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The Collector Movie Review

The Collector is a 1965 psychological thriller film directed by William Wyler and starring Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar. It’s a very strong adaptation of a seminal novel.

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“I wouldn’t be a good prisoner

if I didn’t try to escape“

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A socially awkward bank clerk decides to kidnap a young art student. He imprisons her in his basement until she falls in love with him. Based on the titular novel by John Fowles, this adaptation was released just two years after the book and it received strong reviews and a couple of Oscar noms deservedly so. It deserves even more respect for everything that it did right.

Smartly, the writers cut out Miranda’s part of the story that was told from her point of view and instead focused just on Frederick’s point of view. This was a superb choice that fitted this medium better and resulted in a more streamlined and universally appealing thriller. The horror elements are definitely there as the protagonist is quite menacing, but above all else this is a thriller and a psychological one, which made it groundbreaking for the time.

This type of chamber drama with mostly just one setting and two players always hinges heavily on the strength of its actors. Thankfully, the casting done on this movie was incredible and both performers fitted the role like a glove and they delivered stupendous performances. Samantha Eggar deserved her Oscar nomination for being such a believable Miranda. She sold all of her scenes, in particular the character’s conflicted emotions.

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But the standout is Terence Stamp, who was not just immaculately cast, but he was so incredible that I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone else in this role. Stamp has always been a terrific, underrated actor and it’s a shame that this was only one of a couple of roles that was worthy of his talent (the other one being ‘Priscilla’). He is more handsome than the literary version, but he is dorky, insecure and clumsy as he should be and the actor’s steely blue eyes made him immensely creepy in numerous scenes.

William Wyler directed The Collector and he did a terrific job, emulating Hitchcock with ease. He imbued the movie with so much suspense and menace while making it engaging and polished throughout. It is a beautifully edited and paced story that never drags and is consistently involving to watch. The script is excellent, mostly retaining the major plot points from the source material while trimming some of Miranda’s scenes that would be filler material for a movie, though we did lose some of the insight on her character in the process.

Although lacking thematically speaking compared to the novel, we still got a solid depiction of the class divide between the two and a great insight into the main character’s disturbed mind. The score is fantastic – at times it is extremely suspenseful while at other times it is cheerful in disposition depending on the mood changes. The romantic elements were suitably playful in contrast to the suspenseful scenes.

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The cinematography is also strikingly good and the atmosphere of impending doom was so well conveyed. I did wish for the opening and ending to be a bit more memorable as they couldn’t quite replicate the unforgettable imagery from the source material, but they were solidly executed nonetheless.