Arthur Miller Movies

The newest project from the master of documentaries deals with the life of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of America's most beloved writers and historical characters from the 19th century. Ken Burns worked for nearly three years and drew from 100 hours of filmed material and hundreds of photos to complete the two-part, four-hour PBS series. In part one, Twain's life is profiled from his birth to age 50. Burns explores his dual personality (the rich, sometimes greedy Clemens and the down-home and humorous Twain) and looks at the effect Twain's masterpiece Huckleberry Finn had on American literature. The era in which Twain flourished is captured through photographs of Twain's New York, and footage of the grand Mississippi River. Novelist Russell Banks and playwright Arthur Miller give insightful commentary. ~ Rovi

Following up on his masterful, heart-wrenching war-drama Kippur, veteran Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï directs his first English language work based on a novel by Arthur Miller. Set in 1939, the film centers on Kalman, a young ambitious Jewish businessman who leaves his aged father in Europe to be with his sister, Sam (Samantha Morton), in Palestine. There he finds that Sam is living with Dov, an idealistic architect obsessed with the work of the Bauhaus school. Sam, in turn, is helping professor Oscar Kalkofsky, whose visionary ideas about the future Israeli state is one of collaboration with the Arabs already living in Palestine. Another member in this intellectual group is Silvia, who passionately argues for a separate state apart from the Arabs. When the war breaks out, illegal Jewish immigrants flood into Britain from Europe resulting in the formation of the Jewish Brigade by the British Army. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A Mobil Masterpiece Theater adaptation of the Arthur Miller play, the film is set in 1938 Brooklyn and involves unhappily married Jewish couple Mr. and Mrs. Gellburg. When Mrs. Gellburg suffers paralysis in her legs, Dr. Hyman (Mandy Patinkin) diagnoses her problem as psychologically stemming from her anxiety over both her failing marriage and the brewing catastrophe in Germany. This film version of the play is infused with acclaimed performances from Mandy Patinkin, Margot Leicester, Henry Goodman, and Elizabeth McGovern. ~ Sarah Sloboda, Rovi

Sebastiao Salgado is one of the world's leading photojournalists and has helped to shape the present perception of political and social reality. In this video, he discusses his seven-year photo essay project which documents the lives of workers around the world. Salgado's dominant theme is the displacement of manual labor by technological advances and the effects of this new industrial revolution. The program is rounded out by archival footage, commentary from artists, photographers, critics, and writers, such as Arthur Miller and Jorge Amado. ~ Karla Baker, Rovi

Set in a small Maine town in 1883, this made-for-TV production tells the tale of an honest physician's attempt to warn his community about a public hazard that politicians and investors want to hide. The story begins with Thomas Stockman, M.D. (John Glover), who is awaiting results of the university's analysis of a water sample he took from a local spa. The spa promises to bring the town a windfall of tourist dollars, but he suspects that illnesses among the first users of the spa resulted from contaminated water. When the university confirms the presence of "infectious organic matter," Dr. Stockmann proposes to publicize the report and close the spa in order to make improvements that will purify the water. He believes the public will embrace him as a hero for discovering the pollution. But his brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann (George Grizzard), insists that the spa remain open, calling his brother a niggling busybody who would ruin the town with a false report. Besides, it would cost an enormous sum to rectify the problem. At first, a reform-minded newspaper editor, Hovstad, backs the doctor, saying his report will not only disclose the problem at the spa but will also expose corruption among local power brokers who back the spa. But Hovstad withdraws his support after the mayor tells him the loss of tourism would force merchants to curtail their newspaper advertising. Meanwhile, the townspeople turn against the doctor because the mayor claims the spa improvements would force a substantial tax increase. At a town meeting, almost everyone sides against Dr. Stockmann and agrees to boycott his medical practice. That evening and into the following morning, angry citizens stone the doctor's house as the film moves toward its conclusion. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

