The clothing is different, but the mentality producing the phobias is not. I mean to say, the devil exists in the minds of those who invent it the same cause as the `reds under the beds' phobia of the 1960s and 1970s, today transformed into `Islam Terror' around every corner. The Salem Witches have been the cause of a few forays by writers, historians and so on: really the whole affair seems to typicalize people's appetites for forming psychosis-like manias, often on the grounds of nothing very concrete. Neither of the two leading actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder will let you down. Highly recommended for conoisseurs of fine acting in the classic sense. Thus the effect is dramaturgical rather than cinematographic, a little like Branaghan doing his versions of Shakespeare. I blow the dust off my 1973 Penguin copy of the play, and can follow some of the scenes almost verbatim. Arthur Miller himself collaborated on the script, allowing certain poetic licence in modernising some of the speech forms, which, in the original play written around 1952-1953 reflected speech patterns of the times. Convincing scene-setting in Massachussets at the end of the 17th Century with heavy wood-framed farm buildings and typical North European immigrant peasants' clothing, all beautifully filmed.

Nicholas Hytner certainly earnt his wages and all the cast should have received a good pay-rise.

This is the second time I have been able to see this worthy conversion of Arthur Miller's classic play adapted to the screen. There is nothing I like better than a good play for the stage, even when it is on screen.

Download the crucible