English novelist John Fowles hoped to write from his inspirations of Camus and the other Existentialists. After his time in military service, Fowles became an English teacher carrying the hopes of becoming a novelist. Going against all common sense, he went to teach on a little Peloponnesian island that would bolster his writing. Meeting his wife and discovering the personal aspects that would assemble him for life filtered into his long-simmering ten-year period of composing his great novel.
When Fowles secured a deal with publisher Jonathan Cape, he constructed a brand-new manuscript in a month for them. When they enthusiastically accepted it and asked if he had more, Fowles began recalibrating a story that he secretly hated. Jonathan Cape knew that this unique thriller Fowles concocted was ready to spring upon a world satiated by sensationalist horror like Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 "Psycho" and its closest comparison, Michael Powell's 1960 "Peeping Tom" (whose tagline was "Can you see yourself in this picture?")
So when "The Collector" became a massive hit as a book in 1963, Fowles was paid the largest amount ever for his work to be published in paperback. Its format of both characters telling their stories from "secret diary entries" would prove to make literary critics happy (they got Fowles' existential questions) and the growing mass of Mystery/Horror fans ecstatic.
However, making it into a film would be difficult. Its plot is alarming and simple. Lonely, socially awkward Freddie kidnaps the girl of his dreams to be "friends." Freddie's inner monologues in the book are genuinely skin-crawling. His mind is a cauldron of dreams clouded by the bleak, unsolvable reality of mistrust. It is no wonder he "collects" delicate things of beauty like butterflies, all of their rich color and detail could barely provide a glimmer into his grey life.
Enter the stroke of luck. Hapless bank clerk Freddie wins the football pools to the tune of 70,000 pounds (likely 300k in today's funds.) Newly flush, Freddie buys a unique house out in the country. When he jumps the fence to investigate, he finds the garden shed has a secret passage leading to a hidden room. The next to be snared in his net is beautiful red-headed art student Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar.) When Freddie follows her in his van, it is so hard to separate that he is being played by the ruggedly handsome Terence Stamp. However, once Stamp contorts his body, parts his hair, and channels an inner Norman Bates, his sudden mood changes send chills down your spine.
"The Collector" is more suspenseful and thought-provoking than most psychological horror. When Freddie "imprisons" Miranda, he still takes care of her bringing her nearly everything she wants. It is vitally important that we see Freddie as this mysterious "caretaker." The script from Oscar nominees Stanley Mann and John Kohn manages to tackle the machinations of the "friendship" that Freddie is after and how Miranda cooperates (mostly) under the worst conditions possible for a budding 20-year-old art student. To their credit, while they tone down Freddie's creepiness, the set design and how far removed this country house is from daily life bubble in your mind constantly.
Which leaves the director William Wyler to stir the pot. The three-time Oscar winner actually turned down "The Sound of Music" for this. In addition, he also turned down Bernard Herrmann scoring it (fears of being too Hitchcock) in favor of a weirdly romantic one from fellow Oscar-winner Maurice Jarre. However, Wyler's most ingenious (and let's face it, dastardly) plan was to obtain stellar performances from his leads. Wyler knew that Stamp admitted to being attracted to Eggar when they studied together at Webber Douglas in London. So, Wyler purposefully had Stamp stay in character around her and had everyone there give her the "cold shoulder." When the isolation backfired and Eggar began messing up takes, she was fried and then rehired under the provision she would only speak to/through her newly hired acting coach. Fowles visited the set only to report, "the hobby of everyone was making fun of Eggar behind her back." A journalist who came for a day noted that a day-long shoot for a simple two-shot of Stamp and Eggar had Wyler continuously rehearse and then reshoot the pair until they were as "meek and cooperative as neophytes."
This tension and uncertainty is what makes the film most terrifying. In the architecture of that log-line-sized plot, Fowles, Mann, Kohn, and Wyler squeeze every moment of action or inaction to leave you wondering where they will go next in what is largely a predictable story. The ending while chaotic is haunting and does not leave you with any post-film comfort. In the end, the gamble paid off as Stamp and Eggar won at the Cannes Film Festival, with Eggar going on to earn nods from both the Golden Globes and the Academy. Even with her success in this demanding role, Eggar would go on to say "The Collector" was the worst experience she ever had making a film.
