Review to the Reviews of Lizzie Borden Took an Axe by Fiction Author Michael Brimbau
It seems more appropriate, I think, to have a fiction writer give their take on the Lifetime network TV movie Lizzie Borden Took An Axe. Most historians hated the film for mostly historical reasons (I was not among them). Since this film is entertainment first, perhaps we can look to the fiction writer for their opinion on this telling of the crime.
We invited Michael Thomas Brimbau, the author of Lizzie Borden, The Girl with the Pansy Pin, to offer his thoughts on the movie. Here is his review.
 Review to the reviews, Lizzie Borden took and Axe
Screenwriter Stephen Kay’s TV movie Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, and its portrayal of Lizzie Borden and the Borden murders, has aired and the critical reviews are in. Most of them are from historically capably minded thinkers, and as one may have guessed, many hated it.
As an ancient fan of the original 1975 TV movie, The Legend of Lizzie Borden, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, I had no interest or plans in watching the new Lifetime film. As a matter of fact, I made a point of not viewing it. Instead, I took up an invitation to a friend’s for a late supper. Little did I realize that they had plans to surprise me and have me watch the movie with them. On the table were grilled BBQ ribs and Guinness. I was snared.
Unlike the original 70s mom and pop version, which in itself had countless inaccuracies, Kay’s version was drafted with a razor’s edge, cutting up historical facts, fabricating made-up uneventful scenes, and pasting everything together in a schizophrenic weave. He had no idea what he was doing. Or did he?
Lizzie Borden Took an Axe has to be viewed with a purely fictional and entertaining mindset. Historians had no business reviewing it, let alone watching it, if judgment was to be made with an archival eye. But once they sat down to watch, I can bet it was like driving by a terrible accident. They just couldn’t look away. No notable Borden historians in Lizzie’s Fall River were consulted about the making of the movie. What was coming should have been expected.
From the standpoint of a “made for TV B movie†it was quite good. I liked it for what it was…based on the Borden crime but dripping with reckless fiction. My most steadfast complaint was the soundtrack. Though very contemporary and catered to the trend-setting style of today’s movie making, the music choice was horrible. My vilification is not of the music itself but the selection. It was a little too severe and extreme when married to the time period. Like sprinkling bacon over pistachio ice cream. You either loved it or hated it. This being said, though the two don’t go together, this music was probably a clever choice, taking into account today’s audience of younger viewers.
One must not take this movie too seriously. Communist Yugoslavia once banned Popeye because Olive Oil ran around with two men and had a baby (Swee’ Pea) out of wedlock, and outlawed Donald Duck because he wobbled around with no pants on.
Given what we were left with, I would imagine that screenwriter Kay’s plans were to entertain and not give a truthful or fact-based account to the Borden murders.
On a scale of one to five stars I would give it a solid three. It held my interest. The costumes and scenery were great and it had a very intriguing and creative ending. When it comes to writing fiction, the story and its ending is everything. Having studied the Borden case extensively, I hate to admit that as a fictional piece, it was a quite good.
Now allow me to lift my nose with my finger and play historian. If we consider the original Fall River tragedy, and the truth, I must admit that this movie was a disaster. To me the worst scene in the movie was of Lizzie burning the dress at night in a barrel outside the house, given the number of police around the property. In reality it was done in the kitchen stove with Alice Russell as a witness. If not for Alice’s confession of the burning dress, Lizzie Borden may have never been suspected and brought to trial. The barrel/dress burning was nothing short of consecrated sensationalism… but, alas, brilliant and the stuff of undiluted fiction.
Then there’s the talk about Lizzie’s high school ring. Lizzie never graduated from high school. Class rings were not used or customary in high school until the late 1920s. (Lizzie would have graduated around 1878.) Another flaw is the introduction of the farmhand and the kissing scene between him and Lizzie, which was totally without merit and very speculative. In a world of fiction it could work, but there is no proof of Lizzie’s love life. Lizzie’s affairs aside, the appearance of the farmhand, though Kay was trying to make a point about Lizzie’s character, should have been expanded or left out altogether.
In The Legend of Lizzie Borden, the 1975 movie, John Morse was omitted from the story. He was MIA in this movie also. How can you leave out one of the most interesting and mysterious characters in the Borden murders…a prime defendant at one time, no less? It was a missed opportunity to insert a probable suspect, enhancing the storyline.
Then there are the popular misconceptions…that Lizzie undressed to commit the murders, the screenwriter’s implication that an autopsy would be done on the dinning room table, that Maplecroft was a sprawling mansion. Adding the scene of Bertha Manchester being slaughtered was badly injected, portrayed, and confusing to the viewer. It should have been left out.
Getting back to the real world and accentuating a phrase that I often allude to: “Fiction must be appreciated or rejected on its literary merits and not on documented truths.†A good story carries the day.
As with the power of the pen, thus goes the power of motion pictures.
No, Lizzie Borden took an Axe will not be playing on PBS or Masterpiece Theater any time soon. Downton Abbey has no fear of competition or matched ratings. But, I’m afraid that it will be around for a very long time, grooming an entirely new digital flock of virgin Borden congregationalists who will walk out into the world spreading the word and ordained with an inaccurate historical interpretation.
Some historians have labeled this movie as dreadfully terrible. I call it engagingly entertaining. I know the truth. That’s all that matters. And to those that do not. It makes very little difference.
MICHAEL THOMAS BRIMBAU
PearTree Press is the publisher of Lizzie Borden, The Girl with the Pansy Pin.