In a well-known
episode of the early 1960s anthology series "Thriller", an
orphaned girl is placed in the care of three cousins who would rather
inherit her family's fortune. She is comforted by her friend
"Mr. George", who does not take kindly when her guardians
try to murder her.
This adaptation
of a story by August Derleth is far afield from folklore, but (in
common with several of the author's best-remembered stories) offers a
striking treatment of the wonders and terrors of a child's
imagination, which "special needs" children may respond to
particularly well. One could do an effective lesson on film
adaptation by having students read the story and then watch the
episode. Unfortunately, the only place this reviewer can report
to find the story is a 1963 collection of the same name, at last
report still in the ASU library. Turning to the screen
treatment, the girl is played by a young actress who manages to charm
without being artificially "cute". The villains are
played by three impressive character actors, in roles run the gamut
from a mad woman as child-like as the girl herself to her domineering
sister, with an indecisive, overintellectual man in the middle.
Several departures from the story detract somewhat. The
doings-in of two characters are pointlessly reversed, in setups that
fit awkwardly with their characters (though the script and actors
deserve more than due credit for building up the characters enough
for it to be noticeable). Several of the story's darker
elements are left out, including speculation about who the girl's
father was (a striking indication of how sensitive some subjects were
even at the start of the 1960s). Also problematic is perhaps
the most talked about element, the voice of Mr. George. It
introduces an extra variable in the pacing and stagings of several
scenes, which in this reviewer's opinion on the whole detracts from
the proceedings. It could have been more effective simply to
show the scenes as they were reportedly filmed, with only the child
actress's responses being recorded. Still, the few lines are
read with enough feeling and texture to forgive any quibble.
David N. Brown
Mesa Arizona
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