The Collector
by William Wyler
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Actor: Allyson Ames, Maurice Dallimore, Mona Washbourne, Samantha Eggar, Terence StampDirector: William Wyler
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Robert Krasker
Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
Editor: David Hawkins
Producer: John Kohn
Writer: John Kohn
Producer: Jud Kinberg
Writer: John Fowles
Writer: Stanley Mann
Writer: Terry Southern
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-02
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Columbia Tri/Star
DVD Reviews of The Collector
DVD Review: HACKED AGAIN.
Summary: 1 Stars
YOU REMEMBER A MOVIE WITH ALL OF ITS NUANCES HOPING THAT SOME DAY TO BE ABLE TO HAVE IT IN YOUR COLLECTION TO WATCH AGAIN. THE MOVIE FINALLY COMES OUT AND YOU FIND THAT SOME CORPORATION HAS BUTCHERED THE FILM THAT YOU REMEMBER. Time and time again this happens to the classic movies that were watched by millions of people. We the public "Who are plunking our hard earned cash to purchase THESE MEMORIES", not only deserve to watch the entire movie that we remember but, maybe with additional features like deleted scenes and comentary but, not with detractions. I don't understand why they do it. Colombia and Sony did it with this film. MGM and others, do it with many other classics that I remember. WHY?? This is a disservice to the art of the movie and to the public that is paying good money for a memory. Only to be ripped off!! I only wish they knew that these efforts to butcher a movie is not appreciated. I feel like they are playing a cruel joke and wish something could be done about itDVD Review: Very Entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
Although the kidnap/hostage situation in William Wyler's psychological thriller "The Collector" (1966) has some superficial similarities to "Silence of the Lambs", it offers a much more complex and subtle dynamic. The two main characters find themselves both in a classic "can't win" situation. Freddie (Terence Stamp) desperately hopes that Miranda (Samantha Egger) will fall in love with him but his love for her is so unrealistic that any deviation from his preconceived notions of their ideal relationship frustrates him. Miranda is trapped figuratively as much as literally; any resistance makes Freddie angry and yet he detects insincerity when she tries to conform to his wishes.
So while the screenplay omits the best elements of John Fowles' bestseller it does generate a fair amount of chess match type tension from its doomed dynamic.
That the film falls short of cinema greatness is mostly because Wyler is unable to establish an effective point of view. Freddie bookends the story with some voice-over narration but everything between is told from a sterile neutral perspective that makes character identification impossible.
Freddie is a childlike young man who has developed an obsession with unsuspecting art student Miranda. He has been observing her from afar for some time, then one day he puts his plan into action and abducts her with his van and imprisons her in the basement room of an isolated estate he has just purchased. Freddie knows that he would normally stand no chance with a privileged and beautiful girl like Miranda (there is a social class subtext to the film). He hopes that when she gets to know him through forced contact that she will fall in love with the person he is beneath the surface. This is not a "Stockholm Syndrome" dependency type of thing but rather Freddie's belief that the only obstacle to their love is getting past the superficial obstacles to them relating to each other in a normal situation.
There is also an implication that he wants her more for display purposes than for companionship and this is given considerable compare and contrast treatment with his hobby of butterfly collecting.
Freddie is too likable and Stamp has some trouble selling the occasional violent mood swings; whatever his psychosis it is given a very shallow and uneven treatment. Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" featured a much more disturbed villain and neatly connected the viewer to his POV. And Egger is too sterile for the film to generate much erotic interest even with its frequent bondage scenes. Not being able to strongly identify with either character limits the amount of suspense and the lamely tacked on twist at the very end is out of character and breaks the film's unity.
Wyler's excellent acting for the camera direction generates solid performances from Stamp and Egger, and makes for an above average film well worth your viewing time. The Columbia DVD features a good print color-wise but not the cinema original-rather it appears to be a 4:3 version that was cropped vertically to appear as widescreen. The the original trailer is included in the DVD package but there is neither a commentary nor a background feature.
DVD Review: Good In '65, But Too Slow Now
Summary: 2 Stars
How times change. When I saw this in the theater over 40 years ago, I was mesmerized. It was a suspense film that had me involved and it had two riveting lead performers: Terrence Stamp and Samantha Egger, the latter more riveting for her good looks.
