Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Set in August of 1912 in Connecticut at the seaside summer home of the Tyrone family. The film's title is literal (the film is three hours long) as the long day and night exposes the fractured family unit: the penny pinching actor father (Ralph Richardson), the morphine addicted mother (Katharine Hepburn), the boozing eldest son (Jason Robards) and the fragile son (Dean Stockwell) ill with consumption. Based on the play by Eugene O'Neill and directed by Sidney Lumet (THE GROUP). I'm not a fan of Lumet's work but here he is working with one of the great American plays and an ensemble of actors at their peak. Unlike so many movies based on plays, this is not an adaptation of O'Neill's play, it IS O'Neill's play as written. It's a potent powerhouse of a play and Lumet and his actors do it proud. A dysfunctional family to be sure but there are layers upon layers for the actors to peel away to reveal the complicated family history that has brought them to this devastating point in their lives. While all four of the principal actors are excellent (they collectively won the best actor(s) and actress awards at the Cannes film festival), Katharine Hepburn's performance is a career best, she is simply shattering. The outstanding B&W cinematography is by Boris Kaufman (ON THE WATERFRONT). With Jeanne Barr as the family maid, the only other character in the piece.