Long Day's Journey Into Night

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

YOUR RATING

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Period Drama Tragedy Drama

At the end of a long and hot summer day, members of one family gather in a large house. Everyone has something painful and offensive to say, and their silence is even worse.At the end of a long and hot summer day, members of one family gather in a large house. Everyone has something painful and offensive to say, and their silence is even worse.At the end of a long and hot summer day, members of one family gather in a large house. Everyone has something painful and offensive to say, and their silence is even worse.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total

Trivia
At one point during rehearsals, director Sidney Lumet felt that Sir Ralph Richardson wasn't really getting the proper measure of his character, James Tyrone. Lumet took Richardson aside and launched into a 45-minute lecture about his character's motivations. Richardson finally stopped him by saying "I see what you mean, dear boy, a little more cello, a little less flute." Lumet confessed to being enormously impressed with this way of expressing it.

Goofs
In the climatic final scene as Mary wanders about her empty house, the shadow of a crew member is visible in the room.

Quotes
James Tyrone: [Edmund has just recited a piece of poetry] You recite it well... Who wrote it?
Edmund Tyrone: Baudelaire.
James Tyrone: [Dismissively] Never heard of him. Where you get your taste in authors...
James Tyrone: [Motioning to Edmund's bookshelves] This damned library of yours: Voltaire and Rousseau and Schopenhauer. And Ibsen... Atheists, fools and madmen! And your poet, this... "Baudelaire." And Swinburne, and Oscar Wilde. Whitman and Poe... Whoremongers and degenerates! When I've got three good sets of Shakespeare there you can read...
Edmund Tyrone: They say he was a souse, too.
James Tyrone: They lie. I don't doubt he liked his glass - it's a good man's failing - but he knew how to drink that it didn't poison his mind with morbidness and filth. Don't compare him with the pack you've got here. Your dirty Zola. And your...
James Tyrone: [Picking up one of Edmund's books and dismissively flipping through the pages] ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was a dope fiend, a... hmm.
Edmund Tyrone: [Bemused at his father's sudden discomfort] Perhaps it would be wise to change the subject.

Alternate versions
Some prints of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" run 136 minutes, and are missing a number of scenes in the first 1/3 of the film, including the original opening scene, and a long exterior scene between Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards, containing dialogue crucial to the understanding of Katharine Hepburn's character.

Connections
Featured in Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993)

User reviews70

Review

Featured review

9/10

A great film adaptation

Although this film retains the feel of a stage production, this seems to heighten the tension and emphasize how amazing these performances really are.

I've always felt that the play is well-suited to being filmed in black and white. The lack of color seems to bring out even more of the dreary agony that the characters are going through, as well as making the fog seem even more dismal and real.

Because O'Neill's play is apparently autobiographical, the suffering is amplified intensely. This film is a fantastic drama--but because of the length (around 3 hours) and the anguish that the characters go through, you need to be sure you're in the right mood before you sit down to watch it.