What made “Night of the Iguana” a movie to remember?
This movie, along with Elia Kazan’s adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), is one of the best screen adaptations of Tennessee Williams’ work. Interestingly, it is the one of the few adaptations of his work where Williams himself did not write the screenplay. John Huston and Anthony Veiller adapted Williams’ play of the same name which had been a major success on Broadway in 1961. Huston and Veiller are faithful to their source material, however, and the movie deals with classic Williams’ preoccupations such as the fate of outcasts in conventional society, the toll of secrecy and hypocrisy on human relationships and the quest for compassion and understanding that the social misfit is continually on. Williams’ philosophy is summed up by Hannah (Deborah Kerr) at one point in the story when she says to the Rev. Shannon (Richard Burton), “Nothing human disgusts me, Mr. Shannon, unless it’s unkind or violent…” This point of view is thoroughly shared by Huston and his understandin
The Night of the Iguana From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams. Based on Williams’ 1948 short story, the play premiered on Broadway in 1961. Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name. Contents [hide] * 1 Plot * 2 Original Broadway stage production * 3 Film versions * 4 More stage productions * 5 Music [edit] Plot In 1940s Mexico, an ex-minister, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, has been locked out of his church after characterizing the Occidental image of God as a “senile delinquent,” during one of his sermons. Shannon is not de-frocked, but rather institutionalized for a “nervous breakdown.” Some time after his release, Rev. Shannon obtains employment as a tour guide for a second-rate travel agency. Shortly before the opening of the play, Shannon is accused of having committed a statutory rape of a sixteen-year old girl,
