Happy Days (1980) ⭐ 6.7 (original) (raw)
Original title: Great Performances: Samuel Beckett's Happy Days
Suffused with tenderness, lucidity, and humor, this Samuel Beckett play is a comedy in pure music-hall style. Legendary actress Irene Worth stars as Winnie, an optimist who senses deep-down ... Read allSuffused with tenderness, lucidity, and humor, this Samuel Beckett play is a comedy in pure music-hall style. Legendary actress Irene Worth stars as Winnie, an optimist who senses deep-down that she has little cause to feel "happy". Worth gives a tour-de-force performance as she ... Read allSuffused with tenderness, lucidity, and humor, this Samuel Beckett play is a comedy in pure music-hall style. Legendary actress Irene Worth stars as Winnie, an optimist who senses deep-down that she has little cause to feel "happy". Worth gives a tour-de-force performance as she chatters incessantly and cheerily on a variety of subjects. Winnie never allows a day to p... Read all
I saw the New York production with Irene Worth and directed by Andrei Serban, and have never forgotten it. Truly memorable theater. Irene Worth is a fine actress and Serban is a brilliant director. This video is ruined by the camera person or people. Without rhyme or reason the camera moves from one thing to another. It goes back and forth, in and out, in long shots, medium shots, closeups, and extreme closeups. Irene Worth is usually a fine and disciplined actress, but here she mugs for the camera. In extreme closeups she looks directly into the camera, males faces, rolls here eyes. It is painful to watch.
In Beckett, the words are important, but here they are lost in the noise of the frenetic camera movements and the facial contortions of Ms. Worth. The sound is poor, and it is often hard to understand what she is saying. The original NYC play deserves 5 stars. This travesty deserves only 1 star.
- john-lauritsen
- Oct 10, 2016
- Permalink
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What is the English language plot outline for Happy Days (1980)?