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The Other (1972)

Based on a DL recommendation, just watched this creepy little film last night and have a question about it, which will post in the next comment so as not to spoil anyone who hasn't seen it.

by Anonymousreply 20April 10, 2020 5:36 AM

So, was Holland an actual ghost haunting Niles or did Niles have a split personality? Did his grandmother teaching him to play "the game" cause the personality split or did he always have it?

Diana Muldaur was gorgeous in this film. And the twins were good actors.

by Anonymousreply 1November 7, 2014 1:02 AM

Bumping because I just saw the movie and had a whole different idea about Holland and Nils

by Anonymousreply 2November 7, 2014 2:45 AM

Please share your theory R2! It's a slow burner of a film - still thinking about it a day later.

by Anonymousreply 3November 7, 2014 2:48 AM

He's real. Remember the ring?

by Anonymousreply 4November 7, 2014 2:50 AM

The one brother was dead but his twin kept him 'alive' via what the grandmother had taught him.

by Anonymousreply 5November 7, 2014 2:55 AM

R4 - very interesting. Never considered that possibility. So one twin dies in the fire with Ada and the other survives and is staring out the window at the end?

by Anonymousreply 6November 7, 2014 3:20 AM

I wanted the Udvarnoky twins deep inside me.

by Anonymousreply 7November 7, 2014 3:23 AM

The book was terrific. It was really a shock at the end. The movie was good and well-cast, but didn't catch fire the way the book had.

by Anonymousreply 8November 7, 2014 3:33 AM

[quote]So one twin dies in the fire with Ada and the other survives and is staring out the window at the end?

No, one twin was dead [italic]before[/italic] the movie/novel even begins.

by Anonymousreply 9November 7, 2014 3:37 AM

None of Tom Tryon's books worked as films. Fedora was a disaster.

by Anonymousreply 10November 7, 2014 3:54 AM

Chris Udvarnoky died four years ago. Martin is still alive and is a massage therapist (with a wife).

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 11November 7, 2014 3:54 AM

[quote]So one twin dies in the fire with Ada and the other survives and is staring out the window at the end?

No, the living boy had already known of a secret escape from the cellar, much like the prop magic trick he learned at the carnival. Spoilers hence:

I am somewhat confused. In the movie Niles gets away with every murder because none of the survivors ever suspects him. In the book Niles is blamed for the baby's murder and sent to an insane asylum. I thought the book ended with Holland revealing that it is he and not Niles who now occupies Niles' body full time. Whether that was meant to be a literal possession of Niles by his dead brother or whether Niles was merely insane is rather unclear to me. Anyone care to clarify?

by Anonymousreply 12November 7, 2014 6:56 AM

Not literal - just a sign that Niles is insane.

by Anonymousreply 13November 7, 2014 7:10 AM

"The Other" wasn't a ghost story. It was a mental illness story. As it states in the book, mental illness runs in Perry family.

I read the book, which explains everything. This contains SPOILERS. But here's what happened, for anyone who wants to know.

Holland and Niles Perry are twins. Holland is older by a few minutes. They're twins with different birthdays (Niles is born after midnight). Holland's birth is very difficult but Nile's delivery is smooth and easy.

Holland grows up to be a sociopath. He's a thief, he tortures/kills animals, sets fires and by the age of 12 has committed 2 murders (he drowns a child and pushes a heavy trap door on his own father, smashing his head). He's well on his way to being a serial killer, although that term hadn't even been invented yet. Niles, on the other hand, is sweet, kind, thoughtful, loving, spiritual...and completely dominated by his brother.

Their grandmother Ada is a mystical Russian woman who teaches them "the game." The game involves using imagination and projection to temporarily "become" something other than yourself, like a bird, or a flower. Holland isn't much interested but Niles gets very, very good at playing the game.

On his 12th birthday, Holland, up to his usual tricks, hangs Ada's cat in the well, but loses his footing and falls into the well, killing himself also. The shock of losing his brother causes Niles to briefly. He eventually comes back to reality but is so crushed by grief that Ada, wanting to ease the pain of her "douchka", suggests he use "the game" to have his brother back. So Niles conjures up Holland by playing the game. He talks as if Holland were still alive, saying "Holland and I are going to...." or "Holland wants to"...it's bizarre and unhealthy but apparently the Perry family is willing to let Niles have his delusions. Ada figures he'll grow out of it, but she's very wrong about that. And she later comes to deeply regret suggesting to Niles to use the game on Holland.

