The Enchanted Cottage

This is a film so bad that you can imagine it one day having a large cult following. It proceeds from one improbability to another with an almost charming nonchalance, as if to say,"Oh, never mind, you know what we mean." It is so filled with non-sequiturs that the occasional sequitur seems wandering and lost. The upshot of this is that the film keeps you so befuddled that you find yourself sticking around to see if it will finally unravel itself. It doesn't. It just smiles at the end and says, "So there you have it."

It is hard to imagine the director's excuse, given that he had the model of the successful 1945 film in front of him. Actually the film lists seven directors. It is hard to decide whether this was six too many or seven too many.

What a shameful remake. Doesn't even come close. The acting is so bad. Nothing enchanting about this movie. The 1945 original is a masterpiece in every way.

I had hopes for this movie. It's relatively clean and the premise is sweet. But, ugh, it is terrible. The acting is so bad, the makeup is horrible, that it asks the viewer to suspend way too much reality to make it watchable. The original was probably charming. This remake is a train wreck. What a shame that it was one of Richard Hatch's last films before his passing.

I was hoping the opening scene was not an indication of what we would see when we got to the main characters. The acting is horrible out of the gate. Sam Nisbett as Tom is bad just talking to his wife and again when he dies. At one point he reacts strongly to his wife's statement before she has said the words that cause the reaction.

Could Laura's appearance early in the film be any more geeky and plain Jane? Obviously there is some beauty in there, but they go overboard in trying to mask it. Sarah Navratil's acting is forced and stiff. She's obviously trying, but it just doesn't come naturally to her.

When Oliver first wakes up after his injuries, Paul D. Masterson doesn't act at all like someone that the others were just so worried about surviving. He appears normal, but nonchalant about what he is about to attempt. Even well after that, he just moves like someone who is perfectly healthy. This is true even in his physical therapy. He also doesn't physically show any of the emotion that his words convey. Later when circumstances and conversation is more normal, Masterson does better capturing that.

Sandra Rice is also stiff delivering lines. I do have to hand it to her that she did a good job of keeping a straight face, but not quite, when she sees his facial scars. The direction is poor in this scene because it took me three takes to realize when Oliver was showing his body scars. The angle made it hard to see.

Production is poor, especially the sound. The video isn't too bad.

The story is delivered very badly. The setup doesn't ring true as events leading up to Oliver actually coming to the cottage just don't make sense. And I'm betting that this is based on a short story because there are a lot of visuals and scenes that are obviously crammed in to fill time.

There is an absolutely incomprehensible segue later in the movie. You'll know what I mean if you watch that far. It's not that it is a surprise twist. The transition just makes no sense. One minute they said one thing and the next minute the results were the opposite.

There is a bit of a twist even later, but it was a slow journey getting there, even in a 90 minute movie.

I honestly do not remember a movie where the acting was so bad I honestly could not finish it. Even Hallmark movies at least have adequate, if not engaging, actors. The casting of Oliver, the hero was terrible. He is supposed to be handsome and charming. He is not. I will say no more about his looks. His horrible disfigurement is not so much at all and would be easily corrected. The female lead was cast pretty well, but her acting also left a lot to be desired. I feel a little bad that I am reviewing this without seeing the whole thing. But when the acting is bad, the whole movie is tainted, no matter how good everything else was. (Though it wasn't) My time is too precious. I was just so disappointed. I love remakes, and the older version with Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire is excellent.