The Collector (1965)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

John Fowles (novel)
Stanley Mann (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 June 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Almost a love story

Plot:

A man kidnaps a woman and holds her hostage just for the pleasure of having her there.

Plot Keywords:

Butterfly | Bank Clerk | Cellar | Art Student | Collector

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Terence Stamp	...	Freddie Clegg
Samantha Eggar	...	Miranda Grey
Mona Washbourne	...	Aunt Annie
Maurice Dallimore	...	The Neighbor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Allyson Ames	...	First Victim (uncredited)
Gordon Barclay	...	Clerk (uncredited)
William Bickley	...	Crutchley (uncredited)
David Haviland	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Kenneth More	...	(uncredited)
Edina Ronay	...	Nurse / Next Victim (uncredited)

Directed by
William Wyler

Writing credits
John Fowles		(novel)
Stanley Mann		(writer) and
John Kohn		(writer)
Terry Southern		uncredited

Produced by
Jud Kinberg	....	producer
John Kohn	....	producer

Original Music by
Maurice Jarre

Cinematography by
Robert Krasker		(non-studio segments)
Robert Surtees		(studio segments)

Film Editing by
David Hawkins
Robert Swink

Art Direction by
John Stoll

Set Decoration by
Frank Tuttle

Makeup Department
Ruby Felker	....	hair stylist
Harold Fletcher	....	makeup artist
Virginia Jones	....	hair stylist
Rex Lane	....	makeup supervisor
Don Schoenfeld	....	makeup artist
Pearl Tipaldi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Philip Shipway	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roy Baird	....	assistant director
Sergei Petschnikoff	....	assistant director
Robert Swink	....	second unit director

Art Department
Tom Plews	....	property master
Robin Vaccarino	....	draughtsman

Sound Department
Cyril Collick	....	sound recordist
Clem Portman	....	sound re-recordist
Charles J. Rice	....	sound supervisor
Jack Solomon	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
John Harris	....	camera operator
Andrew J. McIntyre	....	camera operator
Norman Warwick	....	camera operator: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Vi Alford	....	wardrobe: women
Brenda Dabbs	....	wardrobe mistress
Jack Martell	....	wardrobe: men

Music Department
Richard C. Harris	....	music editor (as Richard Harris)

Other crew
Isabelle Blodgett	....	script supervisor
Kathleen Freeman	....	dialogue coach
Richard Kuhn	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Collector Company
• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia-Bavaria Filmgesellschaft m.b.H. (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• LK-TEL Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The Butterfly Collector (UK)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (flashback sequence) | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:X (1965) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Argentina:13 | Finland:(Banned) (1965) | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chilham, Kent, England, UK

Company:

Collector Company

Trivia:

The story makes constant reference to Shakespeare's play "The Tempest". In "The Tempest" Miranda is Prospero's daughter. Fred Clegg also refers to himself as "Ferdinand", or "Ferdie" to disguise his identity. Ferdinand is the name of Alonso's son in the play. Miranda, however, calls Fred "Caliban", who is an ugly misshapen dwarf in the play.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: You can call Freddie "Lightning" because of the speed he can change his socks. When he and Miranda agree on the four weeks, we can see that in the cellar Freddie has brown socks on. But right after that when he sits down in the garden, his socks are blue.

Quotes:

Freddie Clegg: Don't worry. I'll respect your every privacy.

Movie Connections:

References Ben-Hur (1959)

an 'ahead of its time' classic

Long before Hannibal Lecter's first appearance on celluloid, William Wyler's "The Collector" presented us with the premise of the gentleman killer, although you do not think of him as a killer.

The Collector refers to a lonely butterfly collector played by Terrence Stamp, who lives by himself in rural England. He kidnaps a pretty college student played by Samantha Eggar. He has no plans to hurt her but feels that the more time she spends with him, the more chances she will fall in love with him

That backstory is the major difference between "The Collector" and your other serial killer movies. Today's serial killer movies starts with the mad killer. The Collector starts out fairly innocently and slowly loses that sense of kindness. The movie's end is almost the opening of today's murderer movies.

The two person cast is outstanding. Terence Stamp is wonderfully creepy- and smart! However he does give off a sense of pathos. You really hope that he could hook up with Samantha Eggar. Eggar's performance is brilliant. She is sexy, yet gives off a vulnerability and later on desperation.

Wyler's direction is wonderful when you consider he essentially has two actors in one set (for a comparison rent Hitchcock's "Rope").Even with these limitations, he still creates suspense and compels you to watch even though there's not a lot of 'stuff' going on.

"The Collector" is an underrated gem, perfect to rent when "Hannibal" or "Along came a Spider" is out at the video store