Crucible, The

Based on Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible is a relentlessly suspenseful drama of collective evil and personal conscience. Perched on the edge of a continent is a community dedicated to the service of God. Several teenaged girls, stifled by the crushing piety of their elders, dance naked in the woods. Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder), her innocence lost in the bed of married farmer John Proctor (Daniel Day Lewis), drinks a charm to kill his wife. Suddenly the Devil is loose in Salem. The girls are discovered and, spurred on by their terrifiying accusations, the entire village cries witchcraft. One by one, the blameless victims of mass hysteria are torn from their homes until, inexorably, Abigail’s vengeance is turned on Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth (Joan Allen in an Academy Award®-nominated role). The Crucible is one of 1996’s most critically acclaimed films and features Paul Scofield, Jeffrey Jones, Bruce Davidson and George Gaynes in a powerful supporting cast.