The Crucible by Nicholas Hytner

This captivating screen version of The Crucible is based on Arthur Miller’s play in 1953. Nicholas Hytner did an excellent job at directing this movie. There are a few faults in the film, but overall it was a wonderful movie. The first fault in the movie was the beginning scene. The scene was supposed to be a night scene. But it looks as if it was early morning. I think Hytner shot the scene during the day and tried to use the night vision but it did not work so well. Another bad scene was when the girls are supposed to faint in the courtroom. The scene was poorly directed and acted.

Bob Crowley did a great job with the designing of the costumes. They completely fit with the scenery and the setting. The music was also a plus with this film. It always fit in every scene. The base drumbeats were timed just right in the scene when Elizabeth is questioned about John being an adulterer. Right when she gave her answer the drum went, “BOOOM!” The camera always seemed to be in just the right place at all times. The cameraman shot every angle perfectly. He caught every person’s reaction, such as in the scene when John admits to lechery with Abigail. First he catches Abigail’s reaction to John’s admittance of this, and then he also catches Reverend Parris’s reaction when the Judge is talking about the girls dancing in the woods.

The lighting worked very well in Elizabeth’s scene with the judge. Right before she states her answer, Hytner makes the rain go away and the sun come out and across the back wall of the courtroom. It makes the audience think that something good is about to happen, as if she was going to tell the truth and all the trials were going to stop.

One character that stuck out to me is Winona Ryder as Abigail. She has a look of lust. Her eyes show deep sexual passion every time she looks at John Proctor. Ryder’s looks are very intimidating. In the scene when she threatens the girls, not only does her threat, “…let anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring with me a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.