Q: Which video or DVD version of Our Town do you recommend?
A:There are actually 4 different versions of Our Town that have been available at one time on VHS (I'm not sure if they have come out in DVD yet):
The 1940 film version with much of the original cast from the original Broadway production (not very good: Emily lives, settings are realistic).
The 1970 television adaptation shown on PBS starring Hal Holbrook, Robbie Benson, etc. (so-so: adds some scenery, Holbrook is very good but rest of acting is uneven).
The 1988 production adapted for television (again PBS) by Gregory Mosher and starring Spalding Gray, Eric Stoltz, and Penelope Anne Miller (Miller is the best Emily I've ever seen; this is the version I show my students every chance I get; Act 3 is deeply moving due to her performance; this is also the only version that stages the play as Wilder intended: no scenery or props) .
The 2003 production adapted for television (for Showtime) starring Paul Newman and familiar character actors (also so-so: again, adds scenery, uneven acting).
Thus, the winner is the 1988 production; I highly recommend that faithful version of Our Town. To find any of these versions I'd ask your local Blockbuster or Suncoast Video to look them up. You could also try Amazon.com and other online stores. Finally, your local public library may well have one or two of them.
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©2005 Thornton Wilder Society
Professor Lincoln Konkle, our resident Wilder expert, is an Associate Professor of English at The College of New Jersey. He teaches courses in dramatic literature, as well as an undergraduate seminar on Thornton Wilder's drama and fiction. He has published articles and reviews on Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee, and co-edited the book Stephen Vincent Benet: Essays on His Life and Works. His book Thornton Wilder and The Puritan Narrative Tradition (forthcoming from the University of Missouri Press in early 2006) examines the influence of American literary and cultural traditions, beginning in the seventeenth century, on Wilder's drama and fiction. If the questions seem of interest to our general audience, we will post both the question and answer here. One way or the other, you will get a response. We hope you enjoy this addition to our site, one which many of you have requested.