Conference bookie::movies

436.0. "Burned at the Stake" by DSSDEV::RUST () Tue Jan 18 1994 07:38

    This is a Bert I. Gordon film so obscure that it isn't listed in any of
    my film-review books *or* video catalogs. (Bert Gordon movies tend to
    show up on Mystery Science Theater 3000 a lot, which might give you an
    idea what they're like, but I don't think the MSTs have found this one
    yet.) It's a weird blend of a Salem, Mass. Chamber of Commerce
    promotional video and a dimly-lit "You Are There!" documentary about
    Puritan times, aimed at the 8th grade...
    
    It starts out with a reenactment of part of the Salem witch trials,
    with lots of rather good period detail, including the accents. [The
    credits revealed that Plimouth Plantation was involved, which may
    explain this part.] A man watches helplessly as first his wife, and
    then his 5-year-old daughter, are charged with witchcraft and
    condemned.
    
    Then comes a truly terrifying scene: a busful of school children are
    being taken on an educational day trip to the Salem Witch Museum.
    While in the museum watching the show (taped narration of the events of
    that time, with spotlights focusing on various wax tableaux depicting
    the participants), one of the figures comes to life - the man whose
    child was condemned as a witch. He tries to grab one of the
    schoolgirls, but is chased off. The girl is badly shaken, and
    begins to have spells in which she speaks in early American dialect and
    apparently thinks that she's Anne Putnam, one of the girls who did most
    of the accusing during the trials. 
    
    Things get muddy after that - well, it _is_ a Gordon film. The
    out-of-time visitor is caught and jailed, very much confused about the
    whole thing; the girl wanders around the local graveyard in her
    nightdress a lot, while her mother looks bemused and asks her whether
    she really feels all right (and apparently takes "Aye, moother, Ah'm
    foine" as an acceptable response); the police chief keeps finding the
    bodies of people who had odd accidents in connection with the girl or
    the time traveller, and eventually turns to the town's head witch for
    help (she looked like Laurie Cabot, the real (if self-proclaimed) head
    witch of Salem) but wasn't played by her); much mumbling and
    hand-waving ensues, punctuated by so-so special effects and lots of
    flashbacks to the execution site. [Note to history students: witches
    were hanged, not burnt, in the American colonies, but since "Hanged on
    the Gallows" apparently didn't have as nice a ring as "Burned at the
    Stake" (or perhaps because "Hang 'em High" was taken), Bert decided
    that the little 5-year-old witch would be burned instead.]
    
    I can't say that the suspense was riveting, exactly, and the plot was
    rather loosely knit. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why I sat
    through the whole thing. Ah, well. The best bits were the reenactments,
    and one or two nicely atmospheric scenes in the graveyard; the worst
    bits were those wherein any of the modern-day people tried to act. [I
    think Guy Stockwell, who once dashed about as Zorro, had a totally
    unnecessary role in this, but I didn't recognize him under the bulk and
    the beard.] All in all, a waste of some good period footage...
    
    ...but I was mildly chilled to discover that, of the many who were
    accused of witchcraft in Salem, one really was a 4- or 5-year-old
    child...
    
    -b

    Nit alert - I believe Guy Williams was Zorro.

    Well, that would explain why I didn't recognize him. ;-)
    
    -b

    re.-2 Wasn't Guy Williams the dad on LOST IN SPACE? If so, is it the 
    same guy ( pun intended) as referred to in .0?
    
    -Mike
    

    Guy of "Space" and Guy of "Zorro" were the same, but apparently the Guy
    of "Stake" was a different guy.
    
    I have no idea where Guy of Gisbourne comes in. ;-)
    
    -b

    re .4
    
    Wasn't that Basil Rathbone?