William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (Broadway Theatre Archive)

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Presented by John Houseman's Acting Company and originally broadcast on PBS, this 1976 production of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life was endorsed by the playwright, who provided its voice-over prologue. That's enough to recommend this production, but Saroyan's approval is only one measure of the production's success. Written in 1935 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize (which Saroyan refused to accept), the play captures the mixture of melancholy and hope that emerged between the Great Depression and World War II. Among the denizens of Nick's Bar in San Francisco, Joe (played with rich subtlety by Nicholas Surovy) best embodies the tenacious optimism that Nick's regulars adopt as a defense against a cold, cruel world. They're self-deluding but likable survivors, and Patti LuPone is at her heartbreaking best as two-dollar whore Kitty Duvall. That's 29-year-old Kevin Kline doing fine work in a brief appearance, joining these downtrodden dreamers who, in Saroyan's world, become heroes of the heart. --Jeff Shannon

Description

William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939. Lonely, lovelorn, weary or cynical, the characters drift in and out of the bar and each other's lives, giving voice to Saroyan's philosophies as they randomly comment about the impending world war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil. At least one of the relationships stands a chance of enduring: a brawny innocent named Tom is falling in love with a vulnerable young prostitute named Kitty. Saroyan himself is heard reciting the play's prologue.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2006-11-04

You will LOVE this DVD! It talks of a simpler time, possibly even a happier time when technology hadn't taken over the world. When we put our trust in people, not machines. A time when people actually cared for one another. Of course there was still a social food chain, but it was different. Kids played in the street with each other, not with their iPods. You could talk to a stranger with little risk. There was still crime of course but the word "terrorism" did not exist. It takes place in 1939, Pre-WWII, and things were different. If nothing else you will appreciate the little things like being able to buy a beer with the change in your pocket, a bottle of champangne was six dollars (which was a fortune). A young Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone are among the most famous faces (they were courting at the time I believe). You must see this DVD! SUPERB!

What's the dream?.......2002-04-14

Saroyan's best play, written in a week in 1939, brings both the color and foreboding of that period vividly to life. By turns funny and heartbreaking, the play manages to extract the poignancy of the human experience from the seemingly chaotic comings-and-goings of a shaggy collection of tavern denizens, led by "Joe." If you're not moved or amused by the events that transpire on a late afternoon in Nick's Entertainment Palace, then you really haven't lived enough. Boring this play is not.

Time of your Life...Not while watching this DVD.......2002-03-11

I am sorry to say that I was very much let down when I first watched this DVD. I think that the story line is just boring. The fact that they filmed it without an audience makes it lose something. The only reason to own this DVD is if you are a huge Patti LuPone fan. But even she is not at her best here. I would pass this one up if I were you.

[Double Feature DVD] James Cagney in Time Of Your Life & Blood On The Sun

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[Double Feature DVD] James Cagney in Time Of Your Life & Blood On The Sun

Manufacturer: Family Value Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0008F68ZS

Product Description

Blood on the Sun (1945) Nick Condon is a newspaper reporter working in Tokyo who refuses to toe the Japanese line on the expansionist policies of the anti-democratic Imperialist government. When it become clear to the authorities that Condon isn't going to cooperate and that he has some valuable information and contacts, they decide to get him in their clutches for some interrogations and then dispose of him. Time of Your Life (1948) A dramatic comedy adapted by Nathaniel Curtis from a William Saroyan play. Noted by critics, but slow in getting the respect of movie goers and some Saroyan fans. Joe (James Cagney) holds court at Nicks (William Bendix) little neighborhood saloon. Joe manipulates all who share time and space near him. Action gravitates around Joe. No visual sign of support, but all the while Joe is the positive influence in so many lives. Talk about a potluck of characters: Wayne Morse, Broderick Crawford, Ward Bond, Jimmy Lydon and Jeanne Cagney. James Barton is hilarious as the affable old cowboy. And the man playing the piano is Reginald Beane in his one and only movie. Respectable black and white glimpse of life in the neighborhood.

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