''Long Day's Journey into Night'' is a 1962 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

, adapted from

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

Pulitzer Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 20th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...

-winning

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

. It stars

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...

, and

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

. The story deals with themes of

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

and the resulting

dysfunction Dysfunction can refer to: * Abnormality (behavior) * Dysfunctional family * Sexual dysfunction * ''Dysfunction'' (album), an album by the rock band Staind * Manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions Manifest may refer to: Computing * Mani ...

of the

nuclear family A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...

, and is drawn from O'Neill's own experiences. It was shot at

Chelsea Studios Chelsea Studios, also known as Chelsea Television Studios, is an American television studio and sound stage located at 221 West 26th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Hist ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, with exteriors filmed on City Island. The film won Best Actor (for Richardson) and

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

(for Hepburn) at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

and was named by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

as one of the Top Ten Films of 1962. Hepburn’s performance earned her an

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and

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nomination for Best Actress. O’Neill’s play was adapted to film again in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, directed by David Wellington.

Plot

The film is a direct translation of O’Neill’s stage play, without any major cuts or changes to the source material.

Cast

as Mary Tyrone *

as James Tyrone Sr. *

as Jamie Tyrone *

as Edmund Tyrone * Jeanne Burr as Cathleen

Production

Development

Producer Ely Landau did a version of ''

The Iceman Cometh ''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perfo ...

'' for TV. This impressed the widow of Eugene O'Neill enough for her to give him the screen rights to ''Long Day's Journey''. The cast and director formed a cooperative and agreed to work for a lower fee in exchange for a percentage of the profits.

Casting

was the only actor from the stage version to also star in the film, he had won the

Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Honors i ...

for playing Jamie Tyrone in the 1957 Broadway staging, and reprised the part in O’Neill’s sequel ''

A Moon for the Misbegotten ''A Moon for the Misbegotten'' is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. The play is a sequel to O'Neill's '' Long Day's Journey into Night'', with the Jim Tyrone character as an older version of Jamie Tyrone. He began drafting the play late in ...

''. He later played James Tyrone in several productions of the play.

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

was offered the role of Jamie, but turned it down.

Filming

The film was reportedly shot for $435,000 over 37 days, two days over schedule. The entire film was shot in-sequence, after three weeks of rehearsals. Lumet later wrote that the total budget was $490,000. Exteriors were shot at a house on City Island in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and interiors were on sets at Chelsea Television Studios in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Release

Joseph E. Levine Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the ...

bought the film for distribution, but said he lost money on it. "You cannot stay in business by making O'Neill pictures", he said. Lumet later wrote that "there actually were some profits."

Critical reception

The film has received critical acclaim.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives a score of 94% based on 17 reviews, with an average score of 8.2/10. Critics regularly praised Lumet's direction and Hepburn's performance. Dwight MacDonald from

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

magazine, wrote of the film "In his screen version of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Sidney Lumet has given us a superb cinematic translation of the only American play to which the much-abused adjective “great” can seriously be applied." When speaking of Hepburn's performance he said "I have never been an addict of Katharine Hepburn; she struck me usually as mannered, to say the least; but here, stimulated by O’Neill and Lumet, she emerges as a superb tragédienne."

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

said that "Under the direction of Sidney Lumet, they charge the place with electricity. That is, on the whole they do so. They develop an overall sense of deep disquiet within the passionate individuals and an acrid air of smoldering savagery." And when commenting on Hepburn's performance he stated "In the moments of deepest anguish, she is vibrant with hot and tragic truth, an eloquent representatation of a lovely woman brought to feeble, helpless ruin."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962 Film) 1962 films 1962 drama films 1960s English-language films American black-and-white films American drama films Films scored by André Previn Films about alcoholism Films about dysfunctional families American films based on plays Films based on works by Eugene O'Neill Films directed by Sidney Lumet Films produced by Ely Landau Films set in Connecticut Films set in 1912 Films shot in New York City 1960s American films