The first film version of this haunting play suffered greatly because it altered the ending and had a gimmicky prologue. The TV version tries to be more faithful to the play but fails because of bad casting choices and all around week pacing and the decision to set it in modern times rather than in the 50s when it was written. Blair Brown is good as the mother, but she's not as authoritative as Nancy Kelly was so her slow breakdown is not as believable. Carrie Wells as Rachel (name changed from Rhoda) is disappointing,, monotone and testy, certainly an awful brat, but a one dimensional one.
Rachel/Rhoda should have the ability to manipulate those around her ( With only school principal Ann Haney able to see through her and drunken groundskeeper Keith Carradine aware of how rotten she is ), and comparing her to Patty McCormack from the original is like comparing Nellie and Nancy Oleson from "Little House on the Prairie"), one subtle and the other completely obvious. Lynn Redgrave as the bohemian upstairs neighbor is changed from an endearing character (played by Evelyn Varden) to an overly talky one that is more of an annoying buttinsky than the well meaning pseudo aunt type. Only Carradine really seems to get his character, and he's a good followup for Henry Jones.
In smaller roles are Broadway veteran Richard Kiley as Brown's father and David Ogden Stiers as Redgrave's husband and they do what they are directed to do. While there are many suspenseful moments, and one horrific moment involving Carradine, the film itself is lacking in real terror, the theatrical quality of the play lessened by the impact of the run of the mill photography and editing. Even though this utilizes the original theatrical ending, by the time that comes around, it's not a surprise, and you've really lost interest in the impact which ends up just laying there and is evidence that when not done correctly, it is as vacant as the morality of the truly awful adolescent girl. Perhaps by the 1980's, the melodramatic play was just far too dated to really work.
Rachel/Rhoda should have the ability to manipulate those around her ( With only school principal Ann Haney able to see through her and drunken groundskeeper Keith Carradine aware of how rotten she is ), and comparing her to Patty McCormack from the original is like comparing Nellie and Nancy Oleson from "Little House on the Prairie"), one subtle and the other completely obvious. Lynn Redgrave as the bohemian upstairs neighbor is changed from an endearing character (played by Evelyn Varden) to an overly talky one that is more of an annoying buttinsky than the well meaning pseudo aunt type. Only Carradine really seems to get his character, and he's a good followup for Henry Jones.
In smaller roles are Broadway veteran Richard Kiley as Brown's father and David Ogden Stiers as Redgrave's husband and they do what they are directed to do. While there are many suspenseful moments, and one horrific moment involving Carradine, the film itself is lacking in real terror, the theatrical quality of the play lessened by the impact of the run of the mill photography and editing. Even though this utilizes the original theatrical ending, by the time that comes around, it's not a surprise, and you've really lost interest in the impact which ends up just laying there and is evidence that when not done correctly, it is as vacant as the morality of the truly awful adolescent girl. Perhaps by the 1980's, the melodramatic play was just far too dated to really work.