Long Day's Journey Into Night

Eugene O'Neill's brilliant stage play is brought virtually unchanged to the big screen in this 1962 film from director Sidney Lumet. A semi-autobiographical tale, the story is set in 1912, and comprises a hellish day and night in the lives of the Tyrone family: Mary (Oscar-nominated Katharine Hepburn), the drug addict mother; James (Ralph Richardson), the melancholy retired stage actor father; James Jr. (Jason Robards, reprising his stage role), the alcoholic older brother; and Edmund (Dean Stockwell), the budding writer--i.e. O'Neill. In typical O'Neill fashion, it doesn't take very long (or require very much in the way of impetus) for a flood of unleashed accusations, resentments, and insecurities to come pouring out of his characters…and the words are pure acid, burning away an individual's protective layers to leave deep emotional scars beneath the skin. Republic's (now distributed by Lions Gate) DVD work on catalog titles has been sketchy at best, and this one proves no exception: presented full frame (there appears to be some cropping on the sides), the transfer is unexceptional (with some aliasing and digital artifacts) though relatively clean, the Dolby mono soundtrack is clear but also sounds somewhat dissociated from the image onscreen, and the disc contains no extras. Still, until the Criterion folk come along and give this the spit polish it deserves, this affordably priced passable version of a classic is recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Nov. 6, 2012—Olive, 170 min., not rated, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1962's Long Day's Journey Into Night sports a nice transfer with DTS-HD mono audio, but no extras. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut for this solid cinematic version of O'Neill's classic play.]