This Property Is Condemned (DVD)

This Property Is Condemned was directed by Sydney Pollack in 1966 and adapted from the one-act play by Tennessee Williams, much to his disapproval. Several of William's plays had allready been adapted for the screen in the 1950s with great success: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Baby Doll (1956); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). William's didn't approve of his name being associated with the film as much of the story ...
...They?" (1969).

This was also the second time that Natalie Wood and Robert Redford were teamed together following Inside Daisy Clover the previous year. While there is not much for them to work with here their performances are more than acceptable. Natalie Wood may not have been a great actor but she had a screen presense that was magnetic. Redford would go on to become one of the beiggest stars of the 1970s working with Sydney Pollack ... more

This Property Is Condemned was directed by Sydney Pollack in 1966 and adapted from the one-act play by Tennessee Williams, much to his disapproval. Several of William's plays had allready been adapted for the screen in the 1950s with great success: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); Baby Doll (1956); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). William's didn't approve of his name being associated with the film as much of the story was expanded upon by writes Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Coe and Edith R. Sommer. Coppola would of course write and direct some of the greatest films of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.

For me though what I liked about the film was that it was another opportunity to see some more of cinematographer James Wong Howe work. Two of top 100 favourite films, Yanky Doodle Dandy (1942) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957) were shot by him. There are some truly beautiful shots to be seen here and the direction of Pollacks can't really be faulted. Pollack would eventually make another of my top 100 films a few years later, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969).

This was also the second time that Natalie Wood and Robert Redford were teamed together following Inside Daisy Clover the previous year. While there is not much for them to work with here their performances are more than acceptable. Natalie Wood may not have been a great actor but she had a screen presense that was magnetic. Redford would go on to become one of the beiggest stars of the 1970s working with Sydney Pollack several times.

About the DVD:

The Paramount DVD is of a good quality and can't really be faulted. 

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