The Collector (1965)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Stanley Mann and John Kohn, based on the novel by John Fowles
Directed by William Wyler
Starring Terrence Stamp and Samantha Eggar

Features:

• Trailers
  

My Advice: Rent it.

Freddie Clegg (Stamp) is a man obsessed with butterflies...and a certain young woman named Miranda Grey (Eggar) that had the misfortune of riding the same line to work with him when they lived in Redding. He became so obsessed with her that he began to hatch a plan to collect her and make her fall in love with him. He finds the perfect house to pull off this little act of collecting and starts the process of making her his own.

This is a duet piece; make no mistake about it. Get ready to watch two really talented and devoted actors give it their all in this amazingly directed and very well written screenplay. I can't say enough about the performances that were turned in. The script they were working from was such a roller-coaster ride that I'm sure they had an absolutely wonderful time performing it. It is truly an actor's dream to work from writing like this; each character's arc is so well-defined that Stamp and Eggar have no trouble at all putting all the historical and emotional baggage in the car to bring along for the ride. Seriously, jump on this one and don't get off.

DVD-wise, I wish I could report better news to you. There are no special features to speak of with the exception of a couple of trailers and the fact that it is in widescreen format. How hard is it to ring up these two amazing actors and get them together over coffee, show them the film, and record the bloody conversation? Or even if you can't manage that, at least film the coffee bit for ten minutes as they reminisce about the project.

Pick it up at the rental store, but be on the lookout if a special edition of this one ever manages to get released. I hope they get their act together and get it done soon. This one left me aching for it.