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Marion's Wall

The book Marion's Wall was made into the movie Maxie.

Which one did you like better, the book or the movie?  There are 6 votes for the book, and 5 votes for the movie.

Book details for Marion's Wall

Marion's Wall was written by Jack Finney. The book was published in 1973 by Buccaneer Books, Incorporated. More information on the book is available on Amazon.com.

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Movie details for Maxie

The movie was released in 1985 and directed by Paul Aaron. Maxie was produced by MGM (Video & DVD). More information on the movie is available on Amazon.com and also IMDb.

Actors on this movie include Glenn Close, Mandy Patinkin, Ruth Gordon, Barnard Hughes, Valerie Curtin, Googy Gress, Michael Ensign, Michael Laskin, Lou Cutell, Nelson Welch, Leeza Gibbons, Evan White, Harry Wong, Charles Douglas Laird, David Sosna, Hugo Stanger, John O'Neill, Eddie Wong, Pauline Bluestone and Rebecca Greenfield.

 

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After establishing her screen career with supporting roles in The Big Chill and The Natural, Glenn Close made her starring debut in the title role of this tepid comedy--an example of the "body-switch" movie trend of the mid-1980s. No doubt Close sensed to... Read More
After establishing her screen career with supporting roles in The Big Chill and The Natural, Glenn Close made her starring debut in the title role of this tepid comedy--an example of the "body-switch" movie trend of the mid-1980s. No doubt Close sensed tour-de-force potential in playing a virtuous San Francisco wife and Catholic bishop's secretary whose body is possessed by the vampy spirit of a 1920s flapper. Instead, the movie drains all the energy from Close's valiant efforts, neglecting virtually any idea that might have made this film genuinely fresh and funny. What's left is an amiable, old-fashioned comedy that gets by on sporadic bursts of charm.

Jan (Close) and her librarian husband Nick (Mandy Patinkin) discover Maxie's past in their roomy Victorian home; elderly neighbor Ruth Gordon (in her final film role) informs them that Maxie was on the verge of silent-movie stardom when she died in a car accident in 1927. But Maxie's spirit lives on, and her ectoplasm settles intermittently into Jan's body, sending Nick into a panic when Maxie "drops in" at unpredictable intervals. All Maxie wants is another shot at stardom, and she gets her chance in a remake of Cleopatra--with unbilled Harry Hamlin as Marc Antony! A dubious premise to begin with, it's further victimized by a nagging flatness of tone; if this were a TV sitcom the laugh track would be silent. Fortunately for Close, her psycho-success in Fatal Attraction was less than two years away. --Jeff Shannon