The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

Not even a super-powered Shop-Vac could clean this screenplay of its cobwebs. It's is dated and further flawed by plain old poor filmmaking.

A clearly inferior piece of writing that doesn't have the emotional resonance of even previously acknowledged mediocre works by Williams.

The characters and themes are redolent of earlier and better Williams works, and the story unexpectedly putters out at the end-but seeing it now, you can't help but treasure the simple, lyrical dialogue and sure-handed narrative thrust

If you are not already familiar with Williams's best plays and film adaptations, this musty magnolia of a movie won't encourage you to seek them out.

Even though Howard never quite gets it, never quite releases into the role and never quite convinces, she never makes a mistake, either.

It's minor Williams turned minor cinema, but there are nonetheless moments that resonate.

...From beautiful costumes to exquisite imagery to a first rate cast with a wonderful new indelible character in Fisher Willow, THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND is a newfound Williams work that is not to be missed.

The words drip with affectation (as do the actors) and Jodie Mankell's direction is dipped in southern gothic honey and glazed over with period sprinkles.

A deservedly overlooked Tennessee Williams script set in the 1920s South, its plot makes little sense for contemporary audiences.

This is not the galvanizing, deep fried melodrama of Tennessee Williams at his height but rather, the low fat version.