Tomorrow

                
Joseph Anthony's Tomorrow, from 1972, contains an unforgettable performance by Robert Duvall, but I found it to be a barely satisfactory film. I've always regarded Horton Foote as too corny for my taste and his adaptation defangs Faulkner. The film seems to emanate from the 1950s, not because it is in black and white or because it is crude technically, but because it suffers from an Actors Studio staginess. The lead female, Olga Bellin, channels Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie and this upends most of her scenes.

Apparently, from what I've read, no one on the set could control Ms. Bellin. The fault lies then with Mr. Anthony not being a strong enough director. A contention I feel qualified to maker just by seeing one of his other films, the pallid The Rainmaker. Anthony captures actors' performances, but little else. The camera setups frame actors reciting dialogue, but lend little to scenes except decorative realism. When the camera pans, it simply follows the action. Anthony never endeavors to use film technique expressively. Now I don't feel one needs to employ camera movement or jazzy editing to make an expressive film, Dreyer's Gertrud is an equally pacific film that I find cinematically provocative and moving, but a director should employ cinematic mean for cinematic ends.

If I am being overly harsh on this film, it is because it is a muffed opportunity. Duvall, who played the part on stage, burrows so deeply into the role that he seems to personify the virtues of love and endurance that Faulkner sought to portray. His great performance is reason enough to see Tomorrow.