In keeping with the seemingly ongoing practice of resurrecting all things Arthur Miller, we can now add the screen debut of "Focus," based on a first novel of the same name by the famed playwright. Written in 1940, the cautionary fable about intolerance in a quiet American neighborhood doesn't exactly bear the mark of the master, at least not the version penned by Kendrew Lascelles and directed, with a heavy hand, by noted still photographer Neal Slavin. Despite all the good intentions and worthy performances, the result is annoyingly didactic, with the film's ruminations on the viral taint of fear and prejudice pounded home at every opportunity.

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