O Preço de Amar

Three English movies "obsessed" me all my life and I always wanted to see them and watch them again and again: "The Walking Stick" (1970), "The Collector" (1965) and "Our Mother's House" (1967). And, I've seen and re-seen them many times. And I would see them again with the same great pleasure. All three have something magical. All three have also something tragic, melancholic, they are particularly sad and all three are about love, about the big failure in love. The first two star Samantha Eggar, actually, she is the movies. Her acting is impeccably perfect. She is of a unique beauty, you can't help but fall in love with her. That's what happened to me. This is not actually a review, but an eternal declaration of love, mine to Samantha Eggar. She really convinces you that is a crippled person here, that she has polio. There are two other great actors in the film, David Hemmings and Dudley Sutton. Excellent director Eric Till, excellent music, an exceptional film.

Curtailing evil, criminal intentions, a dashing young man, Leigh, seduces and persuades the dreary, moderate polio victim Deborah Dainton into falling in love with him. Deborah leads a neatly organized life, and is obligated to see it being reduced to shreds when she discovers her boyfriend is part of a gang who intends to rob the auction house in which she works in. That's when Deborah has to come to grips with the fact that Leigh may have maintained a relationship with her solely for the benefit of the heist.

This is an utterly unforgettable study on bitterness, hope and disappointment. We get to witness the magnificence of Eggar's performance as her character slowly discovers what Leigh - David Hemmings - truly had in mind when they began living together. And how Eggar manages to show that her bad leg does not stop her from being as tricky - if not trickier - than the good for nothing Leigh.

'The Walking Stick' is an emotionally-charged melodrama that does not appeal to tacky tearjerker clichés. Everything is beautifully executed in a low-key, calm and yet gut-wrenchingly real manner, with an emotionally disarming ending that will leave you sobbing.

David Hemmings was THE Icon of Swinging 1960's London following his performance in 'Blow Up'. Here he plays Leigh, a slightly sinister seedy artist in 1969/ 70's London, who picks up Deborah (a very beautiful Samantha Eggar) at a fashionable party in Hampstead.

Leigh is a sordid betrayer and crook who may be only using Deborah to gain access to the auction house she works in. When she realises this, Deborah proves to be capable of dealing with the problem and her walking stick, far from eliciting sympathy for her minor disability, proves to be a prop for her strengths.

It is a good example of British Cinema. A strong storyline, originally by author Winston Graham, is moved along by well lit, deep technical images of a London that has in the case of the West India Dock sequences disappeared. And unlike modern films it is not afraid of silence. The music is sparse and appropriate (check out the guitar solo. Isn't it familiar?).

This is a film to buy and watch when the alternative on a wet Bank Holiday is endless 'Carry-On' or Sitcom spin-off films being shown back-to-back on TV.

Director Eric Till keeps the action clipping along in this romantic thriller, a love story built around a heist. At the height of his fame, David Hemmings is effectively ambiguous as the thief, Leigh. He keeps you guessing about his true feelings for Deborah (Samantha Eggar, before she moved to L. A. and sunk to television), the young curator at his targeted auction house.

She is beautiful but standoffish, after polio left her with a withered leg and claustrophobia from time spent in an iron lung. She only slowly accepts Leigh's persistent attentions, which certainly seem genuine. He even persuades her to try walking without her cane, which liberates her. She eventually comes to trust him and leaves her family home and moves into his rundown riverfront lodgings. (Incidentally, it's a pleasure to see London circa 1969, minus the Carnaby Street clichés, filmed in locations from ever-posh Hampstead to the then-gritty London Docklands.)

Hemmings' and Eggar's chemistry is convincing, especially in scenes with Emlyn Williams as the elegant old white-haired mastermind who ropes her into helping them break into the auction house. As he pressures Deborah, Leigh squirms on the sidelines, apparently wanting to spare her almost as much as he wants her help in the robbery. Almost.

What is not convincing, unfortunately, is that this demure and dignified young woman would ever agree to help. It is not in her character. Though she eventually fell in love with Leigh, she was deeply alarmed when he revealed the plan for the heist. She tried to dissuade him, but he was all-in and wanted her help, even though it meant she had to hide in a closet at the auction house for hours to give them safe access. No. She would have gone to the police before the crime. Her self-respect, not to mention the claustrophobia, make her involvement unthinkable, and the movie ultimately disappointing.

There may be some people who will object to the core premise of "The Walking Stick" by saying that they've seen the same basic premise in other movies before. I don't object to seeing the same premise again as long as the story is retold professionally and with a fresh light. Indeed, one strength the movie has is that the performances are very good - Eggar and Hemmings manage to make their characters believable. Unfortunately, the script and direction are another matter. The story takes way too much time to get from one major plot turn to another - a lot of fat could have been trimmed before shooting started. Also, the direction for the most part is a little too low key. I'm not asking for a great deal of flashiness, but a little more life should have been put into the movie. I am not saying this is an awful or bad movie, but it is kind of disappointing.