"The Lake House" Borrows a Favorite Theme of Dan Curtis

[Philippe Cordier]

I haven't seen the new movie "The Lake House," which concerns an exchange of letters between a man and a woman living in the same location but separated by time.  Dan Curtis was intrigued by this theme as he talked about it in connection with his Hallmark television production "The Love Letter."  The same general idea had been used earlier on DS, though not as a love story.  I'm forgetting the details, but Barnabas and Julia were living in different times and Barnabas needed to get back to his own time.  I believe he wrote a letter which was placed in the secret compartment of a desk at the Old House, and later found by Amy during the present day.  As I think of it, one could say that the letter exchanged between Barnabas and Julia across the centuries was emblematic of the care they felt for one another.  The plot of "The Love Letter" has been described as : "Soulmates exchange letters across time through an antique desk

Mr. Curtis' production of "The Love Letter" clearly acknowledged its source, a short story titled "The Love Letter" by Jack Finney.

The theme of a love story across time probably is most widely known from the movie "Somewhere In Time," based on a Richard Matheson novel, which seems to have been inspired by various stories by Jack Finney.  A line in the movie refers to a fictional physicist named "Jack Finney," hence Mr. Matheson's homage to Finney.

The screenplay for "The Lake House" was written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-winning dramatist, so it ought to be of high quality.  Credits for the movie do not acknowledge Finney as the source for the central idea of an exchange of letters across time.

[JosettesMusicBox]

I remember seeing that part with the letter in the Antique Desk with Juila and Barnabus, and I absolutely LOVED it.  I'm also a huge fan of "Somewhere in Time".

I can't wait to see "The Lake House".

Let's here what some of you think about the movie once you have seen it, OK?

Have a wonderful day!

[CyrusL]

Little bit of trivia, Dan Curtis's "The Love Letter" was filmed in and around Richmond. Of course, I now kick myself for not trying to drop by and just shake Curtis's hand and for that matter, Gerritt Graham's, who's a personal favorite character actor and played Jennifer Jason Leigh's father in the film. Like yourselves, I immediately thought of the connection between the films.

Michael 

[BuzzH]

but Barnabas and Julia were living in different times and Barnabas needed to get back to his own time.  I believe he wrote a letter which was placed in the secret compartment of a desk at the Old House, and later found by Amy during the present day.  As I think of it, one could say that the letter exchanged between Barnabas and Julia across the centuries was emblematic of the care they felt for one another. 

Actually the letter Barnabas wrote to Julia was FAR from a love letter.  [spoiler]He'd been caught by Edward in 1897 and locked up in the basement cell of the Old House.  As he fretted about how he was going to get out of his jam, he noticed an antique desk in the cell w/him (who the HELL puts a DESK in a CELL?  LOL!) and realizes that it's the same desk he had told Willie to put in the Drawing Room during the 1967 restoration (a continuity blooper actually, as that same desk was there in 1795, why it would be moved to the cellar between 1795 and 1967 is beyond me).  He decides to write a letter to Julia in the hope he can at the most be saved somehow by her and at the least be able to explain what went wrong in 1897 (why he didn't return, why he failed to save Quentin and therefore David etc...).  He then puts it in the desk, hoping against odds SOMEONE will find it in time (a STRETCH, even for DS! ).  After Amy finds the letter and shows it to Julia, she goes back in time to 1897 to help Barnabas, and you know the rest.[/spoiler]

So, the letter really WASN'T a love letter.  Now, this little ploy is reminiscent of the movie Frequency where-in Jim Cavaziel playing a guy named John in 1998 communicates w/his dead fireman dad who's in 1968 via a ham radio.  At one point in the movie they are trying to stop a serial killer and John tells his dad to put his wallet in the window seat of the house John grew up in (and the dad of course is in because that's where he still lived having been previously saved from death in a fire by John--John had told him how he died and he did one thing different and ends up surviving the fire) and is still living in as an adult.  The dad puts the wallet in the window seat and John goes to retrieve it and voila!  The wallet is in the window seat.  HIGHLY recommend this movie BTW...

[PennyDreadful]

  [spoiler]He'd been caught by Edward in 1897 and locked up in the basement cell of the Old House.  As he fretted about how he was going to get out of his jam, he noticed an antique desk in the cell w/him (who the HELL puts a DESK in a CELL?  LOL!) and realizes that it's the same desk he had told Willie to put in the Drawing Room during the 1967 restoration (a continuity blooper actually, as that same desk was there in 1795, why it would be moved to the cellar between 1795 and 1967 is beyond me).  He decides to write a letter to Julia in the hope he can at the most be saved somehow by her and at the least be able to explain what went wrong in 1897 (why he didn't return, why he failed to save Quentin and therefore David etc...).  He then puts it in the desk, hoping against odds SOMEONE will find it in time (a STRETCH, even for DS! ).  After Amy finds the letter and shows it to Julia, she goes back in time to 1897 to help Barnabas, and you know the rest.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]This always bugged me.  I mean, what are the chances that the letter would be found at EXACTLY the right time?!  I mean, what if someone had found the secret compartment containing the  letter in 1942 or something?      [/spoiler]

