Caroline?

Caroline? a made-for-TV movie based on the E.L. Konigsburg novel (teleplay by Michael DeGuzman) is a superior movie of the highest order. Being part mystery, part topical storytelling, it takes the viewer into the lives of a well to do family with a few skeletons. Seemingly Caroline Carmichael dies in a plane accident 15 years ago, or did she? Her father believes the girl claiming to be her, or does he? Now you won't guess why she's come back, or will you? Deftly played by Stephanie Zimbalist, Caroline is much richer in spirit than the old Caroline seemed to be. Caroline returns just before the deadline to claim her Grandmother Adkins inheritance. This is a matter of consternation for her father's younger wife. Caroline returns to find she has a half brother and sister and a suspicious stepmother. George Grizzard, Pamela Reed, the late Shawn Phelan and Jenny Jacobs play her present family. As Caroline becomes involved in the lives of the Carmichaels she learns family secrets galore. Rounding out the wonderful cast are the great Patricia Neal, the phenomenal Dorothy McGuire and Mary Nell Santacroce. To tell more would be scandalous. This was originally shown on CBS television in 1990 as a Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation. By the way, this won an Emmy for Best Television Movie or Special. When you need an inspirational movie to get you through the day, put this in your VCR, you won't be disappointed. Still not on DVD, but is on Prime Video.

The best made for television film ever. A story that will stay with you forever. A pitch perfect cast brings this great story to life. Stephanie Zimbalist is a revelation. What a shame that she left the world of film for theater.Shawn Phelan is great as her young "brother". Had he not died so young he would have had a great career in films. The movie also benefits from the presence of the great character actor George Grizzard. While the cast is wonderful it is the story so original, so engrossing, so haunting. If you get the chance to see this film don't miss it. While it is made for T.V. it is better than most theatrical releases.

Did the author of the book on which this movie is based actually win a Newbery? I can understand why, without ever having read it. The movie is like an above average after-school special. There are two equally important themes dealt with. (1) Is Stephanie Zimbalist really the Caroline who disappeared fourteen years earlier, or an imposter come to claim the matriarch's fortune? In the end, it becomes a matter of little importance (and in fact has been done better elsewhere) except that the lingering questions trigger fits of jealousy and rivalry on the part of Pamela Reed as Caroline's stepmother. (2) Is little Hillary (whom her parents call Heidi) as retarded as she seems or is she educable? Before "Caroline"'s arrival, a family therapist would immediately recognize Heidi as the "identified patient," the glue that holds the rest of the family together because of her disability. In giving all their attention to Heidi, the other family members can avoid dealing with deeper and potentially more disturbing issues, like "Who's giving the orders around here"? To deprive the other members of Heidi's affliction is like suddenly restoring the use of his legs to a man who has been a paraplegic for years and has managed to adjust to his condition, however precarious that adjustment may be. Yet this is precisely what Caroline threatens to do, when she discovers that Heidi has remained a "baby", as she calls herself, through the simple process of having always been treated as one. Her parents and brother have convinced themselves that Heidi will never be able to read or even perform simple tasks like removing her own coat. Under Caroline's compassionate tutelage, however, she begins to do exactly that, which threatens the dynamic underpinning of the family. Caroline brings discord to a barely functioning family, but it is the sort of pain that is necessary for one to undergo in order to remove an abcessing tooth. The story is interesting and, for the perceptive, those looking for more than just another mystery, kind of educational as well. Of course, all ends happily, with Heidi (a name for a little Swiss girl) evolving into Hillary (a name that now has acquired Senatorial resonance). The performances are all quite good. Pamela Reed, the putative villain of the piece, is not without sympathy. George Grizzard is likeable, as always, even when his character is dubious. Stephanie Zimbalist often seems to bring, willy nilly, a certain devious sensuality to her roles. That quality must be noted in anyone who can inspire incestuous urges in somebody like Charlton Heston. Here, it's muted, and most of the time she seems like just a nice young woman trying to do something good. I have no idea if Jenny Jacobs, playing Heidi, suffered from a neurological deficit, but whether she did or not makes no difference; her enactment of the character would be hard to improve upon. Sometimes the dialogue is a bit new-agey, especially towards the end -- "You can be whoever you want to be" or something. What on earth does that mean? (I'd like to be King Farouk.) But it's a minor weakness in an otherwise superior TV movie.

I remember seeing this with my aunt when I was about 8 as a Hallmark movie on CBS. I remembered liking it and never forgot about it. I just saw it again recently on the Hallmark channel, and I don't think the themes are too adult for a child. I basically understood what was going on the first time I saw it. I'm usually not big on what I think of as Lifetime movies, but Caroline? is well made and the performances were believable. I didn't even know it was based on a book, so I can't comment on how accurate it is compared to that. Looking at it as just a movie, without the comparison to a book, it's great. I'd recommend watching it to anyone with a free weekend afternoon.

I thought the above commentary was unduly harsh. To be fair I have the book in my more recent memory, but I remember the story dealing with a very complex set of ideas in a way that children could understand. [Granting the the movie was only billed as being family friendly, while the book was expressly aimed for young adults.] It wasn't supposed to be a surprise whether or not this woman was really their older half sister. The important thing was the realization that it really did not matter. A strange woman comes to a wounded family and presents herself as a part of it. She then proceeds to fix many of the problems that plague it- she literally saves the children. The boy is rescued from isolation and the girl from a life somewhere between a pet and an embarrassment.

There are some things I might be filling in from the book, but I don't remember finding the movie lacking. I was even motivated to keep an eye out for Father's Archane Daughter to read it. Some minor changes or things left unsaid were inevitable- Caroline disappearing in a plane crash instead of a kidnapping, the younger children's mother's emotional distance, the full role of of Caroline's old headmistress- etc. The only thing I can think of that was wholely snipped was the interesting relationship between the father and Caroline. They probably thought they could not do it justice so they thought it better to leave it out. Plenty of movies have suffered from the unwillingness to make that sort of decision.

On the whole I recommend the movie, and I truly recommend the book (along with everything else if E. L Konigsberg I have gotten around to reading- I think she just collects Newberys)