Vintage

The films of Hollywood’s golden age often serve as the catalyst for inspiration. They showed us how to live, using behavior and profound symbolism as a means of guiding the viewer toward deeper meaning. Furthermore, the magical look of that bygone era is a platform on which real life easily rests. Writer/director Carole Holliday employs that magic in her film Witt’s Daughter, a story of loss and redemption wrapped in the folds of ordinary moments.

Witt Stringfield (Adam Edgar) is eager to surprise his wife May (Mandy Henderson) and little girl Catherine (Alia Margaret) with a spontaneous homecoming after surviving the Korean War. Though he’s missed all of his daughter’s “firsts”, he plans to resume life as the subject of a Norman Rockwell painting. The reunion is happy, but a mere shadow of his expectations. After learning that May has promised to babysit for a friend that evening, Witt spins his disappointment into an opportunity to bond with Catherine. Nothing goes as anticipated. Witt is all but a stranger to Catherine; who, despite her father’s attempts to win her affection, continues to favor everyone else in place of him. It begins with her unwillingness to eat the soup he’s prepared and continues as he tries to get her in to the bathtub and then to bed. The only thing that appears to comfort her is the thought of her mother’s bedtime stories. Frustrated, Witt reluctantly allows his friends to hold an impromptu card game in his dining room. The purpose is to celebrate his return from the war, though he’s miles away from anything resembling happiness. Catherine gets out of bed, almost defiantly, and even prefers a goodnight hug from Witt’s brother Gus (Philip Briggs). Witt’s exasperation with his daughter culminates in an explosion of anger. Realizing that his outburst will only alienate her further, Witt must find a way to introduce himself to the daughter he never knew.

Set in 1953, Witt’s Daughter showed the America hidden in obscurity behind a glamorous age. In telling her story, Carole Holliday does an incredible job choosing characters that each exhibit their own innocence. Witt has fought gallantly for his country and returns to find his family suffering as victims of circumstance. May appears to have held everything together in Witt’s absence, but her facial expressions show a woman barely existing. Catherine is too young to understand the horrors of war, and too immersed in the wonderland of childhood to care. Together they represented the stereotypical family affected by lost time. The viewer can easily identify with the situation, due in part to the way in which the cast effectively carry their roles. That, combined with beautifully-shot, period-correct surroundings justifies Witt’s Daughter as an official selection of the 2008 Hollywood Film Festival. The film’s website can be found here.

Here is a promo video shot exclusively for The Midnight Palace: