IMDb rating.....

Only 6.5? I was shocked to see such a low score. I wonder if this was based on the version which was severely edited, with most of the last act missing? This film is certainly not perfect and it requires patience to endure nearly 3 hours of intense psychodrama with not one bit of comic relief or even lightness. It also requires some knowledge and appreciation for the style of Eugene O'Neill, whose plays have rarely worked on film. That said, I think this is certainly one of the best adaptations of any of his plays.

I saw the 1932 film version of Strange Interlude many years ago. It's a play I loved reading, and even saw performed once in its 5 1/2 hour 9 act entirety, complete with dinner break and it was fabulous! But as 109 minute film which still incorporates the inner thoughts of the main characters, it simply didn't work. Mourning Becomes Electra has a bit of that inner thought monologue as well, and given the film's length, i think it works much better here. What a great film this could have been in the hands of a director like William Wyler and a Lavinia played by Vivien Leigh. If only.....