Criterion — At Home in the World
The Criterion release essay on Alice: production history, the prologue fight, and the film's place in 1974.
- essay
- production-history
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: At Home in the World" — the essay accompanying the Criterion Collection edition of the film. Read the essay ↗
Good for
The consolidated production history behind Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974): Burstyn sourcing the script ("written for Doris Day and Rock Hudson", needing to be "roughed up"), Coppola's referral, the Mean Streets screening, Scorsese's "Nothing. But I'd like to learn", Warner Bros' attempt to cut the prologue, and the $85,000 set (The $85,000 backdrop). Also situates the film among the feminist-inflected mainstream cycle (The women's picture, 1974).
Handle with care
A release essay serves the edition it accompanies — celebratory by genre. Its facts check out against the standard accounts, but for contested points prefer Burstyn or Scorsese on Scorsese as testimony.