Word: costigan
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Cukor stages the story well enough against lush Welsh landscapes, but there are very few openings for his usual flourishes of wit and romance. James Costigan's mechanical teleplay often italicizes plot developments; a second-half plot stratagem, in which Morgan fathers an illegitimate baby, comes across as crude turn-of-the-century melodrama. One also wonders why Costigan has not bothered to open up the play's naturally constricted action. When Morgan travels up to Oxford to take his exams, the audience expects to go with him: the Welsh boy's first encounter with upper-crust...
...Micronesia's most stalwart fighters against social erosion is Father Hugh F. Costigan. A former New York police department chaplain, Costigan directs the Ponape agriculture and trade school, an isolated 200-acre experimental farm reachable only by boat. Assisted by a volunteer staff of 40, the cigar-chomping Jesuit offers 155 Micronesians courses in construction, mechanics, horticulture and animal husbandry. When not in class, teachers work on such projects as manufacturing coconut soap and designing miniature diesel tractors and other small farming equipment. Says Costigan: "The most gratifying reward after 30 years in Micronesia is seeing my school kids...
...strangled fury of his pride, Matt learns a new commandment: "Get power. Without it there can be no decency." There is precious little decency in Matt's struggle for power. He steals a mistress away from the mayor, then grabs for his job. But old Mayor Quinn (Ken Costigan) turns out to be as wily as he is corrupt, and he finally kills Matt's political chances...
Melodramatic and sentimental, the play fans simple thoughts into pseudopoetic blather, but the characters, especially those played by Ryan and Costigan, are piercingly true...
...does seem improbable. One suspects from the beginning of LOVE AMONG THE RUINS (ABC, Thursday, March 5, 9 p.m. E.D.T.) that Hepburn's amnesia is a ploy, that Writer James Costigan will find a way for old love to conquer all. But who cares? His nostalgic Edwardian romance is just a charming conceit designed to bring Hepburn, 65, and Olivier, 67, together. The director is Veteran George Cukor, 75, whose cutting and camera placements impart a subtle tension (and an air of elegant craftsmanship) above and beyond the call of television duty. Indeed, all three conspire to make Costigan...