I'd never heard of Joanna David before, but she's absolutely perfect as "the girl" with no name, later known as the second Mrs. DeWinter in this spellbinding version of the Daphne DuMaurier novel, made as a four part mini-series with hour long installments, each ending at a profound moment in the saga of the brooding Maxim DeWinter (Jeremy Brett) and his innocent bride. This part focuses on how he steals her from the pretentious Mrs. Van Hopper (Elspeth March), a ridiculously arrogant American widow. The episode is exactly like the first half hour or so of the Hitchcock classic, although more time is taken in detail of the three characters involved.
While the leads are great, March is an instant scene-stealer, and while not as broad as Florence Bates (who was absolute perfection), she's a delight, reminding me of Mary Boland in "The Women". Great locations representing Monte Carlo shows the beauty of the French coast but also bring on the coldness of that lifestyle. They cut out the issue of the girl desperately unable to reach Max, and just get to the meat of the two preparing to marry. David and Brett start off the mini-series on a fine path, with David even better than I expected, maybe because she was a brand new discovery for me. The last minutes of the episode are very chilling with the viewer preparing for the intro of Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers. Great way to end the episode.
While the leads are great, March is an instant scene-stealer, and while not as broad as Florence Bates (who was absolute perfection), she's a delight, reminding me of Mary Boland in "The Women". Great locations representing Monte Carlo shows the beauty of the French coast but also bring on the coldness of that lifestyle. They cut out the issue of the girl desperately unable to reach Max, and just get to the meat of the two preparing to marry. David and Brett start off the mini-series on a fine path, with David even better than I expected, maybe because she was a brand new discovery for me. The last minutes of the episode are very chilling with the viewer preparing for the intro of Anna Massey as Mrs. Danvers. Great way to end the episode.