Keeping the Promise (1997)

Harsh elements, disease and dilemmas mark a Massachusetts family's move to uncharted Maine and a better life in 1768.

Director:

Sheldon Larry

Writers:

Gerald Di Pego (teleplay by) (as Gerald DiPego), Elizabeth George Speare (based on a book by)

Stars:

Keith Carradine, Annette O'Toole, Brendan Fletcher

Cast

Credited cast:
Keith Carradine	...	William (Will) Hallowell
Annette O'Toole	...	Anne Hallowell
Brendan Fletcher	...	Matthew (Matt) Hallowell
Gordon Tootoosis	...	Sakniss
William Lightning	...	Attean
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Benedict Campbell	...	Smithy
Maury Chaykin	...	Hunter Ben Loomis
David Cubitt	...	Boat Agent
Darrell Dennis	...	Jimnodo
Allegra Denton	...	Sarah Hallowell
Nell Geisslinger
Ruby Gillett	...	Katy (as Ruby Jean Gillett)
Duke Redbird	...	Medicine Man
Ashley Saulnier	...	Older Child
Ben Saulnier	...	Young Man Walking

Storyline

Immigrated carpenter William 'Will' Hallowell hopes to make his family wealthy, after a fire ruined them in Springfield, Massachusettes, by moving to a claim in Maine territory. In order not to loose it, his son and apprentice Matt (13), a greenhorn city boy, must stay there while Will fetches spoiled wife and daughters, but an epidemic wrecks that plan. Matt is robbed by white neighbor Ben Loomis, but saved by old Penobscott Indian Sakniss, who demands in exchange mat teaches his his grandson Attean to read. From suspicion bordering on blind hatred, loyal friendship springs, yet the winter is unforgiving.

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Plot Keywords:

indians | fire | boy | theft | ritual | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sign of the Beaver

Filming Locations:

Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rabbit Ears Productions, The Clorox Company, Marian Rees Associates

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

User Reviews

Well-meaning but rather wan

An admirable attempt to make a meaningful film about people struggling with real, life-or-death problems, and based on "The Sign Of The Beaver," a well-regarded children's novel. The scene in which the mother (Annette O'Toole) realizes that her child, whom she is cradling in her arms, has just died, is heart-wrenching, because you know that as rare as it has become in modern-day First World countries, it has happened millions of times in human history and probably still happens quite often in some places today.

However, the film suffers from being sanitized for modern TV audiences. Nobody was that clean in colonial times. And with few exceptions, the actors fail to convince that they are playing real people instead of performing for the camera in a Meaningful Period Piece. Also, I recall several glaring anachronisms that ought to have been picked up by any competent script editor and distract from the attempt at realism, as when Matthew says, "I tell you, I'm OKAY." (Emphasis added) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, that famous Americanism was not recorded in print until 1840.