Old thread, but I'm a Lizzie nut, and think it would be fantastic time for a new movie. I think either Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley - IMDb or Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue - IMDb would be good as Lizzie. Also, Kathy Bates would be an excellent "Abby."
I've read a great deal about this case, and I even wrote a paper about it for my senior Women's History class in college. I just don't think she did it, but I think she set it up and hired/paid someone off to SHUT up. There was no blood on her at all. I think it was a man, and I think he hid in the cellar overnight or even in the barn, and then crept into the cellar before Bridget got up. He came in and did the deeds while Bridget was outside washing windows, using Lizzie as the "lookout," and then when Bridget went upstairs to lie down, he acted again, out of Bridget's earshot.
Lizzie conveniently placed herself outside for a good 15-30 minutes (as she said) and then went back inside, knowing what he'd done. I think he could have escaped rather easily by walking normally, blending into the regular street traffic, perhaps wearing a light overcoat (on that hot August day, which might have seemed odd, but he couldn't have concealed the hatchet any other way). I don't buy the "wild-eyed, pale man standing around the Borden house" theory. I think he had to act so normally so as not even to be noticed coming from the Borden residence/area.
I agree Lizzie looked creepy, and I think she may have tried to poison her father and Abby before with another agent that didn't work (obviously), so she tried to buy the prussic acid, but again, I just don't feel she did it. Also, no poison was found in either of the victims' stomachs, so I don't know what could have made them so sick the previous day or two, but I think she was behind it. I think Emma knew something was going to happen because she rarely traveled and happened to be in Marion, visiting friends; and I think Uncle John knew, something as well -- he arrived with no overnight kit, i.e., change of clothes, etc., and he had a ship-shape alibi (almost too good to be true). He remembered the exact times he went to visit someone, when he left, the streetcar number, all kinds of details one usually doesn't think about. He also "didn't notice" the HUNDREDS of people who had heard and surrounded the house when he returned. He also said that the cellar door had been left open (it was not; it was closed - could have been the killer's error).
I think Lizzie "set the scene" for the murders by telling her closest neighbor friend about a disgruntled business associate of her father's and that she was afraid to stay there, "sleeps with one eye open," fears they have been poisoned, and so on.
She was also wealthy enough to pay off the jurors, judge, whomever, and knew she wouldn't be found guilty. She hired the ex-governor of the state as her lawyer, for heaven's sakes!
On a related subject, did anyone see the "Psychic Kids" episode in which two girls (supposedly unbeknownst to them, at age 16 and 17) visited the Borden house? The link is here:
Psychic Kids : Messages from the Dead /The Lizzie Borden Case Pt 1 / 4 (Not HD) - YouTube the best parts come in toward the middle of the show, but it's a good watch overall, and I think the girls did very well. I wonder, though, if they could have realized where they were. It's pretty hard to completely disguise a place as well known as the Borden house, and you'd think the signs pointing to "Fall River" on the way would have tipped them off, but maybe not. I knew about this when I was 11, but that's only because of the Elizabeth Montgomery movie.
Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!
Cheers!