All My Sons (by Arthur Miller; produced by Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan & Walter Fried, in association with Herbert H. Harris) has a theatrical force that covers a multitude of sins. Playwright Miller (best known for his novel, Focus) tends to overload his plot and overheat his atmosphere. His writing is uneven, some of his main characters are sometimes unreal, and most of his minor characters are at all times unnecessary. But he combines enough purposefulness with enough power to make him the most interesting of Broadway's new serious playwrightsfew of whom, unfortunately, are interesting at all.
The play examines Joe Keller,...