Desire Under The Elms

O'Neill's sultry classic based on the Greek tragedy "Oedipus" receives a brutal, almost contemptuous approach under the heavy-handed direction of Mann and a turgid script by Irwin Shaw. Ives is the cold-eyed patriarch of a suppressed New England family, circa 1840, who takes on a new wife, 20-year-old Loren, so red-hot she sizzles the screen. She is a greedy immigrant who will do anything to gain property and makes a bargain with Ives. She will sire a son for Ives if he will wed her and will her his farm. He agrees, but it is Perkins, Ives' son, who is the father of the baby Loren produces. Ives announces his deal with Loren at a celebration for the infant and Perk...