The Crucible (1996 film)

The Crucible is a 1996 drama film written by Arthur Miller adapting his play of the same title, inspired by the Salem witchcraft trials. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner and stars Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor, Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams, Paul Scofield as Judge Thomas Danforth, Bruce Davison as Reverend Parris, and Joan Allen as Elizabeth Proctor. Much of the filming took place on Choate Island in Essex, Massachusetts.

Arthur Miller was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Joan Allen received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Plot

Early morning in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, some young village girls meet in the woods with a Barbadian slave named Tituba (Charlayne Woodard). One of the girls, Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder), kills a chicken and drinks the blood, wishing for John Proctor's wife to die. They are surprised by Abigail's uncle, Reverend Samuel Parris (Bruce Davison), who discovers them. As the girls run away, Parris' daughter Betty (Rachael Bella) falls over unconscious.

The Crucible

The Crucible is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.

The play was first performed at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway on January 22, 1953, starring E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight and Madeleine Sherwood. Miller felt that this production was too stylized and cold and the reviews for it were largely hostile (although The New York Times noted "a powerful play [in a] driving performance"). Nonetheless, the production won the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play. A year later a new production succeeded and the play became a classic. It is a central work in the canon of American drama.

Crucible (disambiguation)

A crucible is a heat-resistant container in which materials can be heated to very high temperatures.

Crucible may also refer to:

Literature, drama, and film

The Crucible (1914 film)

The Crucible was a 1914 American silent romantic drama film directed by Edwin S. Porter and Hugh Ford and released through Paramount Pictures. Based on the novel of the same name by Mark Lee Luther (1872-1951), the film stars Marguerite Clark and Harold Lockwood. The film is now presumed lost.

Plot

As described in a film magazine, Jean (Clark) is brought up as a boy by her father, and when Mr. Fenshaw dies her boyish manner offends her mother and sisters. Jean is nagged and punished until one day she picks up a sickle and, without really intending to, cuts her sister's hand. She is sent to a reformatory. She later meets Craig Atwood (Lockwood), an artist in the woods, and goes through a series of trials to prove she is worthy of the love of her friend, the painter.

Cast