Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, despite the editing
Review: "The Collector" falls within the "Psycho" tradition in focusing on the repressed sexual longings of a quietly alienated loner, but it's closer to "Peeping Tom" in portraying the sympathetic side of the killer. This is highlighted, first, by the performances themselves, which are superficially cold but in reality display a great deal of underlying warmth. But it's also underscored by the fact that William Wyler's madman is only an accidental murderer, his intention being only to harbor his object of desire, not murder her (murder, as it happens, being simply the "collateral" result of his own perversity). "The Collector," in fact, is probably the most humanized portrait of a sociopath ever put on film, and Terence Stamp makes us realize in every scene just how starved for affection he is. Not even "Peeping Tom" rivals it in this respect, since the analytical approach of Michael Powell toward his deranged protagonist, not to mention the peculiar fetishism involved, prevents us from really identifying with him. By contrast, Stamp's character could easily represent any otherwise "normal" human being, who is merely more estranged and sensitive than most. The DVD transfer of the film is fine, certainly not the best conversion of a sixties film I've seen, but still doing credit to the film. The sound is also superior, and I personally love Maurice Jarre's theme music, particularly the beautifully orchestrated version played during the closing
credits. One caution, however: this DVD has been edited slightly, and those used to seeing the brief frontal nudity of Ms. Eggar during the "seduction" sequence in the final quarter of the film will search in vain for it here. This seems to have resulted from some absurd prudery on the part of the company, but it also hurts the film, since the nudity, far from being "pornographic," highlights the intimacy of the scene, and, in addition, serves to emphasize Stamp's reaction to Eggar's slow and delicate offering of herself. Just one more example, in other words, of how the bowdlerizing of a film against the director's wishes is always a perilous exercise.
Rating: 
Summary: The Ultimate Collection
Review: 'I suppose it was the loneliness and being far away from anything else that made me decide to buy the house. And after I did I told myself I'd never go through with the plan, even though I'd made all the preparations and knew where she was every minute of the day.'
With these opening lines, Freddie Clegg (Terence Stamp) confirms to the viewer that a ride of haunting and psychological suspense is in store for all who attempt to harness a personality so perplexing and multilayered. Clegg possesses a personality that dwells in the valley of sexual repression and delayed maturity, skirting peaks of gauche inferiority to his surrounding peers. His life revolves around the low of his dreary job as a bank clerk to what he considers his supreme hold on life as he knows it -- the collecting of butterflies. He has just won a considerable amount of money on the English football pools and what he intends to do with it is the gist of this tale -- the collection of a human specimen in the form of London art student, Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar).
Clegg purchases an Elizabethan country estate that holds the prize of ancient cellars that will contain his quarry. Once Miranda has been spirited away in a kidnapping by him, the real story begins. A game of cat and mouse ensues and over the course of the erupting minutes, one is never quite sure what will or will not happen. Will she escape or will evil prevail?
Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar have etched luminous performances under the direction of veteran Hollywood director, William Wyler. Stamp's Clegg is horrifying in an obscene way, for he projects terror as can only be portrayed by one who is truly mad and consorting with harbingers of class distinction as he perceives them to be. He is that most capable of monsters who needs no makeup or agents from the supernatural world to make his mark, but rather the corrupt nature of a beast that blends so well into the woodwork as to be unseen to the naked eye. The precision of each move he makes and the play from his dark eyes as they change, chameleon like, from drone to madman, are a marvelous and terrifying thing to see.
Samantha Eggar is Stamp's perfect foil, the hunted as pursued by the hunter, in a match that will determine her ultimate fate. She is in a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. She morphs from a carefree, young art student to a woman caught in a web of deceit, sexual outbursts and insanity. She has become the latest 'catch' for Clegg, the crown jewel of his collection. Miranda has only one way out -- to learn to love Clegg by being his 'guest'. Will she? It will become a battle of survival of the fittest.
The Collector is based upon the novel by John Fowles that created such a stir in the early 60's. The book took the form of a diary as written by Miranda after her capture and betrayed all of the emotions, gambits and tragedies that befell the twosome. The screenplay as written by Stanley Mann and John Kohn is quite literate and maintains a steady stream of interest in this royal battle of the sexes. They were both nominated for and Oscar Best Screenplay, along with Wyler for Best Director and Eggar as Best Actress. Wyler is best known as the director of such perennial favourites as Ben Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives and Wuthering Heights.
