Although directed by American Sidney Lumet and shot on the Brooklyn docks in Red Hook, A View From The Bridge is a French production with some shooting in Rome. My guess is that Arthur Miller couldn't get the financing here and next to On The Waterfront, A View From The Bridge looks kind of cheap. It sure has an international cast though.
Raf Vallone stars as Eddie Carbone a veteran dock worker who lives with wife Maureen Stapleton in Red Hook near his work and their niece Carol Lawrence who made her big screen debut here. As is apparently the custom they help out friends and family from the old country which in this case is Sicily. French players Raymond Pellegrin and Jean Sorel are brothers and related distantly to the Carbones. They arrive here like so many other illegals looking for work, maybe to send money back home like Pellegrin does for his family. Or like Sorel he wants to immigrate here permanently.
The attraction between Sorel and Lawrence is instant. Always in the back of your mind is that Sorel is thinking this is a fast track to citizenship. But it's in the front of your mind that Vallone is building up an unreasoning hatred of Sorel because of his attraction for his niece. Lawrence either is naive or just puts it out of her mind, but Stapleton is seeing it all too clear.
When Budd Schulberg wrote On The Waterfront, part of it was an expiation and justification of Schulberg being a friendly witness at the House Un American Activities. Miller was a most unfriendly witness and his play on the docks affirms the code that stool pigeons are the lowest form of life.
A View From The Bridge was done on Broadway with Van Heflin playing Eddie Carbone. I would like to have seen him doing it as Heflin was one of the best and most under-appreciated actors around. But you can't deny that Raf Vallone authentically Italian is just great in this role.
Sidney Lumet who seemed to shoot all of his films in the city he loved shows a different and at times terrifying side of New York. A View From The Bridge could use a remake, especially with the topic of immigration reform center stage among issues now.
Raf Vallone stars as Eddie Carbone a veteran dock worker who lives with wife Maureen Stapleton in Red Hook near his work and their niece Carol Lawrence who made her big screen debut here. As is apparently the custom they help out friends and family from the old country which in this case is Sicily. French players Raymond Pellegrin and Jean Sorel are brothers and related distantly to the Carbones. They arrive here like so many other illegals looking for work, maybe to send money back home like Pellegrin does for his family. Or like Sorel he wants to immigrate here permanently.
The attraction between Sorel and Lawrence is instant. Always in the back of your mind is that Sorel is thinking this is a fast track to citizenship. But it's in the front of your mind that Vallone is building up an unreasoning hatred of Sorel because of his attraction for his niece. Lawrence either is naive or just puts it out of her mind, but Stapleton is seeing it all too clear.
When Budd Schulberg wrote On The Waterfront, part of it was an expiation and justification of Schulberg being a friendly witness at the House Un American Activities. Miller was a most unfriendly witness and his play on the docks affirms the code that stool pigeons are the lowest form of life.
A View From The Bridge was done on Broadway with Van Heflin playing Eddie Carbone. I would like to have seen him doing it as Heflin was one of the best and most under-appreciated actors around. But you can't deny that Raf Vallone authentically Italian is just great in this role.
Sidney Lumet who seemed to shoot all of his films in the city he loved shows a different and at times terrifying side of New York. A View From The Bridge could use a remake, especially with the topic of immigration reform center stage among issues now.