Hedda Gabler

Also featured in the BBC's 10-play The Henrik Ibsen Collection (DVD: 6 discs, $59.98), Hedda Gabler combines the title work and The Lady from the Sea, two plays by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), one of the fathers of naturalist drama. The better known, of course, is 1890's Hedda Gabler, presented here in a 1962 black-and-white production featuring an all-star cast that includes Ingrid Bergman, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, and Trevor Howard. Considered Ibsen's most powerful realistic drama, the plot revolves around a lawyer's calculating new wife, who finds herself at the center of an emotional maelstrom involving her husband, a former lover, and a womanizing judge. The reading here is very theatrical and the 45-year-old taping leaves much to be desired from a technical standpoint, but in the hands of such incredibly versatile actors, even these highly artificial performances in a lackluster presentation are a joy to watch. The second play on the disc is a 1973 color filming of the rarely performed The Lady from the Sea (1888), another tale of a wife caught between her husband and a former lover, but one that is much more symbolic than realistic in tone. Unfortunately, the performance is stilted and fumbling, even on the part of such expert actors as Eileen Atkins and Denholm Elliot, starring as the married couple threatened by the return of her old flame, a mysterious sailor. The Lady from the Sea may be a fine work, but fails to impress in this staging, although in purely visual terms it's an improvement over Hedda Gabler. Recommended, overall. (F. Swietek)