While the acting takes place on a very limited set for the most part and a feeling of a stage production making itself evident, the story and the acting are the glue that hold the production together. The latter two are superbly realized.
The soundtrack is by veteran composer Maurice Jarre, and while it is effective for the most part, at times it is too much and presents a dilemma. Less can sometimes be more. Jarre seems unsure in his attempts and while a theme runs throughout the film, elements that seem to be presented for effect get in the way. Jarre is capable of much better when presented with a real challenge.
This film is a quiet little gem; that diamond in the rough that is either overlooked or never quite discovered for the wonder that it is. It is a decided change of pace from productions that would have been profoundly filled with blood, gore and special effects to get their point across. What wonders the English language can project when put into capable hands and minds. The Collector is available on video, but may present a challenge to locate. If you are lucky enough to track a version down, you will not be disappointed. The Collector will stay with you long after it has ended and that, for me, is the mark of a truly great film.
Rating:
Summary: "SPECIMEN"
Review: BANNED various countries for being too dangerous for the "Impressionable" its still quite lethal today. Violent? Yes. Sexual? Yes [in a coy sort of way]. Disturbing? [Hannibal without the teeth country]. William Wyler brilliantly directs this textbook version of the Fowles novel. Terence Stamp is our Freddie [reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer with money], and Samantha Eggar, not quite the victim, more of a confused abductee ....... briefly, for the uninitiated, our "hero" a disturbed,gray little clerk comes into money, WITH the money he acquires a remote country estate, NOW to find a mate....he is in love with this gorgeous gal, but ....THEN, there's the kidnapping, the Romance {?}, it becomes horribly complicated, horribly complicated ..... Very contemporary, and a literal version of the novel it's original and worth a dark night's viewing. Also for the very disturbed? "Peeping Tom" [Karl Bohem], and "That Cold Day in the Park" [Sandy Dennis]
Rating:
Summary: it's been so long...
Review: following my graduation from an all-girls public school in baltimore, i had a summer to kill, so to speak. worked a bit part-time, and got on my mom's nerves to the point where she gave me a few bucks to take the streetcar downtown and see a movie. i went alone to see 'the collector'. he (stamp) was brilliant, sick and irresistible; she (eggar) was stunning, irresistible and smart enough - one hoped - to ultimately evade his sick and relentless capture...not. when i left the theater and waited for the transit bus to take me safely home, i shuddered every time an unmarked telephone company van passed by. ironically, just watched a 'discovery' channel documentary about teenie-bopper mallrats who were engaged, seduced and ultimately murdered by a "talent agent". perhaps ' the collector', one of the penultimate, yet subtle, stalker movies of all times, should be required viewing for today's psuedo-sophisticated teens. though i subliminally rooted for stamp's tragic character, he was unmistakably ill and - to my mind - more frightening than any obvious cad i've seen since. maybe it's just me...sd
Rating:
Summary: Adolescent fantasy = twisted adult reality
Review: Freddy is an invisible man in the sense that nobody ever sees him. In fact, the only time he gets noticed is when he is being made fun of. Freddy gets his enjoyment in life from collecting and studying butterflies, and he must have killed a thousand specimens in this enterprise. His first love is Miranda Grey, a girl he's studied for years, but one who's never seen him despite riding the bus together all through high-school. When Freddy wins a large sum of money in the lottery, he quits his job as a bank clerk and is now able to devote himself full time to collecting; however, what he has in mind is Miranda. If only she could get to know him surely his feelings of love would be reciprocated. And so with careful planning he purchases a remote old house in the country, kidnaps the girl, and sets her up in a locked room completely furnished to her tastes. "They'll come looking for me!" she threatens. "They are," says Freddy, "but no one's looking for me." Freddy's newfound wealth has given him an opportunity to turn adolescent fantasy to reality, and now the beautiful "untouchable" girl of his dreams only has eyes for him. If he gets caught, at least he'll have had that in his miserable existence. What Freddy really hoped to achieve by force, was to get Miranda to love him of her own free will. He fails to see the contradiction. And though Freddy succumbs to the reality that we all want things that we can never have, he knows that if given the power, we all "take what we can get." Based on the Novel "The Collector" by John Fowles.
