Mountains

I love the 1970's era of GUIDING LIGHT. One of the most striking things about it is the humanity and realism that every scene is crafted with. Even the most outlandish of situations is underpinned with a wonderfully grounded acting and directing style that I find mesmerizing and incredibly satisfying.

Mountains finds us in 1979 and the primary focus of this set is the romance of Amanda Wexler Middleton (this is before she discovered she was a Spaulding) and Ben McFarren (not to be confused with Ben Warren or Ben Reade, who are different characters). Kathleen Cullen took some getting used to for me because, before I started this project, the only Amanda I knew was Toby Poser, the curly-haired Amanda of the 90's. As much as I loved Poser, Cullen really has become something very special for me because of the depth and beauty of her work. It's truly remarkable the crystalline beauty and haunting sadness that she brings to her fragile character which, in the hands of a lesser actor could easily have gone in a more cloying or otherwise unappealing direction.

In addition to Amanda and Ben, this set also features Eve Stapleton, Justin and Jackie Marler (although at this point, Jackie was married to a presumed-dead Alan), a very young Ross Marler, Rita Bauer, Diane Ballard, GL mainstay OB/GYN Margaret Sedwick, and the delicious Rita Lloyd as Lucille Wexler.

Mountains is a gorgeous look at one of the loveliest eras in the history of GL and i can't recommend it highly enough.

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