Anna Christie
The Long Voyage Home
Screening on Film
-
Anna Christie
Directed by John Griffith Wray.
With Blanche Sweet, William Russell, George F. Marion.
US, 1923, 35mm, black & white, silent, 75 min.
Print source: HFA
A Swedish sailor wastes his earnings on alcohol while his family awaits his return from the sea. Silent screen star Blanche Sweet plays the tragic sailor's daughter who reunites with her father in New York, only to cause more friction in their relationship when she falls for a young seaman. Among the many film adaptations of his work, Eugene O'Neill cited John Griffith Wray's interpretation of Anna Christie as the best.
-
The Long Voyage Home
Directed by John Ford.
With John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Barry Fitzgerald.
US, 1940, 35mm, black & white, 107 min.
Print source: HFA
One of John Ford's greatest and most overlooked films, this moody, melancholic rendition of four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays focuses on sailors lost in lonely life on the sea. Featuring an ensemble of character actors including Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, Barry Fitzgerald, and Mildred Natwick, the film features an out-of-character performance from John Wayne as a young, gawky Swede who remains sheltered from the torturous shipboard life by his crewmates. The extraordinary camerawork from Gregg Toland, just prior to his work on Citizen Kane, provides an appropriate counterbalance to Ford's sentimentality.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Ballad of a Soldier / The Forty-First
Nightfall / Great Day in the Morning
Verboten! / Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
I'll Never Forget What's 'is Name / The Jokers
Hearts of the World / True Heart Susie
Anna Christie / The Long Voyage Home
Suddenly Last Summer / The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Quiet Days in Clichy / Henry and June
The Freshman / The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
The Sheep Has Five Legs / The Law is the Law
Hobson's Choice / Sidewalks of London
I Know Where I'm Going / Outcast of the Islands
An Inspector Calls / The Belles of St. Trinian's
Mother Joan of the Angels / Thérèse
Dawn of the Dead / Strange Behavior
