The People

If you ignore the connection to the Zenna Henderson stories, than this movie is an interesting example of a late 60's/early 70's atmospheric mood movie. It's all lingering shots of pretty young women moving through forest glades. People standing around in stilted poses, stiff dialogue, angst driven over/under acting. It's so slow and lethargic that there is none of the tension of the original story. The screen play is more interested in atmosphere and local color than a plot driven story. (Thank you Lucas and Spielberg for bringing back pacing and plot.) It's a shame they mangled the story the way they did, it wasn't necessary. Borrowing freely from other stories in the People series, they needlessly confused the clarity that Henderson created in her books. Kim Darby is miscast as the teacher, who should be a burned out but a spunky pragmatist who knew what she was dealing with, a Karen Allen type. Darby's overly sensitive interpretation is too hippy dippy to be true to Henderson's clear eyed approach to social alienation. Isn't it time for someone to take another crack at Henderson's People series. A nice Sci-Fi series maybe. After all, her stories are still pretty timeless.