The Woman in White - 1948

A while ago, I watched the 1997 version of this story. At that time, Mom thought we were watching an older version. Well, we got a hold of the DVD of this one and put it in for movie night. I also read the novel last year.

The story is a bit different. Count Fosco is at Limmeridge House at the beginning of the movie. He's also clearly evil from the start. The way he looks at people is very obvious, and I don't know why everyone is so oblivious to his intentions. When Hartright falls in love with Laura, he is told about the betrothal and leaves. On his way out, he comes across Anne and convinces her to come back to the house and tell Laura her secret. But Fosco is on the patio, and she runs off. There are other differences, but I'm just touching on a few of them.

Then we get to the end. A man in the woods is following Marion and Hartright and somehow overhears their plans to go to the asylum and rescue Laura (the switch happened when Fosco startled Anne and that killed her). Now, everyone is in the street waiting when Laura commits her grand escape from the asylum. She first encounters Glyde, and she screams. Then some guy gets crowned on the head. I thought it was Hartright, but then he popped out, so I don't know who that was. A scuffle ensues, and Glyde hits his head on the pavement and dies.

Now we get to the weird part. So, Laura was apparently pregnant in the asylum, but she was thin as a rail. She has a son, and Hartright married...Marion. Wait, I have to make sure I wrote that right. Yep, Marion. He tells Marion he fell in love with her at some point, and they kiss. At the very end, Hartright comes hom to Limmeridge, where he lives with both women. They greet him warmly, and it almost seems like they're one family. It was kind of funny.

Ok, the movie itself was okay. Again, they took a great story and destroyed it. They made Marion a cousin to Laura. Anne was also a cousin, even though they were played by the same actress. Also, Fosco's wife was Anne's mother?! Nah. Fosco also dies in a different way, thanks to his wife and a necklace. And he was icky. He was willing to give a full confession if Marion left the country with him. Eww.

I am left wondering why both the 1948 and the 1997 versions took a great story and changed it so much. They changed it in different ways, but it was so unnecessary. The plot was right there. Out of the two movies, I'm going to have to lean toward the 1997 being slightly closer, but that's not saying much. As a whole, the 1948 version was interesting, but I'm going to say I like the 1997 movie more. Maybe it's nostalgia, but the 1948 version was still entertaining.