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Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)
Elizabeth Montgomery stars as Lizzie Borden, a 19th-century Massachusetts woman, who is put on trial for the brutal slaughter of her father and step-mother in the family mansion. She is accused of hacking up her parents with an ax after carefully removing her clothes to avoid bloodstains. Based on fact and considered shocking at the time for a TV-movie.
Elizabeth Montgomery ... Lizzie Borden
Fionnula Flanagan ... Bridget Sullivan
Ed Flanders ... Hosea Knowlton
Katherine Helmond ... Emma Borden
Don Porter ... George Robinson
Fritz Weaver ... Mr. Andrew Borden
Bonnie Bartlett ... Sylvia Knowlton
John Beal ... Dr. Bowen
Helen Craig ... Mrs. Abby Borden
Alan Hewitt ... Mayor Coughlin
Gail Kobe ... Alice Russell
Robert Symonds ... Andrew Jennings
Hayden Rorke ... Julien Ralph
Iggie Wolfington ... Store proprietor
Amzie Strickland ... Adelaide Churchill
Director: Paul Wendkos
Runtime: 100 mins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073273/
Codecs:
Video : 686 MB, 1041 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 480*352 (4:3), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4,
Audio : 65 MB, 99 Kbps, 32000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Lame MP3, CBR,
........................................................................................................................................
I was interested to read the comments of US reviewers of this title, praising its period accuracy and attention to detail. In the UK we tend to take these 'costume dramas' for granted. Considering it was made in the mid-70's, however, the film still looks good and some of the principals look strikingly like their real-life counterparts (especially Ed Flanders as Hosea Knowlton). Only Lizzie's uncle John V Morse, who stayed in the Borden home on the night before the murders, is missing.
As you can probably tell by now I have quite an interest in the Borden case. I saw 'Legend of Lizzie Borden' when it was first broadcast and after 30 years I still think it offers as fair a reconstruction of the crimes and the trial as you can expect in 90 minutes.
The jarring notes are hints of Andrew being some sort of mild necrophiliac and having an incestuous or near-incestuous relationship with Lizzie. I don't believe there is any real evidence for either of these allegations. Much is made of the fact that Andrew wore a ring Lizzie had given him as a schoolgirl. In fact, at the trial, the undertaker Mr Winward could not remember if there was a ring on Andrew's body or not. This was rather embarrassing for the defence but didn't stop George Robinson making a big point of it during his closing address. (Much of the dialogue in the inquest and trial scenes is taken from the record).
It is probably more true to say that Lizzie desperately wanted Andrew to show his love for her. Instead, he killed her pigeons.
There are only two real flights of fancy: Lizzie stealing the axe from a store (she had no need to and, let's face it, it's a bit obvious); and the testimony at the trial that she tried to buy prussic acid the day before the murders. This is true, she did, but the evidence was *excluded* from the trial by Judge Dewey because the prosecution couldn't prove that Lizzie only wanted the poison for a criminal purpose. Wonderful thing, the law.
Much more revealing is the sense of Lizzie feeling stifled in a mean provincial household when she dreams of a life of travel, fashion and excitement. In the scenes of confrontation between the inhabitants of 92 Second Street, you get a real sense of the tensions that were building up in that confined space, a confinement that was spiritual as well as physical.
I once read a review which said Elizabeth Montgomery portrayed Lizzie as a "wide-eyed zombie". That can be dismissed as rubbish. This is a performance of tremendous scope, showing a Lizzie who was stubborn, vain, calculating, callous and yet strangely vulnerable (you can't help but pity her as she sobs over her slaughtered pigeons). She was a fascinatingly complex woman and this is as good a piece of acting as you will find anywhere.
In 1975 I remember the reconstruction of the murders being described as "overlong and bloody". How times change. I am sure these days they could be far more graphic and true to the brutal nature of the actual killings. Again the film is tempted to go too far by having Lizzie (or more properly Elizabeth Montgomery) strip off before committing murder. This could be one reason why there was no blood on Lizzie's person immediately after the crimes, but the pathologist at the trial stated that if the murderer stood astride Abby Borden, and the first blow that struck Andrew hit a major artery (killing him instantly and releasing blood pressure), there would be very little blood splattering around.
