Susan Vreeland Movies
The most elaborate and successful art heist in modern history is detailed in filmmaker Rebecca Dreyfus' cinematic account of the daring raid on Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner museum staged in the early morning hours of St. Patrick's Day, 1990. By the time the ruse of the well-organized and cleverly disguised thieves was discovered, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum had been stripped of 13 priceless works including Vermeer's "The Gardener" -- one of only 35 works by the master known to currently exist. As respected art detective Harold Smith attempts to uncover the labyrinthine mystery surrounding the bold burglary while dealing with the frightening effects of his lifelong battle with skin cancer, the obsessive efforts of the cunning gumshoe are interwoven with interviews in which contemporary authors ponder the power of Vermeer's impressive body of work. Additional details concerning art collector Isabella Stewart's turn-of-the-century correspondence with personal advisor Bernard Berenson are voiced by actress Blythe Danner and Campbell Scott, respectively, and serve to give a more personal perspective to the investigation while simultaneously putting into context the true value and ultimate fragility of these plundered treasures. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Susan Vreeland's novel The Girl in Hyacinthn Blue was the source for this made-for-TV drama. Utilizing a complex flashback-within-flashback structure, the film chronicles the 300-year history of a lost painting said to have been created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. The story is framed by the present day narrative of an eccentric history teacher (Glenn Close) who has the inside track on the number of lives profoundly altered, for both good and ill, by the elusive painting. The teacher's tale interconnects individual stories of tragedy, romance, success, failure and even the Holocaust. Even the narrator herself has a personal and emotional stake in the supposed Vermeer. Advertised as the most expensive and ambitious project ever undertaken during the 52-year history of television's Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series, Brush With Fate debuted February 2, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Thomas Gibson, (more)
- 1996
This made-for-TV drama covers fifteen years, from WW2 to the mid-1950s, in the lives of farm couple Gordon and Jean Holly (Richard Thomas, Annabeth Gish). A daughter of privilege, Jean had married Gordon much against her parents' wishes, whereupon the couple took charge of a ranch in California, where they raised their children. Throughout their marriage, the Hollys not only faced the disdain of their loved ones, but also the prejudices and misunderstandings of their neighbor. And why? Because both Gordon and Jean Holly were totally blind, and thus regarded by the standards of their era to be "unworthy" of parenthood and self-reliance. Based on the novel by Susan Vreeland, What Loves Sees first aired September 22, 1996, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
