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The Night Of The Iguana (1964) DVD Review
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) DVD Credits:
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) Directed by:
John Huston
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) Written by:
Anthony Veiller
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) Cast:
Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner, Richard Burton, Skip Ward, Sue Lyon
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
The Night Of The Iguana (1964) DVD Release Date:
1st May 2006
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The Night Of The Iguana (1964) Synopsis:

Residing is a small hotel on the west coast of Mexico, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, a defrocked Episcopal preacher, hides from his lecherous past. He finds work as a tour guide for a group of American teachers, but soon comes under criticism from their prudish leader when an 18 year-old in her care starts lusting after him. Shannon also receives a good deal of attention from the seductive hotel owner. He spends most of his time, however, with an idealistic spinster and her 97 year-old grandfather. This wheel chair-bound poet claims that he will expire upon the completion of his final manuscript -- a literary endeavor he has been laboring on for the last twenty years.

The Night Of The Iguana (1964) DVD Review:

Tennessee Williams Film Collection



A Streetcar Named Desire: Two Disc Special Edition
By far the most famous of all Tennessee Williams adaptations, A Streetcar Named desire can finally be seen the way that it was meant to be seen. Right before release in 1951, the Legion of Decency censorship swooped in on this film and forced three minutes to be removed. Now the film can be seen in all of its glory, the way Williams would have wanted it (he wrote the screenplay as well). Under the fantastic direction of Elia Kazan, Streetcar was nominated for twelve Academy Awards in 1951, and won four of them. It is a classic that will remain as long as films continue to be watched.
While there seems to be a dark tinge to nearly all of Williams works, Streetcar is among the darkest. It follows Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh), a neurotic southern belle that has come to visit with her sister in a grim New Orleans. Blanche’s sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), is married to the abusive Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). Stanley carries his abuse onto Blanche after time and eventually drives her mad; all the while Stella remains passionate about Stanley. The new footage does a great job of showing the sexual tension between Blanche and Stanley, and it makes the film complete, as it should have been seen.
Disc one in this two disc special edition features the film as well as an optional commentary track by Karl Malden and film historians Rudy Behlmer and Jeff Young. There is also a trailer gallery for Elia Kazan films. The second disc contains the special features, which there are plenty of. Along with five fantastic documentaries (A Streetcar on Broadway, A Streetcar in Hollywood, Censorship and Desire, North and the Music of the South and An Actor Named Brando) there are outtakes, a feature length profile on director Elia Kazan and a screen test for Brando, who was rumored to strongly dislike this role despite what it did for his career.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Deluxe Edition
This fantastic film was adapted from Tennessee Williams’ 1955 Pulitzer Prize play, and although it lacks the same controversial elements that made the play so cutting edge, the performances more than make up for the censorship. This was Paul Newman’s first Oscar nominated role, and the film earned five other nominations in 1958 as well. Newman plays opposite Elizabeth Taylor, who also earned a nomination.
Set in a southern town, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a film about deception, greed and cruelty. The head of a patriarchal Southern family is dying and the entire family is trying to capture the inheritance. Newman and Taylor are an unhappily married couple that only bear each other’s company with the hopes that it may earn them a large piece of the inheritance. Newman is Brick, an ex-sports hero that has bitterly resigned to a life of drinking, and Taylor is Maggie the Cat. Burt Ives play Big Daddy, which he also played on Broadway, a dying man that still manages to be fierce and cruel when he pleases.
The Deluxe edition is not nearly as deluxe as the special edition for A Streetcar Named Desire, but there are a few perks to look forward to. There is a commentary track by biographer Donald Spoto, author of The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams. There is also a new featurette, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Playing Cat and Mouse, which is great albeit somewhat short. There is also a theatrical trailer for the film.