I have waited, and waited, and waited, for UK TV to show this film again. I recently managed to purchase a rare video copy. I am pleased to see that my memory didn't play me false. This is a superb production, a credit to its makers, excellently cast and performed which deserves to be shown again and given a much wider commercial video/DVD release.
........................................................................................................................................
If you watch this movie, I recommend that you don't watch it alone, and make sure that you turn on the lights.I watched this made for television movie the first time that it aired, and I was absolutely terrified!I was alone, and I started turning on all of the lights in my apartment.I did not know of the famous murder case at the time.I was amazed that a woman could possibly commit such a dastardly act way back in 1892.I watch this movie once in a while, and it is still as creepy as it was in the 1970s. Elizabeth Montgomery was chilling as Lizzie Borden.I cannot put my finger on what Elizabeth Montgomery did in her portrayal to be so scary, but I can tell you, she was magnificent.The supporting cast was great.Fritz Weaver was superb as the father Andrew Borden. I have always loved Fritz Weaver's work as an actor.Katherine Helmond who played the sister Emma was very effective.Remember her on the television comedy Soap with Billy Crystal?
The music in this movie was very good at setting the mood. The music in the very beginning of the movie lets you know that something horrible has transpired.I think that the scene in the beginning, where the maid Bridget Sullivan raced to different houses looking for help,was really scary.It just helped to build up the tension. I know that if I had been the neighbor lady who went to the house, and saw Lizzie standing in the doorway, with a bizarre look on her face,and she said," someone has killed father", and then she opened the door, there is no way that I would have stepped into the house!I highly recommend this movie to Elizabeth Montgomery fans, and to people who want to see a superior thriller based on a true murder case.
........................................................................................................................................
I call it "The curse of the Montgomerys". Robert Montgomery was a fantastically gifted actor and (to a lesser extent) director and producer, but while recognized by his peers as such he was never given the ultimate accolades of Hollywood - top rank stardom and an Oscar (preferably for his marvelous performance as "Danny" in NIGHT MUST FALL). After 1951 he called his movie career quits and went into television, where he did very well with his anthology series ROBERT MONTGOMERY PRESENTS, and finally did get some award recognition in the form of an "Emmy". But his show has been out of syndication for decades, and there is no way for current audiences to judge his work. This is sad because Montgomery attempted, in his series, to lift television out of the rut he saw it falling into, and that he later condemned in writing.
Montgomery died in 1981. By that time he was gratified (one hopes) by the success of his daughter Elizabeth, who achieved television stardom as "Samantha Stevens", the central witch on the comedy BEWITCHED. But like others in television, Liz Montgomery never could escape the great success of her role, nor could she make the jump (which given her lovely figure and face she could have made) into films. She made a few movies, but none were strong enough to make her a star (not even on the level of her father). She would, however, be successful in choosing good television properties to do until the time of her own death in 1996.
Hence the "curse of the Montgomerys". Both very good talents - and never able to get into that really upper echelon they should have reached.
One of the films Liz chose to make was this 1975 reconstruction of the Fall River Axe Murders of August 1892 - the murders that are forever linked to another "Liz": Elizabeth "Lizzie" Borden. Briefly, Lizzie Borden lived with an older sister (Emma), her father Andrew Borden, and a stepmother (Abby Borden) in a house in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew was originally an undertaker, but he parlayed his cash and shrewdness into a large fortune (for that day). Unfortunately he was an absolute tightwad, forcing his daughters to take care of their own clothing when they could have had their own maids, and he was rather tyrannical about them serving him and his wife, the unloved Abby. The only other person who resided in the house was the household maid, Bridget O'Sullivan.
There was a food poisoning event a few weeks before the final catastrophe, but given the standards for poor food in the 19th Century this by itself means little. Then, on an August afternoon, Andrew was found hacked to death while napping on a couch in the parlor, and Abby similarly found hacked up on the floor of an upstairs bedroom. Emma had an alibi, as did a visiting uncle. Only Lizzie and Bridget were in the house, and neither claimed they heard anything unusual (although Bridget thought she heard a laugh at the top of the stairs when Andrew came home from his office). Due to Lizzie burning an old stained dress the police narrowed their suspicions on her. She was arrested, and the trial for the murders took place in 1893.
