Last night I saw that a movie named “A House on Carroll Street” was on a cable channel and I turned it on, because, for some reason, I thought it was a re-make of a spy movie. I thought I remembered liking the original. Jessica Tandy was in this re-make. The representation of the early fifties was good, so good that as I absorbed the visual effects, I found my memory from that time being nudged. The dresses, the cars, the suits . . . I started thinking of the actors as “grown-ups” – yes, I did.
Not too far into the movie I got the idea that I was not really sure what was going on in the plot. I knew the lady was in trouble with the government and there were two sets of official agents running around, plus the police. And there was the Un-American Activities Committee. But, hey, the background scenery was good.
“Who is this actress?” I kept wondering that. Having it in my head the re-make was about ten years ago, I am trying to think of names. Quentin called about then and I told him what I’d written here. I suggested the name of a “new” actress and he responded, “Is she still alive?” I was still having trouble with the plot; its Hitchcockian echoes were dimming – maybe they were being absorbed by that great background. I don’t know.
After a while, it ended. I told Quentin the bad guy was splatted on the floor of a major New York landmark.
So we talked of some other stuff, and after we hung up, I looked up information on the movie. HA, the joke’s on me. Wait while I scrape it off. Oh, no. It’s sticking.
It wasn’t a re-make, according to info on the internet. There was only one little reference to a previous movie with a similar plot but with another name – and that name wasn’t mentioned. Most reviewers panned it . . . but liked the scenery. It wasn’t too old of a re-make . . . for me; it was filmed in 1886 and released to theaters in 1988. It is “a little seen film”.
The actress? Kelly McGillis. Heavens to Betsey! That would be an expression appropriate to my time period. Rats and Ack!
Kelly McGillis was born in 1957; she is only 9 years younger than I am. I have lost sight of the mainstream current and am floating on a bayou.