[ClaudeNorth]

  [spoiler]He'd been caught by Edward in 1897 and locked up in the basement cell of the Old House.  As he fretted about how he was going to get out of his jam, he noticed an antique desk in the cell w/him (who the HELL puts a DESK in a CELL?  LOL!) and realizes that it's the same desk he had told Willie to put in the Drawing Room during the 1967 restoration (a continuity blooper actually, as that same desk was there in 1795, why it would be moved to the cellar between 1795 and 1967 is beyond me).  He decides to write a letter to Julia in the hope he can at the most be saved somehow by her and at the least be able to explain what went wrong in 1897 (why he didn't return, why he failed to save Quentin and therefore David etc...).  He then puts it in the desk, hoping against odds SOMEONE will find it in time (a STRETCH, even for DS! ).  After Amy finds the letter and shows it to Julia, she goes back in time to 1897 to help Barnabas, and you know the rest.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]This always bugged me.  I mean, what are the chances that the letter would be found at EXACTLY the right time?!  I mean, what if someone had found the secret compartment containing the  letter in 1942 or something?      [/spoiler]

Not to derail this thread, but I laughed out loud when I saw this all-spoiler post! 

[PennyDreadful]

I laughed myself as I added the spoiler tags.  I wasn't sure whether I should or not, because it was a pretty minor spoiler, but I couldn't resist the visual silliness of it.     

[D_Friedlander]

I can't wait to see "The Lake House".
Let's here what some of you think about the movie once you have seen it, OK?

With the price of gas and my general lethargy, a film has to be a totally fabulous spectacle that can best be appreciated on a large screen, to lure me from the house.  The Lake House seems like something I might as well wait to see via Netflix.  It only got a lukewarm review in the local paper--- for one thing the reviewer thought  the leads were all rather long in the tooth to convincingly portray their characters' predicaments, and that, in his opinion, Keanu and Sandra have lost whatever chemistry worked for them in Speed.  Plus that the concept of time-transcendance wasn't well-handled or convincing, and furthermore, what's so exciting about a 2-year lapse (and in the present day) anyway.

BTW,  I have found to the original Jack Finney story "The Love Letter" on the Web:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1189/is_n1_v260/ai_6273505

Enjoy!

[Charles_Ellis]

I saw The Lake House on Saturday, and the main reason why I went to see it was precisely because of the time travel thing.  Very much like DS, the characters wind up changing their destinies and tragedies that had previously occurred are diverted .  Also, the film also reminded me of An Affair To Remember with the idea of separated lovers trying to meet.  I think in time it will become a beloved cult classic through cable and DVD, like Somewhere In Time and The Shawshank Redemption.

[BuzzH]

With the price of gas and my general lethargy, a film has to be a totally fabulous spectacle that can best be appreciated on a large screen, to lure me from the house.  The Lake House seems like something I might as well wait to see via Netflix.  It only got a lukewarm review in the local paper---

I'm w/you D, although the price of gas doesn't keep me in the house any more than the threat of Al Quada does, but I've just not been in a "go to the flicks" mood since my annual 'Oscar crawl' last winter.  Also, the reviews from my favorite local critic, whom I agree with about 90% of the time, only gave it two stars, and that was because he was, as he said, 'in a good mood'.  Really I think he wanted to only give it 1 star.

[Julia99]

Well if you are a Netflix junkie  .. check out some of the foreign films along the same general idea . ."Il Mare" (2000) and or "Ditto"

[jennifer]

i too don't stay put because of the gas prices Buzz but as farfetched as the plot
as the letter found by amy was i still loved the high drama off it hey soaps
are all like this how many babies have i had that come back as adults but
i don't remember having? well ...none but this happens all the time on my favorite soaps
and it's funny when we question things on DS!

jennifer
i will too see The Lake House

[Mysterious Benefactor]

how many babies have i had that come back as adults but i don't remember having? well ...none

Really? Hmmm - I have four children currently living with me who separately showed up at my door one day claiming to be from three ex-wives that I don't remember ever being married to because portions of my life are a complete mystery to me due to having amnesia from being held captive on a remote, uncharted island by my arch nemesis Count Dimitri Gemeaux  (code named "Gemini" in international spy circles). Apparently we used to be best friends in childhood until that tragic playground accident that left him disfigured for life and bent on revenge and global conquest. Though, of course, I don't actually remember the playground incident either.

And here I've been thinking all that is normal and the typical life that most people lead.  :-   But I guess my life is more unique than I've thought...


 

[Lydia]

being held captive on a remote

I have a cousin who was once held captive on a remote.  He escaped via the fast forward button, but the remote never really worked right after that.

[Philippe Cordier]

Thanks for posting a link to the story "The Love Letter," D Friedlander.  I spent a lot of time trying to track it down a while back and never did find it on the Internet.  The story was originally published in "The Saturday Evening Post," August 1, 1959.  The magazine reprinted it in 1988.  It would be interesting to know when Dan Curtis first read it.