Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Madeline Sherwood and Rip Torn all recreate their Broadway roles for the film version of "Sweet Bird of Youth," a 1962 film based on Tennessee Williams' play and directed by Richard Brooks. Again and as usual, some bite has been taken out of the original story in order to get past the censors.

Geraldine Page is the drunk, drugged and over the hill movie star Alexandra del Lago, who has picked up with a Hollywood gigolo, Chance Wayne and promised him a film career. At present she's escaping from what she perceives as a disastrous comeback. Chance returns with her to his home town, yearning for the respectability and success that has eluded him. Instead he runs into trouble from his ex-girlfriend's crooked politician father, Tom Finley (Ed Begley) and Finley's son, Tom Jr. (Rip Torn) who want him out of town because of what happened to Heavenly (Shirley Knight). In the play, Chance has given Heavenly a venereal disease; in the film, she's had an abortion. Chance desperately tries to see and speak with Heavenly, appealing to her Aunt Nonnie (Mildred Dunnock),but it leads to more trouble than he bargained for.

Page is a powerhouse as Alexandra, more glamorous than we're used to seeing her and as sloppy a drunk and druggie as you'll ever find. Alexandra's a selfish user, and she's got the technique down pat. The role of Chance, another selfish user, came fairly early on in the handsome Newman's career - he came very close to being typecast as these fast-talking amoral men. In those days, Newman struggled with a lack of emotional availability and these roles fit him beautifully. Thankfully he grew to encompass parts in films such as he had in "The Verdict" and became one of our greatest American actors. Madeline Sherwood, so effective in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," is equally good here as Boss Finley's girlfriend; her scene with Begley in her hotel room is truly terrifying. Begley is fantastic, mean as dirt, as is Torn as his equally cruel son. And "Desperate Housewives" fans will be interested to see a slim, pretty Shirley Knight as Heavenly, a somewhat vapid role for such a strong actress.

The DVD has a screen test for Chance by Rip Torn, who would later marry Page. He and Page perform a scene between Alexandra and Chance from the play - though the scene is in the film, it has been changed slightly. It's total stage acting, quite different from the film, but both are excellent, Torn giving Chance a lot of intensity. Though in those days he was very good-looking, he probably didn't come off as enough of a boy toy for the producers. It's a very interesting extra and well worth seeing, as is this somewhat watered-down "Sweet Bird of Youth."

This was a very tough movie to watch--far tougher than other Tennessee Williams adaptations that I have seen. The viewer is left almost breathless from all the many, many plot elements that occur so quickly. There is practically no sin that not been committed in the two hours of the film--hypocrisy, adultery, fornication, drug and alcohol abuse, physical violence and abortion all are dealt with in this movie! In many ways, this film made CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and some other Williams plays look like Disney productions! As a result, you eventually get to the point where there is almost an overload of evils--you get numb due to all of it. There literally was enough going on in this movie to make two or three movies.

Now the acting was exceptional throughout and technically it was an exceptional film as well. In particular, I felt that Ed Begley (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film) and Geraldine Page were standout performers. In Begley's case, it must have been difficult to be THAT violent and malevolent. His extremes in mood and the very violent outburst with Madeleine Sherwood was exceptionally well acted. However, the even more difficult performance was that done by Geraldine Page who played a broken down and chemically dependent actress that still manages, from time to time, to have some amazing periods of lucidity and insight. Her part easily could have been like parody, but she infused it with realism. Now, of course Paul Newman was as always a wonderful actor in the film, and Rip Torn played a guy you just loved to hate.

All in all, a very good but exceptionally difficult film to watch and one I would NEVER recommend children watch! It's just way too adult in content!

SUPER-DUPER SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW THE MOVIE AND PLAY DIFFERED. I WARNED YOU--STOP READING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY CURIOUS.

It turns out that this movie was toned down for the silver screen. In the play, Shirley Knight does not have an abortion due to becoming pregnant by Newman, but gets an STD and has a hysterectomy! Plus, in the end, Newman does not have his face mildly disfigured, but he is castrated! This puts a MUCH DIFFERENT spin on the film and there is no way Ms. Knight and Mr. Newman would have ever driven off together in the happier Hollywood version of the film. I can understand their need to tone it down, but it does severely lessen the impact.

While my personal favourite of his work is 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', 'Sweet Bird of Youth' is still classic Tennessee Williams, one of the greats when it comes to play writing. It's powerful, highly compelling, intelligently written with rich and very real characters and very daring thematically (challenging themes to tackle not tackled many times beforehand in literature and not in this harrowing a way).

This 1962 film doesn't have quite the same amount of impact as the source material, but still adapts it respectably and is still a well worth watching film in its own way. The cast and performances alone are reasons enough to see 'Sweet Bird of Youth' in the first place and contribute heavily to its success. As far as film adaptations of Williams' work goes, it doesn't get much better than 1951's 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.

As an adaptation, all the themes (which is not only racism, which was not only very much present at the time it was also even worse than it is now, but arguably even bolder themes like male prostitution, substance abuse and castration) are intact, themes that made the source material and film ahead of their time. It does tone down these themes though when there was definitely room for more edge and there are parts that may seem muted today.

Other than that, my only real problem is the ending. It just comes over as too tidy and the tone of it jars with the tragic bleakness of the rest of the film.

'Sweet Bird of Youth' has so many things working in its favour. As said, the standard of the performances is exceptionally high. Don't use the term out of this world a lot, but this applies to Geraldine Page in one of Williams' most difficult roles, she doesn't just attack with gusto and utter committment but she becomes the character. Ed Begley is frighteningly malevolent in his Oscar winning turn, while Rip Torn is every bit as nasty. Paul Newman has even more intensity than he did in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', while Shirley Knight is the very meaning of heavenly. Mildred Dunnock and Williams regular Madeleine Sherwood stand out too.

It looks great too, very beautifully produced in lavish colour, the photography also very easy on the eye. Richard Brooks' direction is distinguished enough, while the script crackles in tension and emotional power. Even though thematically it is muted in comparison to the play (the bleakness is far from toned down though),the story avoids being too overwrought or soapy. It still manages to be quite powerful and is elevated by the chemistry between the actors, especially that between Newman and Page which is electric in its best moments.

Altogether, very much well worth watching. 8/10