Strange Interlude

This is an excellent adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's wonderfully perverse 1928 play about insanity, infidelity, abortion, promiscuity, and most important, the perennial staying power of desire. At the center of this architectural masterpiece is Nina Leeds (Glenda Jackson), a woman who mourns the death of her not-quite-lover Gordon (whose plane went down in flames two days before the closing of WWI.) Out of respect for her father (Jose Ferrer), she passed up her one chance to sleep with Gordon -and now the guilt of denying him drives her into a promiscuous liaison with any number of wounded soldiers. Her doctor, Ned Darrell (David Dukes) proscribes marriage to a lovesick puppy named Sam Evans (Ken Howard), only Sam's mother is horrified when she fords out Nina is pregnant. It seems that insanity runs in the family, and Sam's father and grandfather went around the bend (information kept from Sam). Frightened, Nina aborts the baby and devotes her life to making Sam happy. On the advice of Sam's mother, she conspires to have a child by Dr. Darrell -only the two fall in love. A prissy, contemplative mama's boy, named Charles Marsden (Edward Petheridge), who has known and loved Nina since he was a boy, observes events cooly and awaits his chance. Let's face it. Dallas and Dynasty don't hold a candle to this twisted bunch. We're talking strange. Yet, as O'Neill, and many others have shown, it's quite possible to create brilliant art out of low melodrama. O'Neill's stream-of-consciousness style-whereby characters are constantly thinking out loud for just the audience-takes a few moments to get used to. But once you do, the duplicitous nature of weak humanity is grandly on display. Highly recommended. (Available from most distributors.)