Caroline?

Discovering Caroline? in a flea market video stall bin for a buck and being less than curious by its uninspired packaging, this video seemed doomed for re-recording. Having missed its original airing on NBC in 1990 I was completely unprepared for the luminous screenplay of this partial thriller/part human-interest tale of a young girl who claims to be the daughter of a wealthy Atlanta businessman who had allegedly been killed in a plane crash 15 year prior. What unfolds is an exciting, tautly directed (emmy winner Joseph Sargent) and uniformly brilliant performances by a beautifully cast emsemble. Pamela Reed, as the businessman’s second wife (consistently great and underappreciated George Grizzard) delivers a masterpiece of character- a complex woman of cruelty, compassion and fear. Reed is stunning! Ditto Stephanie Zimbalist, heretofore taken for granted as a flavor-of-the-month is astoundingly smart and a real revelation in her only decent non-tv series role of her career. What a shame. The children are a joy, especially 15-year old Shawn Phelan playing a spoiled but delightfully dutiful son . What a horrific tragedy to discover his godawful death in 1997 in an auto accident. It puts a damper on this thrilling achievement. “Caroline?” is a sleeper and a gem and has the guts to abandon its mystery plot pretense to reveal a wonderful tale of philanthropy. Ms. McGuire and Ms. Neal add another dose of class in critical cameos. Easily Hallmark’s best and bravest production of the ’90’s.