The eighth of Janette Oke's novels to be translated to a Hallmark TV movie is full of peculiar choices. First is the casting of Annalise Basso and Haylie Duff as nineteenth-century graduates of Harvard Medical School. Each is younger than 25 and could play 15 if she wished. This makes for a very unprepossessing start to the movie that it never quite overcomes.
Director Lou Diamond Phillips makes some interesting choices among his supporting cast, including Cloris Leachman as the orphanage matron, Patrick Duffy as the out-of-his-depth mayor and himself as the local bigot. These characters are presented early on, along with with a cholera epic, leading to a story that by now is fairly cut-and-dried.
Director Lou Diamond Phillips makes some interesting choices among his supporting cast, including Cloris Leachman as the orphanage matron, Patrick Duffy as the out-of-his-depth mayor and himself as the local bigot. These characters are presented early on, along with with a cholera epic, leading to a story that by now is fairly cut-and-dried.