The Other

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 1972 film from Tom Tryon's novel. For other uses, see Other (disambiguation).

The Other
Directed by	Robert Mulligan
Produced by	Tom Tryon, Robert Mulligan
Written by	Tom Tryon (also novel)
Starring	Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, Chris Udvarnoky, Martin Udvarnoky
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Robert L. Surtees
Editing by	Folmar Blangsted, O. Nicholas Brown
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	1972
Running time	108 min
Country	USA
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Other is a 1972 chiller directed by Robert Mulligan, adapted for film by Tom Tryon, from his bestselling novel. It stars Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, and Chris & Martin Udvarnoky.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Plot

It's a seemingly idyllic summer in 1935, and identical twins Niles and Holland Perry play around the bucolic family farm. We see the daily activities of the farm through the eyes of the eleven year old boys. Elder Holland is clearly the amoral mischief maker, though sympathetic Niles is often caught in their shenanigans. Niles carries a Prince Albert tobacco tin with several secret trinkets, including the Perry family ring, which came down from their grandfather, and something mysteriously wrapped in wax paper. He asks Holland to "take them back," but Holland insists "I gave them to you, they're yours now." Their cousin Russell finds the boys in the forbidden apple cellar, and promises to snitch on them.

Their mother is a recluse in her upstairs bedroom, grieving over the recent death of the boys' father in the apple cellar. Grandmother Ada, a Russian emigrant, dotes on Niles, and has taught him a psychic ability to project himself outside of his body, "the great game."

As the summer progresses, Holland appears to play some deadly practical jokes. A pitchfork left in the hayloft takes the life of their sneering cousin Russell before he can betray their secret hideaway in the apple cellar. A frightening magic trick for nearby spinster Mrs. Rowe causes her to have a fatal heart attack. After Russell's funeral, Niles' mother finds the ring, and the severed finger that is wrapped in wax paper. That night she asks Niles how he has possession of these. "Holland gave it to me," he answers. She's shocked, and asks him when he gave it to Niles. "In the parlor, after our birthday," he answers. Holland appears, whispering, "Give it back!" After a struggle on the landing over the ring, she falls down the stairs and is rendered partially paralyzed.

Ada finds Holland's harmonica at Mrs. Rowe's house after her body is discovered. Finding Niles in church, transfixed by the image of "The Angel of a Better Day," she asks Niles about Mrs. Rowe, but he identifies Holland as the culprit. Ada takes Niles to the family graveyard and demands that Niles face the truth: Holland has been dead since their birthday in March, when he fell down the well. He was thought to have been buried with his father's ring … which we know to be in Niles' possession. At home, Ada blames herself for teaching Niles "the game," but insists that he not play it anymore. But Niles continues to talk with Holland. Holland helps Niles to remember how he got his father's ring: Holland insisted that he cut his finger off while he lay in his casket in the parlor. In the stairway, Ada hears Niles whispering….

More tragedy strikes the family. During a storm, Rider and Torrie's newborn baby is kidnapped, a copycat of the recent Lindbergh tragedy. (The trial has been in the news, and Niles has a crayon portrait of Bruno Hauptmann in his bedroom.) As the adults mount a search for the baby, Niles sneaks off to the barn. Aunt Ada suspects that Niles knows more than he's letting on. When she discovers Niles in the barn, pleading for Holland to tell him where the baby is, she fears that Niles is beyond hope. She insists that he, Niles, has done all these things, but he refuses to believe her. The baby is found, drowned in one of Mr. Angelini's wine casks, and they apprehend the handyman. Returning to the barn and shutting the door, Ada hears Niles in the apple cellar where the boys like to hide, whispering with Holland. She empties a gas can into the apple cellar, and drops a lantern, starting a cataclysmic fire.

As autumn begins, the ruins of the barn are being cleared. We find that Niles is alive and well. His mother is a catatonic invalid, Ada has died in the barn fire,… and no one knows Niles' terrible secret.

[edit] Cast

• Chris Udvarnoky ... Niles Perry
• Martin Udvarnoky ... Holland Perry
• Uta Hagen ... Ada
• Diana Muldaur ... Alexandra
• Norma Connolly ... Aunt Vee
• Victor French ... Mr. Angelini
• Loretta Leversee ... Winnie
• Lou Frizzell ... Uncle George
• Clarence Crow ... Russell
• John Ritter ... Rider
• Jenny Sullivan ... Torrie
• Portia Nelson ... Mrs. Rowe
• Jack Collins ... Mr. Pretty

[edit] Trivia

• John Ritter makes one of his earliest appearances in this film, as the boys' brother-in-law, Rider Gannon.
• Rider's young wife and the twins' sister, Torrie, is played by Jenny Sullivan, who, at the time, was married to singer-songwriter Jim Messina of Loggins & Messina fame.
• This is the only movie appearance by the twins Chris and Martin Udvarnoky, the featured stars.
• Though real-life twins played Niles and Holland, director Mulligan never shows the brothers in frame together. They are always separated by a camera pan, or an editing cut.
• The film was shot entirely on location in Murphy's, CA and Angel's Camp, CA.

[edit] External links

• The Other at the Internet Movie Database
• Roger Ebert's review of the movie
• Review by Richard Scheib at The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review
• Review at 1000 MISSPENT HOURS AND COUNTING
• Review at scifilm.org
• Review at RottenTomatoes.com