I’ve always loved the story of Heidi, the cheerful little orphan girl
who goes to live with her grandfather in the mountains and then longs to
return after she is whisked away to town to serve as a companion for a
girl confined to a wheelchair, but until yesterday, I had never seen the
1993 made-for-TV Disney version of the movie directed by Michael Ray
Rhodes and starring Noley Thornton. My dad picked it up yesterday on the
first day of my city’s annual Great American Book Sale, which also has
plenty of videos, DVDs, CDs, tapes and records for sale. Last night, we
sat down to watch the nearly three-hour-long movie, which was different
in several ways from other versions I remember.
The story begins
with the departure of Heidi’s parents from the mountain following a
fight between her father and grandfather. A wicked storm is brewing, and
as the infant Heidi’s parents flee, a sudden treefall dispatches them
both, leaving only Heidi alive. Dete, a distant relative, takes her down
to the nearest town to live with her, but eight years later, when she
finds the child too much of an inconvenience, she returns her to her
grandfather, whose naturally surly disposition has soured still further
with the realization that he drove his son to his death. Still, it isn’t
long before Heidi manages to win him over, and she thrives on the
mountains, drinking in the flowers and herding her grandfather’s goats
with young shepherd Peter. Then Dete returns and forces her to accompany
her to Frankfurt.
In Frankfurt, Heidi finds a new best friend
in Klara, a sickly 12-year-old who lives in a mansion and is doted on by
kindly butler Sebastian and uptight house manager Fraulein Rottenmeier.
The two girls get along well, but Klara insists that Heidi is here to
stay, while all the little girl wants is to go back home to her mountain
and Grandfather. The bulk of the movie revolves around the question of
whether Klara will be unselfish enough to allow her new friend to return
to the life that she loves so dearly. Would she be sacrificing her own
happiness in order to give Heidi hers, or might they both find
contentment in such an arrangement?
Thornton is adorable as
Heidi, a wisp of a girl with an irrepressible grin and eyes equally
capable of sparkling and looking glassy and dull. When she is on the
mountain, so beautifully captured by cinematographer Dennis C. Lewiston,
her exuberance is unmistakable, and we see it slowly ebb away in the
city as she begins to lose hope that she will ever return. Thornton is
utterly winning in the role, and it’s little wonder that she is so
quickly beloved by most who meet her.
I wasn’t as impressed with
the other two child actors. Ben Brazier spends most of his time looking
sulky as Peter, and Lexi Randall makes Klara, who I usually find an
entirely likable character, almost as obnoxious as Veruca Salt, the
Roald Dahl creation who always comes to mind first when I think of
spoiled brats. Of course, that’s partly because of the way the character
is written. While Heidi and Klara are friends, she truly does become
the central obstacle standing between Heidi and her grandfather.
Also
grating is Jane Hazlegrove as Dete, who keeps yanking Heidi around
whenever it’s to her monetary benefit. When they are together, Dete
treats the child in a brusque, unsympathetic manner, and she seems to
give very little thought to what might make her happy. First she dumps
Heidi on her grandfather and doesn’t even stick around long enough to
make certain that he will accept her, which he doesn’t at first. Then,
just when she has grown to love her new home, she comes and takes her
away, essentially selling her to Klara’s family. She really is a
despicable character, and I also found myself a bit distracted by her
pronounced English accent.
Sebastian has one too, but he’s a
butler, so it somehow seems to fit despite the German setting. He’s also
probably my favorite secondary character. Played by Basil Hoskins, he
conducts himself with dignity and always treats Heidi with respect and
compassion. Jane Seymour plays the much stiffer Frau Rottenmeier, who
mainly seems like she needs to let her hair down once in a while. She’s
snippy and high-strung, but she doesn’t come across as truly cruel,
which she does in other versions. Her uptight nature generally amuses
rather than intimidates Heidi.
Jason Robards plays the
grandfather as snarling and standoffish, prone to walking away from his
problems and then letting his anguish out in the form of primal screams
to the sky. While I am a fan of Robards, I sometimes found him over the
top here. Nonetheless, I mostly enjoyed his performance, particularly
during the early part of the movie, when we see him gradually warming to
Heidi. Meanwhile, Patricia Neal provides a wonderfully maternal
presence as Peter’s grandmother, who is blind but deeply contented with
her life and especially treasures visits from Heidi. Much younger and
more agile is Klara’s high-society grandmother. Played with zest by Sian
Phillips, she proves to be Heidi’s staunchest ally in her quest to
return home.
It’s been a long time since I saw Heidi in
any form, but my inclination is to say that this isn’t my favorite
version, mostly because Klara’s persistently whiny, petulant behavior
gets on my nerves so much and seems to do the character a disservice.
While it has always been easy to compare Klara to entitled invalid Colin
in The Secret Garden,
I prefer it when their personalities are not so similar. Still, making
Klara so self-absorbed does add a different layer to the movie, making
it distinct from those that preceded it. Meanwhile, Thornton is just
about perfect in the title role, and she plays especially well off of
Robards, Neal and Hoskins. At nearly three hours in length, this is a
bit on the long side for a family movie, but I would still recommend it
as a fine adaptation of a classic for all ages.
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