Displaying a sturdy professionalism throughout that stops just short of artistry, director Gary Ross, who co-scripted with Collins and Billy Ray, does his strongest work in the early scenes, which set up the stakes with chilling efficiency.

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But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […] By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come. Mrs. Cooke came out from under the port-cochère to welcome her.

That test was a killer.