One of Hollywood's most distinguished directors, John Huston is profiled in this no-holds-barred documentary. Discounting the hokey framing device of host Robert Mitchum wandering through an attic full of Huston memorabilia, this two-hour plus film is a remarkable chronicle of a remarkable man. We follow Huston's vagabond younger days, first as travelling companion to his equally colorful actor father Walter Huston, then as one of Hollywood's premiere hell-raisers. Huston worked as a screenwriter in the 1930s before getting his first chance to direct with The Maltese Falcon (1941). During World War II, Huston turned out a "propaganda" film titled Let There Be Light, which was so devastating in its depiction of shell-shock that the government ordered that it be removed from distribution. After the war, Huston directed such masterworks as Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Asphalt Jungle, Moulin Rouge and Moby Dick, as well as a few debacles (notably the benighted Red Badge of Courage). He also tilted with the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Declared washed up on several occasions, Huston kept bouncing back, even into the 1980s with such films as Under the Volcano and Prizzi's Honor. Included are interviews with such Huston associates as Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Arthur Miller, Michael Caine, Oswald Morris and Burgess Meredith, as well his former wife Evelyn Keyes and his actress daughter Anjelica Huston, with home-movie clips of the director at work and play. Nowhere is John Huston's try-anything-once lifestyle treated as admirable; still, it does seem like he had a hell of a good time. John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick was produced for Cable TV by Turner Entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

All My Sons is the 1986 TV adaptation of Arthur Miller's 1947 Broadway play (a film version, starring Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster, was produced in 1948). James Whitmore stars as Joe Keller, a bullying industrialist who'd been accused of selling defective weapon parts to the government during World War II. He was acquitted when the court decided that it was his business partner who was responsible. Keller and his family desperately await the post-war return of son Larry, who was officially listed as missing in action. Larry's fiance Ann (Joan Allen), the daughter of Keller's imprisoned business partner, is attracted to Larry's brother Chris (Aidan Quinn), but she has vowed to remain faithful to her missing fiance. The play's third act reveals that it was indeed Joe Keller, and not his partner, who was responsible for the defective material -- and that his penny-pinching carelessness ended up costing the life of his own son Larry. Michael Learned co-stars as Keller's wife, who like her husband vainly tries to lock out the truth. First telecast January 19, 1987, All My Sons was the sixth-season opener of PBS's American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1984, actor Dustin Hoffman starred in a critically-acclaimed Broadway revival of playwright Arthur Miller's classic Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Death of a Salesman. A year later, Hoffman and most of his fellow cast members starred in this made-for-TV production, the first English-language film by German director Volker Schlondorff. Hoffman stars as Willy Loman, an aging salesman who has lost his job because of encroaching senility. Now living on handouts provided by his friend Charley (Charles Durning), Willy's lifelong delusions of success and greatness awaiting just around the corner for he and his family have been shattered, and he's considering suicide. As he reflects on his life and the failed promise of his sons Biff (John Malkovich) and Happy (Stephen Lang), Willy finally confronts some unpleasant truths about both sons, particularly Biff, a one-time athlete who has become a kleptomaniac. One of the best of the many filmed versions of Miller's seminal work, Death of a Salesman (1985) won several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Hoffman. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

This 1979 documentary chronicles the first 64 years in the life of Arthur Miller (b. 1915), an important 20th-century American playwright, novelist and all-around man of letters. Miller also wrote several screenplays, notably for The Misfits and The Crucible. The last was based on his award-winning Broadway play. Featuring extensive interviews with Miller and clips from films based on his work, the documentary also explores his courageous stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. In one of the interviews, he explains that he had developed an interest in the Salem witch trials long before the anti-communist crusader began making headlines, and he based The Crucible on the insights he gained at that time. He recalls his brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe and modestly expresses the wish to "do something really good" someday. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Incident at Vichy is a play by Arthur Miller written in response to the situation in France during WWII. In this drama, people are individually questioned by the police about their political alliances. This made-for-TV version from the Broadway Theatre Archives is directed by Stacy Keach and stars René Auberjonois. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi