‘Sin’ That’s Not Exactly Original

The vintage suspense mysteries of Cornell Woolrich, with their bravura plots and romantic fatalism, remain eminently readable, and “Phantom Lady” (1944) and “Deadline at Dawn” (1946) are durable entertainments. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” is based on a Woolrich short story, and Francois Truffaut filmed his “The Bride Wore Black” with Jeanne Moreau as a striking homage to Hitchcock.

No such pleasure awaits in watching director Michael Cristofer’s disastrous adaptation of Woolrich’s 1947 “Waltz Into Darkness,” renamed “Original Sin” for the screen and starring Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie.

Cristofer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, made his film directorial debut with HBO’s “Gia,” which won Jolie 1999 Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe best actress awards for her performance as supermodel Gia Carangi, dead at 26 from the complications of AIDS.

Cristofer, however, is seriously miscast as the man to bring to the screen an extravagantly melodramatic 19th century love story. The one director who for sure would have gotten away with such material would be Banderas’ mentor Pedro Almodovar, expert at wringing humor and pathos from lurid, over-the-top plots and characters. Cristofer’s approach is relentlessly serious and dead-on, devoid of humor, wit or personality.

Perversely, Banderas and Jolie are ideally cast and give their all to their roles. Banderas is Cuban tobacco planter Luis Antonio Vargas, who doesn’t want a wife who marries him only for his money. Jolie’s Julia Russell is an American who doesn’t want a husband who wants her just for her looks--or so she says.

Passing himself off as a clerk in the cigar factory he owns with Jack Thompson’s Alan Jordan, an avuncular American (with an unconvincing Southern accent), Vargas accepts picture bride Julia as she disembarks in Havana, not surprisingly forgiving her that she sent him a likeness of a far plainer woman.

After a wedding that could easily go down as the fanciest in Cuban history, the swiftly smitten Vargas is a gentleman who allows Julia time to get to know him before attempting to consummate their marriage. When the moment arrives, Julia responds to him with unabashed ardor; ecstatically happy, Vargas has fallen in love for the first time in his life.

He should have been listening more closely, however, when Julia remarked that “neither of us can be trusted.” That’s only half true--Vargas actually is an open, even innocent man with nothing to hide, but he really knows nothing definite about his bride, whose refusal to respond to her sister’s letters from America understandably puzzles him. Even though Julia seems happy herself, there is an aura of mystery and even sadness about this boldly sensual woman who proves to be a classic femme fatale .

A menacing man (scenery-chewing Thomas Jane) from Julia’s past turns up, farfetched plot developments escalate at a dizzying pace--and “Original Sin” plunges into protracted, tedious ludicrousness.

It’s too labored and ponderous to qualify as a so-bad-it’s-good amusement. “Original Sin” is merely an old-fashioned bore.

MPAA rating: R, for strong sexual content and some violence. Times guidelines: nudity, fairly explicit sex.

‘Original Sin’

Antonio Banderas: Luis Antonio Vargas

Angelina Jolie: Julia Russell

Thomas Jane: Walter Downs

Jack Thompson: Alan Jordan

An MGM Pictures presentation in association with Hyde Park Entertainment of a Via Rosa/Di Novi Pictures production in association with Intermedia/UGC International. Writer-director Michael Cristofer. Based on the novel “Waltz Into Darkness” by Cornell Woolrich. Producers Denise Di Nove, Kate Guinzberg and Carol Lees. Executive producers Sheldon Abend, Ashok Amritaj, David Hoberman. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto. Editor Eric Sears. Music Terence Blanchard. Costumes Donna Zakowska. Production designer David J. Bomba.. Art director John Jensen. Set decorator Beth Rubino. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.

In general release.