This is every bit as sentimental as the earlier film starring Bette Davis, but there are delightful performances, all around, considerable fun, and it is especially enjoyable to compare the Davis film with this "remake." Like Davis, Hepburn never really loses the give-away American accent, but (perhaps because both were actresses of such powerful and forceful stubbornness and drive), they both are utterly convincing as little old spinsters who can transform villages and lives, charm idiot nobility, and single-handedly prepare an ignorant coal-miner for a career at a great university. I found Saynor an engaging and deeply appealing Morgan Evans, and thought that bad little Bessie and her shenanigans were much easier to believe in this version.
My take on it is that if you enjoy a sentimental story like this, and certainly if you enjoy the old Davis film, then you'll have a good time with this one, as well, and you'll find that each version has its charms for you.
If nothing else, it's a remake that neither detracts from, nor is dwarfed by, its predecessor.
My take on it is that if you enjoy a sentimental story like this, and certainly if you enjoy the old Davis film, then you'll have a good time with this one, as well, and you'll find that each version has its charms for you.
If nothing else, it's a remake that neither detracts from, nor is dwarfed by, its predecessor.