| Paradise Lost | |
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 DVD Paradise Lost |
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| Directed by | Glenn Jordan |
| Produced by | Glenn Jordan Jac Venza |
| Written by | Clifford Odets |
| Starring | Eli Wallach Jo Van Fleet George Voskovec Bernadette Peters Cliff Gorman Fred Gwynne |
| Release date(s) | February 25 1971, part I, and March 4, 1971 , part II (Public Broadcasting Company) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Paradise Lost is a drama that takes place in 1932, during the Depression. It was written in 1935 by Clifford Odets and originally performed on stage by the Group Theatre in New York City in 1935, directed by Harold Clurman. The filmed production was first broadcast on American Public Television in two parts, on February 25 and March 4, 1971.
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Plot summary
The play takes place in an unnamed American city during the Depression, in 1932. The head of the family, Leo, and his wife Clara are middle-class and prosperous. However, over the course of the play Leo and his partner Sam lose their handbag business and the family must come to terms with this. The other characters in the play include a friend, Gus, and his daughter, Libby, a frivolous and self-centered young woman who is newly married to Leo's son Ben; a boarder, and an assortment of other characters. Odets said of "Paradise Lost" that he'd hoped that after people see it, "they're going to be glad they're alive." (The Washington Post, Tricia Olszewski, November 25, 2004, p. C01)
Cast (television film)
- Clara Gordon -- Jo Van Fleet
- Leo Gordon -- Eli Wallach
- Ben Gordon -- Sam Groom
- Libby Michaels -- Bernadette Peters
- Gus Michaels -- George Voskovec
- Kewpie -- Cliff Gorman
- Mr. Pike -- Fred Gwynne
- Sam Katz -- Mike Kellin
- Phil Foley -- Biff McGuire
Notes on the cast
The original Broadway cast included Stella Adler, Morris Carnovsky, Elia Kazan, Robert Lewis, Sanford Meisner, and Luther Adler.
Video
Paradise Lost was released on DVD in April 2002 (Kultur's DVD Broadway Theater Archive).
