The Christmas Box / Timepiece
Hallmark's warm, 1995 made-for-television movieThe Christmas Boxand its darker, 1996 prequel,Timepiece, are logically and delightfully paired in this DVD package. In the former, Richard Thomas plays Richard, a ski-shop owner consumed with work and unhappy about his family's insistence on sharing a lonely mansion with Mary, an icy, humorless widow (Maureen O'Hara). While Richard's wife and child develop loving ties with Mary, he suffers recurring dreams and grows convinced the house is haunted by a tragedy from the old woman's past.Timepiecejumps ahead 16 years from the resolution of that story, then takes us back to the 1940s, when Mary (Naomi Watts) and her late husband, David (Kevin Kilner), a wealthy arms supplier to America's war effort, marry and endure both a bogus murder trial and a crushing family loss. While it's wonderful to see O'Hara,Timepieceproves the grittier, more interesting film, helped mightily by a cast including James Earl Jones and Ellen Burstyn.--Tom Keogh