To this day, most Americans who hear the "Lizzie Borden took an ax" quatrain think she did it. She most probably did. But Lizzie was acquitted. The general reason given is that there was a lack of any desire by the all male jury to hang a gentlewoman. Whatever the reason, the case is still officially unsolved. If you would like to consider Bridget (under extreme stress from her employers doing her chores in that blazing August weather) cracking and doing them in you can consider it. There have been other theories avoiding Lizzie or Brigid, including Emma or her Uncle Morse getting involved, or a passing tramp, or even Andrew's discarded illegitimate son doing it.
Montgomery played Lizzie with dignity and guts, and (SPOILER COMING UP) knowledge that she was guilty. The concluding of the film showed her doing in first Abby and then waiting, naked, for Andrew to show up. It was a terrifically ice-cold performance in that part.
Of note too was the always dependable Fritz Weaver as Andrew and Katherine Helmond as Emma (not quite sure what to think). Don Porter played former Massachusetts Governor George Robinson, who skillfully navigated his client to acquittal. And that ultimately tragic actor, Ed Flanders played the district attorney, who is under intense pressure not to win this one if he can avoid it. It was a very well done piece of Americana, and again makes one regret that Montgomery could only get so far with her talent.
........................................................................................................................................
I remember I was 14 years old and babysitting some little kids and watching this movie all by myself (I had wisely put the little ones to bed). I remember walking home in the dark after watching this movie and running because I was so scared after watching this movie. Elizabeth Montgomery, whom I loved as Samantha the loving witch on "Bewitched" is wonderful in the role of the weird Lizzie Borden. Did she really kill her folks? The movie lets the watcher decide for themselves, but the acting, writing and directing were all top notch, especially for a TV movie. Wish it would come out on DVD, I would love to see it again after all these years.
Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)
Elizabeth Montgomery stars as Lizzie Borden, a 19th-century Massachusetts woman, who is put on trial for the brutal slaughter of her father and step-mother in the family mansion. She is accused of hacking up her parents with an ax after carefully removing her clothes to avoid bloodstains. Based on fact and considered shocking at the time for a TV-movie.
Elizabeth Montgomery ... Lizzie Borden
Fionnula Flanagan ... Bridget Sullivan
Ed Flanders ... Hosea Knowlton
Katherine Helmond ... Emma Borden
Don Porter ... George Robinson
Fritz Weaver ... Mr. Andrew Borden
Bonnie Bartlett ... Sylvia Knowlton
John Beal ... Dr. Bowen
Helen Craig ... Mrs. Abby Borden
Alan Hewitt ... Mayor Coughlin
Gail Kobe ... Alice Russell
Robert Symonds ... Andrew Jennings
Hayden Rorke ... Julien Ralph
Iggie Wolfington ... Store proprietor
Amzie Strickland ... Adelaide Churchill
Director: Paul Wendkos
Runtime: 100 mins
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073273/
Codecs:
Video : 686 MB, 1041 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 480*352 (4:3), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4,
Audio : 65 MB, 99 Kbps, 32000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Lame MP3, CBR,
........................................................................................................................................
I was interested to read the comments of US reviewers of this title, praising its period accuracy and attention to detail. In the UK we tend to take these 'costume dramas' for granted. Considering it was made in the mid-70's, however, the film still looks good and some of the principals look strikingly like their real-life counterparts (especially Ed Flanders as Hosea Knowlton). Only Lizzie's uncle John V Morse, who stayed in the Borden home on the night before the murders, is missing.
As you can probably tell by now I have quite an interest in the Borden case. I saw 'Legend of Lizzie Borden' when it was first broadcast and after 30 years I still think it offers as fair a reconstruction of the crimes and the trial as you can expect in 90 minutes.
