for screen.

Having two of our favorite TV moms--Sada Thompson of Family and Barbara Bel Geddes of Dallas--in the roles of Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb was inspired casting. Charlotte Rae is adorable as the scatterbrained Mrs. Soames, and Robby Benson as George is appropriately naive and cute. The third act, where Emily returns briefly to life after dying in childbirth, must be difficult to perform convincingly, but Glynnis O'Connor beautifully conveys the many levels of emotion and meaning in this segment of the play.

This was intended as the "definitive" version of Our Town, and it could have been that. But the stylized stage sets are really hokey, and Hal Holbrook may be just a bit too "folksy" in his interpretation of the Stage Manager role (compared to Spalding Gray's more subdued performance in the 1989 version).

I love this play--and I like this version of it despite its flaws.

I remember falling in love with Thorton Wilder's wonderful play when I was in high school and I still love it today. This is probably that best play ever written and this adaptation really does it justice. Hal Holbrook is wonderful as the stage manager. He was a great Mark Twain and I don't think I have ever seen an actor who can bring to his roles the everyman and folksy quality that he does. Because this play is really pantomime and done without props, it is really a challenge for the actors and all of them do really well. Robby Benson has often been ridiculed and I feel this is unfair because he does a great job as George (if you overlook the funny way he says "fahmer") Our Town deserves to be called an icon of our culture and I wish everyone could see this superb version. Thorton Wilder would have been very proud.

My Dad showed this version to me when I was little. It always amazes me how talented the cast had to be to have no props and very little set. I saw Paul Newman as the Narrator on Broadway, but this version is my favorite.