Under Milk Wood

This is a marvelous piece of theater (yes: theater) put on a roll of film and released as a movie. The images are not that important, the real importance lies in the WORDS: the way the words are connected one to the other in the text, with silences, spaces, italics and all, and the way they are PRONOUNCED. This is a work for voices, conceived by Dylan Thomas (I think) for the radio, not for the TV (1954). As a matter of fact the subtitle says: "A Play for Voices". And here you have almost the best as far as voices are concerned: Burton, O'Toole, the others. You could as well shut your eyes and simply listen. I did it, and found myself dreamily trying to follow the rhythm of the voices

This film is cool, but the 17 year old looks about 30. I think the film is at times bizarre but at other times an everyday life story. Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8) is badly cast but O'Toole is fantastic as the blind fisherman. Never sentimental, at times a little hard going, but rewarding. Not worth watching for anyone under 15 though, very difficult bits involved, even if you are very clever.

I agree with many of the review comments already posted here, so I won't say more about the film itself. Instead, it hasn't yet been pointed out that the DVD (produced by Sundance and Hart Sharp Video) also contains an hour-long documentary about Dylan Thomas, tucked away in the extra features. "Dylan on Dylan" is in some ways more interesting than the film adaptation of _Under Milkwood_. It runs through a biography of him along with old photos and audio, bits of biodrama reenacted, and especially includes footage from the WWII wartime morale propaganda films that Dylan Thomas wrote! One of those is a genuinely forceful parody: he appropriated the original propaganda film made _for_ Hitler by Reni Riefenstahl, and redid the sound -- so that Hitler's speech is more of an honest description.

This feature documentary also includes a brief interview with two actresses who performed with Dylan Thomas live in _Under Milkwood_ virtually on the same day that he collapsed and died.

Dylan Thomas' play for voices has always worked best as a radio text, where its rich poetry can be fully appreciated. This film version is indeed true to the text but as a visual medium, is saddled with the need to open out and show scenes as described in the text - with sometimes risible results.

However, there are certain strengths that even the filmed treatment can't ruin. Chief amongst these are Peter O'Toole's interpretation of the blind Captain Cat, dreaming of his lost love, Rosie Probert (played by an overly made-up Elizabeth Taylor); and O'Toole's then wife, Sian Phillips, as Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, abusing both her dead husbands as they lie with her. Polly Garter and Myfanwy Price, Thomas' corrupt and innocent, are well-played by Ann Beach and Glynis Johns.

Richard Burton is 1st Voice, as he was in the memorable radio production of the 1950s. But here he is also a malevolent presence wandering quietly round the village of Llareggub, influencing the action at some points (the scene in the barn seemed out-of-place and slowed the pace of this film). I'm not knocking Burton's voice, which was superb for the material, but perhaps his presence would have been better restricted to a narrator.

Dylan Thomas's poetic flow is all that counts with 'Under Milk Wood.' Perhaps it could have been made poetic visually as well, but this effort doesn't prove it. In fact, the direction is pedestrian, and some odd liberties with the text (the scene in the barn with Burton & Davies getting it on with a woman, for instance) only makes things worse since it is the text that matters.

Then there is Richard Burton. No doubt that he would be THE actor for this film being a fellow Welshman like Thomas and a champion of the writer's work, but he is actually a bizarre presence in this film. He and Ryan Davies play a pair of wanderers drifting through town, their characters having little interaction with the folks, but Burton's character somehow has an omniscient knowledge of all of them. Burton doesn't speak on camera: his vocal performance is all voice-over narration. Ryan Davies never speaks a word on camera or off, as if he wandered in from a silent movie. Sadly, Burton strolls through the entire film with a goofy grin on his face, looking pale and drunk. And his wife Liz Taylor, handed a cameo, maintains her hideous late 60's makeup and renders herself unwatchable. But to be fair there are a lot of pretty women in this film and they are continuously slobbered over by a series of ugly Welshmen. The other featured star is Peter O'Toole as the blind Captain Cat. I admire this actor but he carries himself strangely in this film: he moves like a marionette straight out of the 'Thunderbirds.' Lastly, a weak music score doesn't help, especially with the lovely lyrics. Stick with the radio version.