The Silver Screen Oasis

A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975)
Material: Eugene O’Neill’s highly respected play
Accomplished actors: Jason Robards, Jr, Colleen Dewhurst, Ed Flanders
Awards: 5 Emmy nominations, 1 win (Ed Flanders)
My Opinion: This movie length production is classic in every respect.

My Question:
Does the fact that it was produced for television cause you to preclude it from the category of "Classic Movies"?

If not, do you have similar examples?

This type of question has probably been posted before…but I am still new, so please overlook.

I'm tempted to think of the mini-series, The Thorn Birds, as a classic. It has all the elements of many of the theatrical love stories of times gone by, and had an even bigger budget than most of them. Too bad it wasn't released in theaters.

One of the movies I've been trying to locate for ages was never released theatrically in the United States, though it is an English language film: The Picasso Summer, starring Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux.

Wow, thanks John! I'd read on some website it was never released Stateside. I only saw it (and recorded) from A&E Network years ago, then lost the tape. I've never found it anywhere since.

Good afternoon Hal,

I don't think it precludes its' inclusion at all. I would venture a guess that a large number of us have never had the opportunity to view what we call "Classic Cinema" on anything but a television screen. With picture quality being what it is with digital remastering and wide screen flat panel sets, I think in most cases it makes the conversion quite well, don't you? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that "Twelve Angry Men" was adapted to television and broadcast live with many of the original actors and was more than favorably received. Maybe someone can bear me out on that point. And if a Eugene O'Neill play doesn't make for "Classic Television," then nothing does.

As always,

Hollis

I'd definitely argue for inclusion of TV Movies as 'films'.