Playing for Time (1980) (TV)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Daniel Mann

Writers:

Fania Fénelon (autobiography The Musicians of Auschwitz)
Arthur Miller (writer)

Release Date:

30 September 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Female prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp (Auschwitz) are spared from death in return for performing music for their captors. |

Plot Keywords:

Prisoner | Concentration Camp | Nazi | Auschwitz | Foreign Language Adaptation

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Fania Fenelon
Jane Alexander	...	Alma Rose
Maud Adams	...	Mala
Christine Baranski	...	Olga
Robin Bartlett	...	Etalina
Marisa Berenson	...	Elzvieta
Verna Bloom	...	Paulette
Donna Haley	...	Katrina
Lenore Harris	...	Charlotte
Mady Kaplan	...	Varya
Will Lee	...	Shmuel
Anna Levine	...	Michou
Viveca Lindfors	...	Frau Schmidt
Melanie Mayron	...	Marianne
Marcell Rosenblatt	...	Giselle

Runtime:

150 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Szygzy Productions

Trivia:

Barbra Streisand was originally offered the role of Fania Fenelon. Streisand resembles the real Fenelon much more than Vanessa Redgrave, who ultimately took the part.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paradise Road (1997)

An astonishing masterpiece

It is amazing to me that this film is pretty much unavailable in any format.

What a cast. Vanessa Redgrave. Jane Alexander. Marisa Berenson. Verna Bloom. Melanie Mayron. And a subtle and evocative script by none other than Arthur Miller.

A summary of it sounds unpleasant and harrowing and to a certain extent it is. But there is extraordinary beauty in this daring and unusual picture. A group of women, all musicians, are allowed by the Nazis to remain alive on the condition that they amuse their captors with music.

It simply must be seen, and will never be forgotten. See this picture any way you can. I am sure that in time it will be rediscovered and seen for the sublime utterance that it is.