Rating:
Summary: Totally enthralling ...
Review: Just marvellous, a real classic British suspense drama, with light touches of both comic and tragic elements ... Both actors deserved the praise and recognition they received, and more; and lasting testament to their brilliance is that they are both still household names to this day. The last good thing I find is that this film does not betray the book, as so many often do. Watch this film.
Rating:
Summary: Pathology In Rural England
Review: Terrance Stamp is a brilliant actor who (like fellow Brit Michael Caine) has accepted some awful roles for the sake of a paycheck. Stamp's portrayal of General Zod, in one of the Superman sequels, is one example of how he has tainted his rich legacy. The recent release of "The Limey" proves how sublime he is when he is at the height of his acting powers. In the 1965 American/British production of the John Fowles' novel "The Collector", Terrance Stamp's understated and disturbing portrayal of Freddie Clegg is his most memorable role. Clegg is a pathological stalker who abducts Miranda Grey (played by Samantha Eggar) and imprisons her in a root cellar on the grounds of his Tudor estate in rural England. Stamp masterfully plays the role of a throughly dislikable fellow who, astoundingly, wins our sympathy by succumbing to mastery of his beautiful prey. The struggle between Stamp and Samatha Eggar to bend each other's will is a case study pyschological domination. In the end, Stamp's cunning captor is outclassed by Eggar's sense of entitlement and her intellectual sophistication. As Stamp realizes that he will never gain the love his coed hostage, he loses this twisted mating game by resorting to physical violence. "The Collector" is of my favorite movies from the sixties.It is one of the last films of the great William Wyler, and one of those rare movies where everything works. The story line is fascinating and it is impossible to second guess the outcome. The chemistry between Stamp and Eggar is amazing. Stamp's body language of a hunching posture and downcast eyes, counterpoints Eggar's graceful movement and relentless eye contact. The musical score by Marice Jarre has a haunting majesty. Jarre was a one of the great old school film composers, from the days when scores were written to complement the movie, and not just a mish-mash of popular songs from the latest alternative rock bands. The lush, impressionistic cinematography captures the shimmering beauty of rural England. This film is a definite "keeper" and I await it's release in the DVD format.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest Thrillers I've ever seen
Review: The minds and thoughts of a death-fascinated butterfly-collector are quite interesting, especially if he's got a problem with women. After I've seen that movie, I was really flashed ! This is really one of the best films I've seen in my hole life, beneath Pulp Fiction and The Matrix. Yeah baby, I like those "dark minds" !!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not as Disturbing as the Book
Review: There was a time in the mid-1960's when movies were becoming more explicit in their handling of sex and violence, but they still hadn't caught up with what could be depicted on the printed page. This is the problem with "The Collector" which is based on John Fowles' novel. Terrence Stamp is quite good as the kidnapper, but his full creepiness doesn't really come off as vividly as it does in the book. The last act of violence towards the Eggar character (which is fully and horrifyingly told in the novel) couldn't be shown in a movie made at that time, especially not by a director with the old-time Hollywood reputation of William Wyler. It would take another few years for a big-time filmmaker like Alfred Hitchcock in "Frenzy" to up the ante in sexual violence. Whether the results, made manifest in the violent movies of today, are a blessing or a curse is of course up to you.
Rating:
Summary: Well Made Movie for 1960s (worst decade except for present)
Review: This is not the kind of movie you can easily forget! A mentally disturbed (or at least emotionally retarded) man kidnaps and imprisons a young woman that he has "fancied" his entire life. I will admit that I was a little turned on with certain "fantasy" elements presented in this movie BEFORE seeing the film. After a short time watching the events around the unjust abuse experienced by this innocent, trusting woman, I could only feel pity that several women have had to deal with similar or worse circumstances caused by men. There is an argument (weak one) justifying some of the man's action; he felt love for this woman and had great difficulty expressing his emotions in a conventional manner. The two main actors are excellent and the movie was well done in the style of classic films. I don't want to give away events of the film (AS OTHERS HAVE DONE BEFORE I SAW THE MOVIE- THANKS- NOT).
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