The jarring notes are hints of Andrew being some sort of mild necrophiliac and having an incestuous or near-incestuous relationship with Lizzie. I don't believe there is any real evidence for either of these allegations. Much is made of the fact that Andrew wore a ring Lizzie had given him as a schoolgirl. In fact, at the trial, the undertaker Mr Winward could not remember if there was a ring on Andrew's body or not. This was rather embarrassing for the defence but didn't stop George Robinson making a big point of it during his closing address. (Much of the dialogue in the inquest and trial scenes is taken from the record).
It is probably more true to say that Lizzie desperately wanted Andrew to show his love for her. Instead, he killed her pigeons.
There are only two real flights of fancy: Lizzie stealing the axe from a store (she had no need to and, let's face it, it's a bit obvious); and the testimony at the trial that she tried to buy prussic acid the day before the murders. This is true, she did, but the evidence was *excluded* from the trial by Judge Dewey because the prosecution couldn't prove that Lizzie only wanted the poison for a criminal purpose. Wonderful thing, the law.
Much more revealing is the sense of Lizzie feeling stifled in a mean provincial household when she dreams of a life of travel, fashion and excitement. In the scenes of confrontation between the inhabitants of 92 Second Street, you get a real sense of the tensions that were building up in that confined space, a confinement that was spiritual as well as physical.
I once read a review which said Elizabeth Montgomery portrayed Lizzie as a "wide-eyed zombie". That can be dismissed as rubbish. This is a performance of tremendous scope, showing a Lizzie who was stubborn, vain, calculating, callous and yet strangely vulnerable (you can't help but pity her as she sobs over her slaughtered pigeons). She was a fascinatingly complex woman and this is as good a piece of acting as you will find anywhere.
In 1975 I remember the reconstruction of the murders being described as "overlong and bloody". How times change. I am sure these days they could be far more graphic and true to the brutal nature of the actual killings. Again the film is tempted to go too far by having Lizzie (or more properly Elizabeth Montgomery) strip off before committing murder. This could be one reason why there was no blood on Lizzie's person immediately after the crimes, but the pathologist at the trial stated that if the murderer stood astride Abby Borden, and the first blow that struck Andrew hit a major artery (killing him instantly and releasing blood pressure), there would be very little blood splattering around.
I have waited, and waited, and waited, for UK TV to show this film again. I recently managed to purchase a rare video copy. I am pleased to see that my memory didn't play me false. This is a superb production, a credit to its makers, excellently cast and performed which deserves to be shown again and given a much wider commercial video/DVD release.
........................................................................................................................................
If you watch this movie, I recommend that you don't watch it alone, and make sure that you turn on the lights.I watched this made for television movie the first time that it aired, and I was absolutely terrified!I was alone, and I started turning on all of the lights in my apartment.I did not know of the famous murder case at the time.I was amazed that a woman could possibly commit such a dastardly act way back in 1892.I watch this movie once in a while, and it is still as creepy as it was in the 1970s. Elizabeth Montgomery was chilling as Lizzie Borden.I cannot put my finger on what Elizabeth Montgomery did in her portrayal to be so scary, but I can tell you, she was magnificent.The supporting cast was great.Fritz Weaver was superb as the father Andrew Borden. I have always loved Fritz Weaver's work as an actor.Katherine Helmond who played the sister Emma was very effective.Remember her on the television comedy Soap with Billy Crystal?
The music in this movie was very good at setting the mood. The music in the very beginning of the movie lets you know that something horrible has transpired.I think that the scene in the beginning, where the maid Bridget Sullivan raced to different houses looking for help,was really scary.It just helped to build up the tension. I know that if I had been the neighbor lady who went to the house, and saw Lizzie standing in the doorway, with a bizarre look on her face,and she said," someone has killed father", and then she opened the door, there is no way that I would have stepped into the house!I highly recommend this movie to Elizabeth Montgomery fans, and to people who want to see a superior thriller based on a true murder case.
........................................................................................................................................