I probably watched this again some time in the seventies on TV and then later on VHS, but when I saw it again on disc about five years ago, it was like a whole different film. In a nutshell, it was so slow-moving I almost fell asleep. I couldn't believe it was the same film and it just shows you how modern films are so much faster-moving that some of these "oldies" seem almost ponderous nowadays.
It didn't help that the movie was a full two hours, too.
DVD Review: THE BEST KIDNAPPING MOVIE EVER
Summary: 5 Stars
I HAVE SEEN THE COLLECTOR FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME LAST WEEK AND I MUST SAY THIS IS THE MOST SUPERBLY THRILLING/CHILLINGLY ROMANTIC AND LENIENT KIDNAPPING MOVIE EVER. TERENCE STAMP PLAYED THE NICEST CAPTOR YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE, HAVING GREAT LOVE AND RESPECT FOR THE OBJECT OF HIS AFFECTION-THE LOVELY MIRANDA GREY- (PLAYED BY SUPERB ACTRESS SAMANTHA EGGAR)!!! THOUGH GREY WAS FRIGHTENED AND OVERWHELMED BY BEING STAMP'S CAPTIVE, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT HE PROVED HE TRULY LOVED HER AND TOOK GREAT CARE OF HER AND PROVIDED HER MEALS,BATHS,AND EVERYTHING SHE WANTED AND ALL HE WANTED WAS TO BE LOVED BACK AND SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE MESSED UP THE RELATIONSHIP IN THE END BY BEING UNGRATEFUL AND ATTACKING HIM WITH THE SHOVEL AND CAUSING HIM TO BECOME INFURIATED AT HER. SHE SHOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD HIM BETTER AND TRULY LOVED HIM BACK WHICH I BELIEVE SHE EVENTUALLY STARTED TO BY THE TIME IT IS TOO LATE AND SHE DIES FROM AN APPENDIX ATTACK. THAT WAS THE TEAR-JERKER PART! OTHERWISE THIS IS A LOVELY CAPTOR/CAPTIVE RELATIONSHIP MOVIE. I DEFINITELY SEE WHY IT GOT 3 ACADEMY AWARDS! THIS IS ONE FLICK WHICH IS TOTALLY UNFORGETTABLE AND KEEPS A HOLD ON YOUR HEART.DVD Review: The Collector starring Terence Stamp
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this film when it was first released in 1965. I can only remember it being on TV once. I haven been looking for a copy for some time. I think it is very under-rated film and my opinion is that they do not make good films like this any more. The only downside is that you can only view this on a DVD player that plays Region 1. I thorougly recommend it.
Description of The Collector
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: NrAs one of the greatest directors of Hollywood's golden age, William Wyler had a long and distinguished roster of films to his credit, among them a number of classics (including Wuthering Heights and The Heiress) that rank among the finest literary adaptations to emerge from the studio system. Near the end of his career, Wyler focused his veteran skills on John Fowles's novel The Collector, and it's easy to see how Wyler would be drawn to the story's resonant psychological underpinnings. It's conceivable that the director was also fascinated by the cinematic precedents set by Alfred Hitchock's Psycho and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom; like those films, Wyler's 1965 production of The Collector focuses on the obsessions of a young man whose need for a woman's affection leads him to desperate measures at the expense of his object of desire.
Terence Stamp was a fine choice for the role of Freddie Clegg, a young, nondescript bank clerk who wins a fortune in a sports pool and is financially liberated to pursue his psychological fixation--specifically a lovely London art student named Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar) whom Freddie captures in the comfortably furnished cellar of his remote, newly purchased Tudor farmhouse. In many respects she is just another addition to Freddie's impressive and meticulously catalogued collection of butterflies--delicate and beautiful, and kept against her will. Freddie genuinely loves her and treats her with utmost respect, but she is his prisoner. Having been subdued by Freddie's use of chloroform, she later observes that he is responsible for "so much death," and of course she could never return his affection. Or could she?
This richly psychological situation is handled by Wyler with understated grace, but the weight of Freddie's psychosis is never keenly felt; the film's subdued quality ultimately works against the thriller aspects of the story. And yet, the performances of Stamp and Eggar remain sharp and mutually sympathetic, and when Wyler brings the story full circle to yet another "butterfly" for Freddie's collection, the stalker theme leaves the viewer with a considerable chill. Where another movie like 1967's Wait Until Dark relied on more explicit and effective shocks, The Collector works on a subtler level of disturbing but undeniably human behavior. --Jeff Shannon
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