With a name like Edgar Allen Poe's "The Oval Portrait," it's got to be scary, right? Or how would you feel about a Civil War melodrama with a ghost?
I don't have the history of either Poe's story or this adaptation, but if I had to guess I'd say this thing was made for TV. It feels very soap opera-ish at times, and the structure and the caliber of the sets/costumes/etc. seem more fit for home exhibition. There aren't obvious giveaways (i.e. scenes that fade out and then in to provide an easy spot for a commercial break), but there is a "Guest Star" listed in the opening credits, so who knows. Now, this accusation of TV Moviedom isn't meant to dismiss it entirely; I actually had a pretty good time with The Oval Portrait. But I don't tend to watch soapy dramas, so it could have just been the novelty of the thing for me. I suspect if you watched period piece dramas regularly, this one would probably not be so good. But it passed the time inoffensively enough for me.
My Synopsis: The old Buckingham house has a reputation of being haunted, and a portrait (guess what shape?) of the deceased Rebecca Buckingham seems to be at the center of the paranormal activity. Rumor has it that Rebecca's ghost is still present, and when the estate is set to be divvied up via old man Buckingham's will, the family encounters some strange occurrences. And as we all know, ghosts only hang around if there was some significant emotional turmoil/trauma in the past. Let's flash back and find out what happened, eh?
Elaborate Genre: Melodramatic gothic ghost story
Overall: A pleasant enough diversion. Reasonably well-paced. Not really worth seeking out per se, but if you are just killing time or doing something like watching a horror movie every day, it's fine. And it helps if you like 70's stuff.
So I think the best thing The Oval Portrait does is the way it splits the narratives of past and present.(The present here being - 1865 maybe? Past being a year prior? It never really spells it out, but it's all Civil War era.) Basically, you start with the present, where the Buckingham relatives gather at the house. Lisa, one of the younger (but still kind of old, relatively speaking) Buckinghams, is particularly in tune with the house's haunted history, and encounters some disconcerting stuff almost immediately. When she asks the house maid (the only person who's been around the house for *everything*) about it, we kick into the B-plot: Rebecca and the portrait's tragic backstory of love and loss.
So basically, you spend 15-20 minutes in the present, then 40-50 in the past, then cap it of with another 15-20 in the present at the end. The structure ensures that you never really get too sick of either plot, and keeps the pace up to an at least watchable level. It also helps create a little mystery - you see characters behave/interact a certain way in the present, and then see why that's the case later. It's simple stuff, but it's something. If I had to guess, Poe's story would have a lot more to do with the present, while the past/love story is added here to pad things out to feature length.
But, the big issue for the purposes of this blog is that it never feels like a horror film during the B-plot. Which, regardless of how it's set up, takes up the bulk of the film. Honestly, if you watched the middle section of the film on it's own it'd feel like a period piece melodrama. But the horror-ish aspects - especially towards the end - are goofy fun. It's never scary or tense but it's kind of cool/corny at the same time. You get some classic poltergeist activity where everything is shaking around on strings and poles - you can almost see the grips just out of the frame shaking stuff around. Oh yeah, and if it ever flirts with being too intense, they throw in random shots of the cook, who behaves like a drunken hobo in a wacky 30s comedy. (She uses the chaos of the haunting to sneak booze, by the way.)
The performances are a little broad and hammy, but they fit the tone of the story well. The google definition of melodrama: a sensationalistic dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. That sums up The Oval Portrait very well. The characters behave in a way that is over the top enough to not be realistic, but never so much that they totally lose you. It's the kind of thing where a character will say "I want to Fall in Love..." and then in the next scene... they fall in love.
I guess The Oval Portrait was also released as One Minute to Death, which is a good name but doesn't make any damn sense. The concept/title of a stationary portrait fits this film much better. It's not boring - just not terribly exciting. Honestly, if didn't have a solid final 15-20 minutes, it'd be one to miss. But as it stands, it's okay.
Assuming you are looking for some 70s soap opera cheese topped off with a little goofy horror, and don't get your hopes up to high:
I would kind of recommend this film.
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