Two different directors both yielded very unique pieces pertaining to their interpretations of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 A Doll's House, considering that they were both filmed in the same year (1973). One film tried to tell the story with a very elegant attitude, while the other film displayed the story as a learning experience to all.
Joseph Losey directed the first film. This film had very good unique elements that I thought made it a good film. Two of these elements are ambient scenery and casting. Losey's film was the natural outdoor surroundings to help tell the story very well. Every scene that shows the outdoors really helps alleviate the feeling of being locked indoors like in the other films. The casting in this film was very good. There were many new actors and natural actors because the director wanted the make the film feel as it truly should in the northern Arctic territories. Jane Fonda's feminist view was very appropriate for the film because of her character's resolve and actions. Nora was changing character, and it helped that the actor portraying her was able to feel and understand the situation that was going on for her.
The other film also had two such excellent elements. Patrick Garland's film held excellent actors and presented the story much better. Unlike the unaccented Losey film, Garland brought great actors, including Claire Bloom as Nora, Anthony Hopkins as Torvald, Denholm Elliot as Krogstad, and Anna Massey as Christine, to the film that held themselves well on camera and brought a little classical accent to it as well. Garland's thespians also came to the set with more experience. The story itself was very simple and shown well in that each event flowed smoothly into the next.
Each of these films had very good elements that made them both successes and failures. Had the film makers of these films collaborated, a very grand film would have emerged.