I call it "The curse of the Montgomerys". Robert Montgomery was a fantastically gifted actor and (to a lesser extent) director and producer, but while recognized by his peers as such he was never given the ultimate accolades of Hollywood - top rank stardom and an Oscar (preferably for his marvelous performance as "Danny" in NIGHT MUST FALL). After 1951 he called his movie career quits and went into television, where he did very well with his anthology series ROBERT MONTGOMERY PRESENTS, and finally did get some award recognition in the form of an "Emmy". But his show has been out of syndication for decades, and there is no way for current audiences to judge his work. This is sad because Montgomery attempted, in his series, to lift television out of the rut he saw it falling into, and that he later condemned in writing.
Montgomery died in 1981. By that time he was gratified (one hopes) by the success of his daughter Elizabeth, who achieved television stardom as "Samantha Stevens", the central witch on the comedy BEWITCHED. But like others in television, Liz Montgomery never could escape the great success of her role, nor could she make the jump (which given her lovely figure and face she could have made) into films. She made a few movies, but none were strong enough to make her a star (not even on the level of her father). She would, however, be successful in choosing good television properties to do until the time of her own death in 1996.
Hence the "curse of the Montgomerys". Both very good talents - and never able to get into that really upper echelon they should have reached.
One of the films Liz chose to make was this 1975 reconstruction of the Fall River Axe Murders of August 1892 - the murders that are forever linked to another "Liz": Elizabeth "Lizzie" Borden. Briefly, Lizzie Borden lived with an older sister (Emma), her father Andrew Borden, and a stepmother (Abby Borden) in a house in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew was originally an undertaker, but he parlayed his cash and shrewdness into a large fortune (for that day). Unfortunately he was an absolute tightwad, forcing his daughters to take care of their own clothing when they could have had their own maids, and he was rather tyrannical about them serving him and his wife, the unloved Abby. The only other person who resided in the house was the household maid, Bridget O'Sullivan.
There was a food poisoning event a few weeks before the final catastrophe, but given the standards for poor food in the 19th Century this by itself means little. Then, on an August afternoon, Andrew was found hacked to death while napping on a couch in the parlor, and Abby similarly found hacked up on the floor of an upstairs bedroom. Emma had an alibi, as did a visiting uncle. Only Lizzie and Bridget were in the house, and neither claimed they heard anything unusual (although Bridget thought she heard a laugh at the top of the stairs when Andrew came home from his office). Due to Lizzie burning an old stained dress the police narrowed their suspicions on her. She was arrested, and the trial for the murders took place in 1893.
To this day, most Americans who hear the "Lizzie Borden took an ax" quatrain think she did it. She most probably did. But Lizzie was acquitted. The general reason given is that there was a lack of any desire by the all male jury to hang a gentlewoman. Whatever the reason, the case is still officially unsolved. If you would like to consider Bridget (under extreme stress from her employers doing her chores in that blazing August weather) cracking and doing them in you can consider it. There have been other theories avoiding Lizzie or Brigid, including Emma or her Uncle Morse getting involved, or a passing tramp, or even Andrew's discarded illegitimate son doing it.
Montgomery played Lizzie with dignity and guts, and (SPOILER COMING UP) knowledge that she was guilty. The concluding of the film showed her doing in first Abby and then waiting, naked, for Andrew to show up. It was a terrifically ice-cold performance in that part.
Of note too was the always dependable Fritz Weaver as Andrew and Katherine Helmond as Emma (not quite sure what to think). Don Porter played former Massachusetts Governor George Robinson, who skillfully navigated his client to acquittal. And that ultimately tragic actor, Ed Flanders played the district attorney, who is under intense pressure not to win this one if he can avoid it. It was a very well done piece of Americana, and again makes one regret that Montgomery could only get so far with her talent.
........................................................................................................................................
I remember I was 14 years old and babysitting some little kids and watching this movie all by myself (I had wisely put the little ones to bed). I remember walking home in the dark after watching this movie and running because I was so scared after watching this movie. Elizabeth Montgomery, whom I loved as Samantha the loving witch on "Bewitched" is wonderful in the role of the weird Lizzie Borden. Did she really kill her folks? The movie lets the watcher decide for themselves, but the acting, writing and directing were all top notch, especially for a TV movie. Wish it would come out on DVD, I would love to see it again after all these years.