CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
duffjerroldorg
Gorgeous in a rather creepy, uncomfortable way. Terence Stamp is superb and Samantha Eggar, extraordinary. The sexual tension is tangible even if it is one sided. That's were the sickness resides. He is convinced that she will eventually love him. Isn't that the definition of madness? But when that madness looks like Terence Stamp, everything becomes immediately more complicated. I sat hoping for both their hopes to be fulfilled. Absurd, right? Perhaps but I wanted her to escape and I wanted him to have a moment of real honest intimacy with her - Impossible I know but that's what makes The Collector so compelling. The scene where he takes her out of the bathtub is one of the most perverse sex scenes without sex I've ever seen. Samantha Eggar was nominated for an Oscar but not Terence Stamp. In my own wishful mind, he won, big time. He certainly deserved it.
Film Watchin Fool
Watch this if.... you are a fan of psychological thrillers. Although a bit dated, this is still a very fine film in this genre.Acting/Casting: 8* - Let me say that I was blown away by the performance of Terence Stamp, who I thought portrayed a troubled and disturbed young man to a tee. Samantha Eggar is solid as well, but her performance is second rate to Stamp in this film.Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 8* - I thought the film was well directed by Wyler and had nice music and scenery to accompany the movie. There are some slow spots, but it keeps the audience engaged for the amount of dialogue that is involved.Plot/Characters: 6.5* - A man kidnaps a local art student in hopes of making her fall in love with him. I thought the storyline was intriguing and it came together really well while watching the film.Entertainment Value: 7* - I was pleasantly surprised by this film considering that it was made in 1965 and would recommend to anyone that is looking for a good psychological thriller.My Score: 8+8+6.5+7 = 29.5/4 = 7.375Email your thoughts to filmwatchinfool@gmail.com
Chase_Witherspoon
Tense psychological thriller involving a meek bank clerk (Stamp) and amateur lepidopterist, who masterminds an elaborate plan to capture and keep a beautiful young woman (Eggar) under the demented belief she will eventually succumb to Helsinki syndrome and fall in love with him. Alternatively, she may just become another of his ephemeral collections.I still regard this as Stamp's best film as the socially awkward panel-van driving psychopath, and Eggar whose career never quite hit the high note she deserved, has also never been better. The tense bi-play between the two is like a boxing match as each land blows, Eggar's tactical game in a desperate bid for freedom seemingly out-maneuvred at every juncture by Stamp's sometimes rattled determination, wearing down his quarry's resolve.It's hard to say whether the film still packs the punch in the modern era of shock and awe, but it would certainly appeal to anyone who can appreciate an offbeat thriller not made to suit the Hollywood format and sensitivities.
ConDeuce
Director William Wyler's adaptation of a novel by John Fowles concerning a disturbed young man's obsession with a beautiful woman who he eventually kidnaps and places in a basement room. The film is solidly made and acted and while it is interesting to watch, it is never gripping or compelling. It doesn't have any of the sordid messiness that the material requires and would have given it the edge it needs. Wyler's solid direction is at odds with the material. It's too neat and tidy. Samantha Eggar is a standout despite the fact that the ending feels like a cop out.I was interested in seeing "The Collector" only because it was directed by William Wyler who was one of the top directors in Hollywood from the 1930's through the 1950s. "The Collector" is fascinating because the story itself is a bit perverted and falls into the realm of Hitchcock, not Wyler (I kept thinking about Hitchcock's "Psycho" throughout). Why would Wyler, a solid veteran of Hollywood Movie Workhorses, be drawn to a dark film about an egotistical "head-case" who collects butterflies and decides that he wants to collect a beautiful woman he has long admired and keep her to himself? I have not found anything about his reasons but his involvement makes "The Collector" worth a look. Certainly, nothing about the story makes it worthy. What might have seemed daring and cutting edge back in 1965 now seems tame and has been done numerous times and better (the film is like "Misery" with the gender roles reversed). Nothing about what happens between the beautiful Miranda (a painfully beautiful and likable Samantha Eggar) and creepy Freddy (Terence Stamp) is really unique or even very interesting. But "The Collector" does hold your interest. The movie's opening moments are confusing. Wyler's attempts to establish Freddie as a character does not work completely enough to substantiate the act of kidnapping. Once Freddie has kidnapped Miranda and places her in a dungeon like setting, "The Collector" starts to come together. It becomes a character study of a demented, delusional loser who still pines for love and his prisoner's attempt to some how get out of the situation alive. In the scenes between Miranda and Freddie, Wyler's strength shines and Eggar is particularly good. She's lovely to look at and you can certainly understand why Freddie is attracted to her. Eggar's eyes show us how she is trying to assess the situation for an escape while Freddie keeps changing his methods and reasons for holding her captive. Without Eggar or a comparable actress, "The Collector" wouldn't work at all. It is too bad that what limited success the film does achieve falls squarely on Eggar's shoulders because Terence Stamp's Freddie is the reason the film fails to compel. It's not necessarily Stamp's fault. He is a great actor and though he is playing a stiff (or a demented dork), Stamp is never stiff or dull. "The Collector" simply does not establish how we are meant to feel toward Freddie until the very end when a piece of throwaway narration finally lets us know that he is psychotic (probably a sociopath). I doubt the intention by Wyler's was to create this ambiguity. If the film had made Freddie's character clear, then we would feel more peril for Miranda and her situation. As it plays out, we are confused by him and never really know if he is dangerous or just a bit of a lonely nut looking for love. This confusion elicited some seemingly contradictory and expected reactions. Take for example the scene where Miranda is tied up in the bathroom while the neighbor visits Freddie. When Miranda turns the bathtub water on so it overflows I found myself actually not wanting the neighbor to notice. I was actually on Freddie's side for some reason. If Hitchcock had made "The Collector" then I could see him doing something like this. He's the type of director who would have loved to have the audience side with the psycho but he would have made Miranda somehow unlikeable. In Wyler's film, he has not convinced us of Stamp's true nature (the upbeat, chirpy music that underscores many of Stamp's scenes certainly does not help). Therefore, the film feels uncertain and unfocused and it kills any tension.In the end, it comes down to the direction. As good as Wyler is, material like this is not something that is within his expertise. Perhaps he was, in his late career, trying to do something new. Having been a long time film maker, he might have sensed the changing times and tried to stay relevant. It's a worthy effort. "The Collector" required a director with a vision to create a sense of constant menace. The material should not have been smartened up the way Wyler does it but played for it's pulpy, scary aspects. Hitchcock could have done it. Certainly Polanski could have too and his "Rosemary's Baby" just three years later managed to be lot of what "The Collector" could have been.
