The Collector (1965)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

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

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 | Bank Clerk | Friend | Art Student

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

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:

For the sequence in which Freddie drags Miranda through the rain, William Wyler had prop men throw buckets of water over Samantha Eggar without warning between takes. Eggar later spoke of how Wyler succeeded in making her feel "defenseless," hence deepening her performance.

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:

Miranda Grey: I've stayed the four weeks.
Freddie Clegg: I just have to have you here a little longer.
Miranda Grey: Why? What more can I do? What more can you want?
Freddie Clegg: You know what I want... it's what I've always wanted. You could fall in love with me if you tried. I've done everything I could to make it easy. You just won't try!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Laverne & Shirley: The Collector (#5.19)" (1980)

Terrence Stamp Delivers Creepy Performance in Deeply Unsettling Film

This intensely creepy film showcases director William Wyler in his intimate, character-study mode, and features a superb performance from Terrence Stamp in the title role, as the "collector" of beauty. Stamp creates a portrait of sexual obsession that is every bit as unsettling in its way as the long legacy of serial killer movies in existence. Samantha Eggar, as one of Stamp's "specimens," is used more as a catalyst for driving the plot and less as a character for whom we have any great deal of interest. Is that a flaw of the material or the intention of Wyler and novelist John Fowles, on whose book this is based? If their intention was to make us sympathize with, and even relate to, the character with the obsession, they succeed brilliantly.

The ending genuinely surprised me, which happens all too infrequently in movies like this. The film feels like a product of independent cinema before independent cinema really existed.

Grade: A