The story was excellent, but the acting and casting bogged it down. From the beginning, there were distracting aspects with the cast. The characters are supposed to be New Englanders, but one of the nosy visiting ladies in the opening scene sounded very hillbilly-ish, pronouncing "pretty" as "purty," sounding more like Granny Clampett than a New Englander. In the same scene, the caretaker of the house frequently used the Maine-style "ayuh" expression - it was a bizarre contrast in accents. Unfortunately, the main character, played by Russell, was ruined because Russell seemed so out of place, much too old for her part. She didn't seem much younger than the actress playing her character's mother; when I looked them up, I found the age difference was only 7 years! I was very surprised to read that she, and many others, expected her to win the Oscar for Best Actress; there were only a few scenes where I felt she was believable. Russell seemed to have the same haughty expression on her face, with her chin in the air, through most of the film. She was either wooden, or excessively emotional. All the main characters played their parts "over the top" much of the time. I felt this could have been a superb film, but the acting and mis-cast performers
