Video Americain

Synopsis

In Playing for Time, Vanessa Redgrave (Julia) stars as Fania Fenelon, a real-life Jewish cabaret singer in Paris during the Nazi invasion. Fania and thousands of other Jewish and political prisoners are sent to the Auschwitz death camp. She and a group of other classical musicians are spared from death in exchange for performing music for their captors, headed by SS camp matron Shirley Knight (The Rain People). They are also ordered to play for the thousands being herded to the gas chambers—a "humane" means of easing the condemned into the next world.

Playing for Time was adapted for television by Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman) and directed by Daniel Mann (The Rose Tattoo). The stellar cast also includes Jane Alexander (Testament), Maud Adams (Octopussy), Marisa Berenson (Barry Lyndon), Christine Baranski (The Good Wife), Verna Bloom (The Hired Hand), and Viveca Lindfors (Dark City). Winner of 4 Emmy Awards including Best Drama, Best Actress (Redgrave), Best Supporting Actress (Alexander), Best Teleplay (Miller), and winner of the 1981 Christopher and Peabody Awards.