SPOILER INCLUDED!! Though other screenwriters intentionally rejected the Faulkner story they were supposed to be adapting Chubbuck seems to have wanted to film "A Rose For Emily" but failed to understand the story. "A Rose for Emily" as written by Faulkner is efficiently told - there are no diversions or distractions. Chubbuck's attempts to flesh out a sparse tale jar: death at the table is death at the camera. More importantly, Faulkner's details matter. What happens to Emily's hair over time must - absolutely must be mentioned. It need not be trumpeted at high volume, and in fact subtly is better, but the story can not be told without that information being imparted. By keeping Huston's hair dark in the mortuary Chubbuck destroyed in the very first scene any chance he had of capturing the horror. As a consequence, those who don't know the story might not understand the ending. And those who do know it spend the next 26 minutes (out of 27) wondering what else will be not just wrong but fatally so.
I'm puzzled as to how this movie came to be made. Huston already had a name; Carradine and Houseman were already stars. Were they working for reduced pay? - if so, why? If not, how could a 27 minute movie have justified the budget? At under half an hour it was not going to make money in theaters and not much from broadcast rights. I had thought that this had been out of print since shortly after its release - I've just discovered that Pyramid is still selling it, but at $79 for VHS and $89 for DVD they can not expect to sell very many. And if this is being offered as a particularly polished product worth the money why is Lyndon Chubbuck's name misspelled on the box?
I'm puzzled as to how this movie came to be made. Huston already had a name; Carradine and Houseman were already stars. Were they working for reduced pay? - if so, why? If not, how could a 27 minute movie have justified the budget? At under half an hour it was not going to make money in theaters and not much from broadcast rights. I had thought that this had been out of print since shortly after its release - I've just discovered that Pyramid is still selling it, but at $79 for VHS and $89 for DVD they can not expect to sell very many. And if this is being offered as a particularly polished product worth the money why is Lyndon Chubbuck's name misspelled on the box?