Eva Le Gallienne Movies
In 1914, while still in her mid teens, she made her London stage debut. She went to the U.S. in 1915 and soon became a leading Broadway star. In 1926 she founded the celebrated Civic Repertory Theater in New York, going on to direct and star in many of its productions; the Theater folded at the height of the Depression in 1932. She directed or appeared in many plays on Broadway and in stock, did several play translations and stage adaptation, and wrote two volumes of memoirs, At 33 (1934) and With a Quiet Heart (1953) and a study of Eleanora Duse, The Mystic in the Theater (1966). In the '50s she began to appear occasionally in films, but her total number of screen appearances could be counted on one hand. For her work in Resurrection (1979) she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. ~ Rovi
Part of the Broadway Theater Archives, this stage production of Lewis Carroll's children's fantasy Alice in Wonderland was directed by Kirk Browning. Kate Burton plays young Alice, the little girl who wanders into a bizarre wonderland that just gets more and more curious. Her real-life father, Richard Burton, plays the White Knight. Also starring Eve Arden as the Queen of Hearts, Maureen Stapleton as the White Queen, and Donald O'Connor as the Mock Turtle. Broadway star Nathan Lane can also be seen in one of his earliest roles as the Dormouse. Alice in Wonderland was originally broadcast on PBS in 1983 as an episode of Great Performances. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kate Burton, Richard Burton, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Ellen Burstyn plays Edna McCauley, the wife of a man (Jeffrey DeMunn) who is killed in an auto crash. Edna herself survives, but not before enduring an "out of body" experience. Crippled in the accident, Edna heads to her hometown in Kansas to recuperate. There she discovers that she has the power to heal people, presumably a byproduct of her brief trip into the beyond. She accepts her gift, but resists the notion that she has been blessed with divine powers. On the other hand, her young lover (Sam Shepard) believes that she is the embodiment of Jesus Christ. It is his method of proving his hypothesis that brings the film to its startling conclusion. Both Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne (as Burstyn's grandmother) were nominated for Academy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, (more)
- 1959
This film version of George Bernard Shaw's satirical take on the American Revolution had a troubled production history (with a director change in mid-production), but nevertheless boasts a cutting performance by Laurence Olivier. Shaw's tale depicts his version of how the British lost the American colonies: because of a stupid mistake at the War Office someone forgot to tell Lord North to join up with General "Gentleman" Johnny Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier) and smash the rebels. Burt Lancaster is on hand as the Rev. Anthony Anderson, a peace-loving parson who ends up becoming a belligerent firebrand of a rebel. Also is tow is Kirk Douglas as Dirk Dungeon, who, in typical Shawvian irony, starts out as a unrepentant, cowardly scamp and ends up as the personification of Christian virtues. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, (more)
- 1958
Previously filmed twice in Hollywood, Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey was brought to television in this lavish, live, star-studded DuPont Show of the Month adaptation. The story essentially begins at the end -- July 20, 1714 -- when the famous San Luis Rey bridge near Lima, Peru, collapses, plunging five people to their deaths. The victims were the wealthy but embittered Marquess de Montemayor (Judith Anderson); the Marquess's young maid, Pepita (Sandra Whiteside); Uncle Pio (Hume Cronyn), mentor of the celebrated Peruvian actress La Perichole (Viveca Lindfors); Jaime (Miko Oscard), Pio's youthful traveling companion; and Esteban (Steven Hill), a talented young scribe who left behind a twin brother, Manuel (Clifford David). Investigating the tragedy, Captain Alvarado (Theodore Bikel), an intimate of one of the victims, tries to figure out how it came to be that the unfortunate five were all brought together on the same disastrous day. Also in the cast is the celebrated actress/director Eva Le Gallienne as Madre Maria, and Kurt Kaznar, with whom Theodore Bikel would later co-star in the Broadway production The Sound of Music. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judith Anderson, Hume Cronyn, (more)
- 1955
Screenwriter Philip Dunne doubled as director on the elaborate filmed biography Prince of Players. Richard Burton stars as the eminent American tragedian Edwin Booth, whose life and career is thrown into turmoil after his younger brother John Wilkes Booth (John Derek) assassinates Abraham Lincoln. The film begins as the younger Edwin assists his alcoholic, ailing father Junius Brutus Booth (Raymond Massey) during a tour of the American hinterlands. When Junius dies just before a performance, Edwin goes on in his stead, thereby launching his own starring career. In danger of becoming as much of a drunk and carouser as his father, Edwin eventually pulls himself together, but his brother's act of violence turns the audience against the name of Booth. Almost booed offstage during a performance of Hamlet, Edwin stands his ground, finally earning the respect of his rowdy audience. Not exactly packed with fast action, Prince of Players will appeal most to lovers of theater in general and Shakespeare in particular. Highlight: Richard Burton and Eva LeGalleine performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in the courtyard of a brothel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Burton, Maggie McNamara, (more)