While in bed, he hears the family talking about The Ring. The Ring is a gold ring with a peregrine on it. It was their father's. Holland had always coveted it and it may have been one reason why he killed his father; to gain possession of the ring. The family decides to leave the ring on Holland's finger and have it be buried with him. But Niles comes downstairs where Holland is in the coffin and plays the game on him; Holland tells Niles to take the ring. Niles has to cut the finger off with some rose shears to get it. He needs the ring to help him play the game on Holland, I suppose. He also keeps Holland's finger; he stores these macabre items in a Prince Albert tobacco tin.

Holland died in March. It's now summer, and Niles is in full "game" mode. Bad things start to happen. His cousin Russell's rat is poisoned. Russell is later killed in a mysterious accident. A sweet old lady dies of a heart attack after a cruel prank is played on her. His mentally frail mother, after finding the ring and the finger, get pushed down some stairs leaving her mute and paralyzed. And the baby of his adopted sister Torrie disappears one night. In playing the game on Holland, Niles does the things that Holland would be doing if he were still alive...like killing animals and human beings and being totally destructive.

Ada finally realized that all these things are being done by Niles when he is playing the game on Holland. She tries to get Niles to admit Holland is dead, but Niles will not accept it. She tells him that there is to be no more game. And she asks him where the baby is. And he screams "Holland knows! Ask Holland!" She realizes that "he would never give it up, this incredible, this most monstrous delusion, these REMAINS he was obsessed with. It would be with him for as long as he lived. She could see that now. And this outburst she had just witnessed, so unlike HIM, but so like...the Other...it was almost as though..."

by Anonymousreply 14November 7, 2014 2:33 PM

More of "The Other (the novel):

In a ghastly scene the baby is found. Niles runs off by Ada plays the game on him and finds him. He goes to hide in a cellar. Ada attempts to kill him and herself by setting the cellar on fire. She dies of a broken neck when she flings herself down into the cellar but Niles escapes because he's sawed off the lock on the door (he and Holland was going to do some kind of magic trick that necessitated the removal of the lock) that the only means of escape.

Later, Niles goes to retrieve his collection of souvenirs (Russell's glasses, a ribbon from the baby's dress, the ring, the finger) and is caught in the act by the handyman Mr. Angelini. Finally found out, Niles is eventually sent to an asylum. The narrator of the book is Niles, now an adult who has spent over 30 years in an asylum. He laments living in such an ugly place and how life has changed since he was a boy. And he expresses his loss: "I miss....HIM." He admits that "he was gone, I could not conjure him up, as he had me." Niles has played the game so well that his own personality and identity is completely gone...he's ALL Holland now. As Holland says "he was truly dead then, he who I had been, The Other..."

by Anonymousreply 15November 7, 2014 2:48 PM

Thanks for your posts R14! Glad that in the book Mr Angelini isn't arrested - was thinking Ada should have absolved him in the movie before blowing up the barn.

by Anonymousreply 16November 7, 2014 11:18 PM

The whole movie is up on YouTube. And about every other creepy, obscure 70s movie you can think of.

Including Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby. Starring Patty Duke, Tina Louise, George Maharis, AND Donna Mills. How that never got a thread I don't know.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 17November 8, 2014 1:12 AM

Just LOVED this movie

by Anonymousreply 18November 8, 2014 1:33 AM

I just watched this film tonight, and lo and behold, there is a DL thread for it. I had seen it years ago but forgot the finer details. It's a great mood piece, and very well-structured and atmospheric. Great direction and disturbing subject matter. Unfortunately, the "dead evil twin" thing has been done to death ay now, so the twist doesn't ring as especially interesting, though it probably was more of a surprise in 1972. I always thought it was interesting that this was one of the few film roles Uta Hagen took.

by Anonymousreply 19April 10, 2020 5:24 AM

I had a friend who went mad for this book when i was in high school

by Anonymousreply 20April 10, 2020 5:36 AM
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