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THANKSGIVING" Premieres Saturday, Nov. 22, 9-11 p.m. on cable's The Hallmark Channel (8-10 central) |
 JACQUELINE BISSET ...now playing grandmothers? |
Louisa May Alcott story
source of Hallmark movie
of TheColumnists.com
A warm-hearted holiday movie from The Hallmark Channel based on a story by Louisa May Alcott? Not exactly catnip for this reviewer--under normal circumstances. But then look whose name is above the title: Jacqueline Bisset.
Okay, sign me up. I'll watch it--and probably enjoy it in spite of myself. If the truth be known, I'd watch Bisset in a Bulgarian miniseries based on the Los Angeles Central Telephone Directory.
Though I had seen her in a few British films in which she was little more than a passing face, such as Richard Lester's hilarious "The Knack" in 1965, I first became really aware of Bisset in the 1968 film "The Detective" with Frank Sinatra and more or less fell in love with her. Eventually, I realized she was a lot more than just a very lovely young English beauty, but was also a remarkably good actress, especially once Hollywood grew tired of using her as window decoration and she started getting more character-related parts, mostly back in England.
Then, in 1985, when I was living and working in Los Angeles, covering both TV and movies, I found myself sitting in her home with her one winter day in Beverly Hills, doing an inteview, sympathizing with her because she had an awesomely bad cold and marvelling at how gorgeous a woman can be even while blowing her nose. She was every bit as charming and quotable as I expected her to be and even though her current boy friend, a certain notorious Russian ballet dancer, was lurking in the background, I pretty much fell in love with her all over again.
And decided then and there she could do no wrong as an actress, an attitude I've been able to maintain for the past couple of decades as I aged toward my present state of semi-dotage and Bisset grew out of her star period and into her reliably brilliant character actress status of today.
Which brings me back to reality and Bisset's latest role in a new made-for-TV movie called "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving," which premieres Saturday night (Nov. 22) at 9 on cable's The Hallmark Channel. (8 p.m., central time).
At first, I was stopped a little cold by the fact that Bisset was playing a grandmother in this movie. Okay, she turned 64 in September and the makeup dudes did let her show a line or two in her face. But check out that photo at the top of the page and tell me if your Grandma ever looked like that. Let me state for the record that as far as I'm concerned Jacqueline Bisset is taking very good care of herself and probably still turns quite a few heads when she walks down the street--most definitely not using a walker.
In the movie, which takes place in frontier America, Bisset plays Isabella, a well-to-do woman who is seriously estranged from her daughter, Mary (Helene Joy), and has had little to do with Mary or her children for years. I'll let you discover what the estrangement was all about when you watch the movie, but the important thing to know is that Isabella comes back into the life of her daughter and grandchildren when Mary's oldest daughter, "Tilly" (Tatiana Maslany), writes her a letter, revealing how desperately Mary has been struggling to feed and clothe her family since the man of the house was "kidnapped by gypsies."
So, principally, the whole movie is about the bringing together of the estranged mother and daughter right around the Thanksgiving holiday.
Because the movie is adapted from an old, old short story by Alcott ("Little Women," etc.), who's far from contemporary in her outlook, and is aimed at a mainstream female and/or family viewership, you can be sure "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving" is not going to rock your world with significance. However, I can vouch for the movie anyway because it's beautifully filmed on mostly snow-covered landscapes and has very strong performances by the young Canadian actress Maslany, the Australian actress Joy and by Bisset, who's now one of England's most treasured character performers.
It's an especially good movie to kick back and enjoy during the busy holiday season if you've spent the day working or shopping and the weather outside is cold and frightful. There's a friendly, nostalgic, let's gather 'round the fireplace feel to it and you don't even have to be a Bisset disciple like me to find something worthwhile to savor during its leisurely two hour running time.
©2008 by Ron Miller. The photos are courtesy of The Hallmark Channel. This column first posted Nov. 17, 2008.
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