Episode 1: A House Called Collinwood

 Monday, June 27, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning, a journey I hope will open the doors of life to me, and link my past with my future--a journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place, to the edge of the sea atop Widows Hill, a house called Collinwood. 

A world I've never known, with people I've never met, people who tonight are only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows.

The story begins with the light of a train piercing the night. The train passes by us as we stand near the tracks, and speeds off into the night. Then we go inside the train to focus on a young woman with a mass of dark hair (as Louisa May Alcott once described Jo March, although this young woman is in no way severe looking).

This, as she informs us via the voiceover, is Victoria Winters, heading to her uncertain future at a house called Collinwood atop the ominously named Widows Hill.

The scene shifts to Collinwood, where Elizabeth and Roger Collins, brother and sister, await the arrival of the new governess. Liz and Roger at home: She is glamorous in a floor-length gown with earrings and pearls. Roger is the casual one; he wears a necktie and tweeds.

We quickly learn that Roger doesn’t want “the girl” to come, doesn’t want anyone to come to the house, and that he dislikes his own son, David. What would be done about David’s education if they hadn’t hired someone—would he have been sent down to school at nearby Collinsport? Roger says they are perfectly capable of handling it themselves.

Unable to dissuade Liz, who (it seems) holds the power here, from allowing Victoria to come, despite such persuasive techniques as calling her a fool (this from a man who says “[he] choose[s his] word with infinite precision”), Roger calmly accepts the decision with a wry smile—until Liz is out of sight and he breaks a glass in his hand. Winters is coming, and there is nothing he can do to change it.

Meanwhile, Victoria Winters has met an elderly lady on the train, who is telling her about the cold, damp Maine winters and goes on to how there is nothing to do in Collinsport, where the train hasn’t made a regular stop in five years. We get our first look at rugged stranger Burke Devlin on the train, but we don’t officially meet him yet. He will be the only other person getting off in Collinsport.

Victoria thinks back to a mysterious letter that arrived at the foundling home where she grew up (as she had mysteriously arrived there herself) and, until recently, worked, offering her a position as governess and companion. She finds it odd, but she wonders if she can learn something about who her biological family may be.

Victoria approaches Burke Devlin on the platform in Collinsport to inquire after taxis. He says he doesn’t know and she wonders how they expect anyone to get to town, although it’s actually out of town that she wants to go. Burke says, “On broomsticks and unicorns.” Headlights wash over their faces in the film noir night, and he adds, “And a chauffeured car.” He offers Victoria a lift and they introduce themselves. Burke poetically welcomes her to the beginning and the end of the world, and she prosaically notes that she isn’t going that far. At the Collinsport Inn, he further suggests that it would be better for her if she turned around and headed back to Bangor. Of course, our intrepid heroine isn’t going to listen to that nonsense.

The desk clerk or innkeeper (Conrad Bain, pre-Maude and –Diff’rent Strokes) comes in and recognizes Burke, who gives him the cold shoulder. He has known Burke, he admits to Victoria afterward, “[s]ince he was this high.” It’s a surprisingly poignant moment, and one wonders if their relationship will play out in future episodes. But we know this: An angry young(ish) man has come home.

Burke has a meeting at the Blue Whale, the local bar, with what seems to be a private eye. The detective refers to Liz as “the old lady,” for pity’s sake. He seems more interested in how the joint will start jumping when the kids come in later. It seems like a throwaway line, but this is how we will meet two important characters.

At the restaurant, Maggie, a delightful tough-talking waitress with short blond hair lets Victoria know that she should not go to the Collins house. Maggie tells Victoria that she’s a jerk “J-E-R-K” for going to work at there. She has a lovely hard-boiled but friendly speech and warns Victoria about Collinwood, before giving her apple pie on the house—after all, she’ll need her strength if she’s a big enough jerk (read: patsy) to go anyway. Maggie and Victoria have instant friendship chemistry, and it is beautiful.

We get a glimpse through flashback of a friend back at the foundling home who tries to convince Victoria not to go, but she’s determined, hoping, as she puts it, that this will tell her who she is.

The private eye, one Wilbur Strake, gives Burke the lowdown on the Collins family. Burke thinks Victoria Winters doesn’t know what she’s getting into.

Victoria’s taxi arrives, and she asks Maggie if she was just trying to make her nervous. Maggie unconvincingly goes along with this and tells her it will “be a ball.”

Victoria Winters arrives at Collinwood, and Liz lets her in. The last shot is of Victoria standing in the hallway.

Cast, In Order of Appearance

Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bennett

Roger Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Louis Edmonds

Train conductor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred Honckley

Burke Devlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mitchell Ryan

Mrs. Mitchell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Rose

Mrs. Hopewell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Wilson

Hotel Clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Conrad Bain

Wilbur Strake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Julian

Maggie Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kathryn Leigh Scott

Sandy (Victoria’s roommate) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Bruce

Fashion by Ohrbach’s

Directed by Lela Swift

Story created and written by Art Wallace