Movie Monday: The Other

The Other (1972)



Cast: Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, Chris Udvarnoky, Martin Udvarnoky, Norma Connolly, Victor French, Jenny Sullivan, John Ritter

Director: Robert Mulligan

Writer/Screenplay by: Tom Tryon

Plot: Set in bucolic 1935 Connecticut, this chiller follows identical Perry twins Niles and Holland as a string of tragedies befalls their family. With the Perry clan still reeling from the untimely demise of the boys' father, their mother ends up paralyzed, and a corpulent cousin is impaled on a pitchfork. But Niles soon begins to see a link between Holland and the "accidents."


This film was one I had never seen nor even heard of until recently. It is a dark movie, dealing with the dark side of childhood imagination and despair. Once you understand what is going on, it is hard not to sympathize with all who suffer here.


The children who play the twins are quite good, the boy playing Niles in particular. He comes off as a real boy dealing with situations beyond his ability to understand.


Hagen is also great in the role of the twins' grandmother, dealing with the darkness she thinks she has controlled, and soon realizing she has underestimated the problems of those around her.


Muldaur has a relatively small role as the boys' mother, lost in her own grief and soon trapped within her own body. I have never seen her look more beautiful than she does at the beginning of this film.


Recommended, for fans of thrillers and mysteries.