Starring Natasha Burnett and Viv Leacock
***SPOILER ALERT***
Two hundred years ago in England, Lady Wilma and Jacob (Lola Claire and Nic Westaway) parted ways. She was slated to wed a duke and couldn’t marry Jacob, a humble carpenter. Before Jacob departed for America, Lady Wilma separated the locket containing their portraits and they each kept the half with the picture of the other person. In modern-day England, Amelia (Burnett), an antiques dealer, possesses the half with Jacob’s picture. Her mother tried to track down the other half but couldn’t before her death, and now Amelia has taken up this challenge. She travels to Wilmaton, Massachusetts, the town Jacob founded, and soon encounters the sheriff, Marcus (Leacock), who with his sister, Francine (Samantha Cole), is attempting to revive the dying town. Marcus catches Amelia breaking into the archives and, because she’s been so secretive, is suspicious of her motives. Then a sampler from Jacob’s descendant, Enid (Beverley Elliot), surfaces, offering clues to the locket’s whereabouts, and Amelia and Marcus team up to find it.
PROS
This movie was directed by Kevin Fair, whose credits include 2023’s 3 Bed, 2 Bath, 1 Ghost, and A Season for Family. He also directed several movies in the Signed, Sealed, Delivered series.
A meaty plot. With its quest story, Legend of the Lost Locket boasted a more substantial plot than we’ve seen recently from Hallmark. Michelle Ricci’s script had enough twists and turns to entertain viewers every step of the way. The search for the locket, reputed to bring the wearer true love, took Amelia and Marcus to various Wilmaton locations—the town archives, the founder’s house, and the B&B Francine owned (originally Jacob’s house). They also travelled to Boston with a smoke-damaged painting they found. There, art dealer Luis (Zak Santiago) removed the damage, uncovering a portrait of Lady Wilma with her locket. And we learned that Lady Wilma had faked her own death, then joined Jacob in America!
The movie added another layer of intrigue beyond Amelia and Marcus’s search: Amelia thought she was being watched. Someone else was after the locket; a map in her purse had been displaced and the archived documents she’d sought were missing. And Enid’s telltale sampler disappeared, and she received a threatening note to call off the search. All this ratcheted up the suspense, culminating in a deliciously tense scene at the founder’s ball in which Amelia and Marcus were pursued by a shadowy figure in a gloomy attic. There, they came face to face with Poppy (Andrea Stefancikova), who Amelia had met at the archives. Poppy hungered for the riches she thought the locket would bring.
The verse and the flowers in the sampler were another fascinating aspect, as these clues led Amelia and Marcus to the staircase, and then the nursery at the B&B. The payoff after the long search was an emotional moment when Amelia found the missing half of the locket in the false bottom of a box. This discovery was satisfying, as was the fact that she gifted the locket to Wilmaton.
Delightful leads. Burnett and Leacock, familiar to fans of When Calls the Heart, were perfect together here. At times Amelia and Marcus were irritated with one another. He took her to task for the break-in, and he also suspected her motive for finding the locket was pure greed. She was annoyed with him for arresting her, then for being suspicious that she’d taken the archive documents. But they also gently teased one another, and how they looked at one another subtly spoke of burgeoning romantic feelings. I loved the adorable way they locked eyes while waltzing at the ball. And throughout the movie, Amelia often gave Marcus flirtatious sidelong glances, then smiled at him sweetly. Both leads did a fine job of depicting these characters.
Romantic flashbacks and ghosts! Admittedly, the Lady Wilma and Jacob scenes were corny, but they did make the characters more real for viewers. And their costumes took us back in time to the Regency period. Guests at the ball also wore clothing in that style. All this fit well with the film’s emphasis on antiques and historical buildings. And it was fun to see Lady Wilma (called Jane in America) and Jacob appear before Amelia’s eyes, first during the proposal on the bridge, then as they strolled through town.
CONS
A plot hole. As well plotted as this movie was, I couldn’t help but wonder how Lady Wilma’s half of the locket, which contained Jacob’s picture, managed to stay in England. Wouldn’t she have taken such a precious keepsake with her when she fled the country? I would have thought so. But I suppose that why she didn’t take it with her was lost in the mists of time, as was how Amelia’s mother happened to acquire it.
Would that really happen? I doubted that Amelia would break into the archives. Though she was desperate, it seemed out of character for a woman who was so concerned about her professional reputation. Even if you accept that she’d break in, it’s hard to imagine she wouldn’t check for a security system first.
About the antiques . . . At the diner, Amelia picked up the most ordinary modern glass and metal salt shaker and after examining its base, declared it Sheffield silver from the 1830s. Only there wouldn’t have been silver hallmarks on the glass! And it looked nothing like shakers from that era. The film also stretched the definition of a sampler. Samplers from the early 19th century were exercises to show off needlework skills and were typically worked by children. They frequently contained the alphabet, repeating patterns and motifs, and religious verse—not quite what the movie showed. Of course, I realize that most viewers wouldn’t notice these things.
My grade for Legend of the Lost Locket: A-
Caroline Kaiser is a professional book editor who specializes in fiction and memoirs, and she’s been guiding writers toward publication since 2007. Caroline is also the author of two ghostly mystery novels, Virginia’s Ghost and The Spirits of South Drive. Before she embarked on an editing and writing career, she spent many years working in a Toronto auction house as an antiques appraiser. Apart from curling up on the couch and drinking tea as she watches Hallmark movies, Caroline enjoys baking and exploring London, Ontario, the picturesque city she now calls home. Her website is www.carolinekaisereditor.com.