Sweet Bird of Youth
Paul Newman takes on another role of a flawed human in Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth, a story of passion, hypocrisy and second chances. This Oscar winning film was a Broadway hit with many of the same cast members, but many were disappointed by the unexpected conventional Hollywood ending that was added to the film version. Frankly I was relieved to see at least one of Williams’ stories finish with some hope, although that goes against the message of the film somewhat.
Newman plays Chance Wayne, a handsome man that has spent his life trying to become a movie star so that he can return to his home town to win back the love of his old sweetheart. After years of failure in film, Chance has learned to do well with successful women as a way of getting by, and he returns to his home town with a drug addicted and alcoholic movie queen that has passed her peak age for celebrity. Chance has a plan to win back Heavenly, his sweetheart, but first he must get past her father, the town’s corrupt political boss who will stop at nothing to get rid of Chance.
Although much of the film looks great, there are some scenes that have been damaged somewhat over the years and many scratches can be seen on the print, but some of the dialogue seems far better when spoken by Newman and it is easy to get caught up in the story and forget about the quality of the film. There are also a few special features, including a new featurette, Sweet Bird of Youth: Chasing Time. Other special features include screen tests by Geraldine Page and Rip Torn as well as a theatrical trailer for the film.

The Night of the Iguana
An ex-Episcopal priest finds himself escorting a bus full of women to a remote Mexican seacoast town in this adaptation of a Broadway play by Tennessee Williams. Directed by John Huston, this is the most humor filled of all of the films. Richard Burton is fantastic as Shannon, the drunken priest turned tour guide host. After being seduced by an underage girl in the group, the unfortunate man is forced to take the group to a small hotel run by an old friend (Ava Gardner) with the hope of fixing everything before the women return to the United States.
The film looks glorious in sharp black and white, with hardly any visible flaws in the film. There are also a couple of featurettes, one old and other new. The new featurette is Night of the Iguana: Huston’s Gamble and the vintage featurette is On the Trail of the Iguana. There are also a number of trailers available in the special features.

Baby Doll
Based on Williams’ “27 Wagons Full of Cotton” this highly sexual film was condemned by the powerful Legion of Decency for its innuendo without ever showing even a single onscreen kiss. It also earned four Academy Award nominations and a number of other awards. Along with an excellent cast, the film features direction by Elia Kazan, who also directed A Streetcar Named Desire, and a screenplay by Williams adapted from Williams. It doesn’t get much better than that.
When a Sicilian (Eli Wallach) comes into town stealing business from local cotton-miller Archie (Karl Malden), he finds himself losing everything he has. All the while he battles it out with his child bride whom he has an agreement not to touch until her twentieth birthday, which is fast approaching. Soon the two men are fighting over the young girl while she seemingly plays them both.
The film quality on this one is rather rough, with a great deal of static and some scratches, but it is still the best version I have seen yet. The DVD has one featurette, Baby Doll: See No Evil, and a trailer gallery for the film.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Based on Tennessee Williams’ only novel, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone brings Vivien Leigh back to his material once again as a famous American stage actress. This time her counterpart is a young Warren Beatty, who is captivating as an attractive Italian gigolo. Even for Williams this story seems remarkably dark, but has many of the same themes of a life past its prime and the sadness that comes with the mistakes that have been made.
Leigh is fabulous as the lonely actress that slowly seeks the company of an attractive younger man with hopes of love. She soon finds that her love will be readily available only as long as the money is, and yet she is unable to simply let him go. With Rome as the setting for his novella, this story translates beautifully onscreen. Best Supporting Actress nominee Lotte Lenye is also quite good as a contessa that sets up the meetings between the lonely rich women and their handsome Italian men. The special features include a new featurette, Mrs. Stone: Looking for Love in All the Dark Corners as well as a theatrical trailer.

Tennessee Williams’ South
This documentary examines the man himself with footage of him visiting the places in which the plays take place and reciting from his own work. There are also a number of actors from original productions of his works as well as a few film stars. The documentary is eighty minutes of great insight into the man behind some of the greatest writing of our time.

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The Night Of The Iguana (1964) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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