Desire Under the Elms

A farm in New England. Ephraim Cabot, old and hard, comes home married to Anna, a woman far younger than his sons. Eben, the youngest, believes the farm came to him from his mother and sees Anna as a threat. What begins between the two of them is entangled with the inheritance. The film is not interested in love. It is interested in property: in everyone's eyes the farm is a deed, and the characters look at each other as property too. The decision at the end is the darkest point that obsession reaches. The form comes from the theatre and does not hide it: interiors, long speeches, heavy light. Despite the widescreen format the film barely goes outdoors. The source is Eugene O'Neill's 1924 play. Delbert Mann directed; he came from theatre and television and chooses fidelity to the text. Sophia Loren plays Anna, Anthony Perkins plays Eben and Burl Ives the father. Loren's accent was much discussed at the time, and the character was rewritten as an Italian immigrant. Who it is for: viewers who like O'Neill adaptations and heavy actor-driven drama. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. The film is slow, theatrical, and its ending can feel abrupt to a modern audience.