The Dead (1987 film)
8.8 /10 1 Votes
92% Rotten Tomatoes Director John Huston Adapted from The Dead Duration | 7.4/10 IMDb 4/4 Roger Ebert Genre Drama Music director Alex North Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 18 December 1987 (1987-12-18) Based on "The Dead"
by James Joyce Writer Tony Huston, James Joyce (story) Initial release September 16, 1987 (West Germany) Cast Anjelica Huston (Gretta Conroy), Donal McCann (Gabriel Conroy), Dan O'Herlihy (Mr. Browne), Helena Carroll (Aunt Kate), Cathleen Delany (Aunt Julia), Ingrid Craigie (Mary Jane)Similar movies The Exterminating Angel , Barbarians at the Gate , Coherence , I Love Eva , Hat of Many Surprises , Not So Dumb Tagline A vast, merry, and uncommon tale of love. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Dead is a 1987 feature film directed by John Huston, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously. It was adapted from the short story "The Dead" by James Joyce, which was included in his short works collection Dubliners.
Contents
The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party held by two sisters and their niece. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston) memory of a deceased lover.
The Dead was nominated for two Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay and for Costume Design.
The dead 1987 movie
Film adaptation
This film adaptation by John Huston's son Tony Huston can be considered a close adaptation of Joyce's short story, with some alterations made to the dialogue to aid the narrative for cinema audiences.
The most significant change to the story was the inclusion of a new character, a Mr. Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.
Cast
Production
Chris Sievernich and Weiland Schulz-Keil had raised money for Under the Volcano and would do likewise for The Dead. Screen rights to the story were purchased from the Joyce estate for $60,000. Shooting began 19 January 1987.
According to Pauline Kael, "Huston directed the movie, at eighty, from a wheelchair, jumping up to look through the camera, with oxygen tubes trailing from his nose to a portable generator; most of the time, he had to watch the actors on a video monitor outside the set and use a microphone to speak to the crew. Yet he went into dramatic areas that he'd never gone into before - funny, warm family scenes that might be thought completely out of his range. Huston never before blended his actors so intuitively, so musically."
Release
The Dead was initially released on DVD by Lionsgate on November 3, 2009. However, the DVD had nearly ten minutes of the film missing. When word of this was posted on various websites, Lionsgate eventually released a complete version.
Awards
Winner
Nominated
References
The Dead (1987 film) WikipediaThe Dead (1987 film) IMDbThe Dead (1987 film) Rotten TomatoesThe Dead (1987 film) Roger EbertThe Dead (1987 film) themoviedb.org