The Crucible, original theater production
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible has done more to publicize the Salem Witch Trials than any other work (believe it or not, once the Salem Witches were little remembered in American history until Mr. Miller’s play, famously written as brilliant criticism of the McCarthy anti-Communist hearings, Miller changing forever the character of McCarthyism by re-imagining the hearings as “Witch-Hunts,” the term by which they tend to be known today). The Crucible arguably has been the significant work of the 20th century to cast the Witch-Hunting phenomenon of the late 1300s-1600s as outrageous crimes of injustice. With Salem gathering new interest in television production, “Salem Night” seems like a logical programming choice for the Pagan Television Network (PTN) once it gets up and running.
1957 French adaptation
The Crucible was first filmed in 1957, in a French adaptation that must be a little gonzo, being a place and period more associated with the avant-garde New Wave of cinema rather than the most conservative era of colonial American history. Titled Les Sorcieres de Salem, it boasts a screenplay by none other than Sartre, and stars Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, seemingly odd choices for New England Puritans (one imagines the characters smoking Gauloises during the Witch trials). With an ending rewritten to show the characters rising up in defiance of the presiding magistrate, this seems to be a film that reflects a sense of French social justice more than American history, but one sure to make an interesting offering on “Salem Night.”
The 1996 American adaptation
The Crucible was filmed again in 1996, this time with Miller himself doing the screenplay, plus an American cast and a greater sense of an American milieu. Some liberties were taken (notably an opening that suggests that the Salem “Witch-girls” might “really” have been performing Witchcraft after all- something that surely did not happen), but overall it is a fine production and a worthy candidate for the PTN.
The Crucible was televised at least once, in a 1968 showing that starred such excellent actors as George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst; if it were possible that a recording remains of this production, it would make a wonderful addition to Salem Night. Otherwise, a production called Three Sovereigns for Sarah was filmed for PBS’ “American Playhouse” in 1984: surely an admirable companion-piece to various versions of The Crucible, if for no other reason that it stars the magnificent Vanessa Redgrave as Sarah Cloyce, one of those implicated in the Salem Trials. With so many notable candidates, there is no reason that Salem Night should not be well-received on the Pagan Television Network.
