The Witches of Salem

Salem, 1692. Young Abigail had an affair with John Proctor some time ago and was left. For revenge she accuses Proctor's wife of witchcraft. One accusation breeds another; courts are set up in the town, neighbours denounce neighbours, and those who will not confess are hanged. Nobody knows any longer what is true; fear runs everything. The film is adapted from Arthur Miller's play, with a screenplay by Jean-Paul Sartre. Miller wrote the play with the McCarthy-era hearings in America in mind; Sartre reshaped it into a more explicit conflict of classes. Raymond Rouleau directs, with Simone Signoret as Elizabeth, Yves Montand as Proctor and Mylène Demongeot as Abigail. Two hours and twenty-five minutes.