Anne Hansen and Shona Kay Moyer do a fine job in their performances as Lucy Mack Smith and Emma Hale Smith but IN EMMA'S FOOTSTEPS is more of a stage play than motion picture. Brittany Wiscombe who was responsible for the screenplays of NOT CINDERELLA'S TYPE and SINGING WITH ANGELS (both excellent) co-wrote this as well as directed. The script is too much talk and not enough visual.
One has only to compare it with with EMMA SMITH: MY STORY (2008), which is both "Breathtaking" and "Powerful", to see what is missing from this important follow-up. I retuned to re-see the earlier film in the theater four times and then purchased it on Blu-ray and have watched it several times over the years. I had no desire to return for a second viewing of IN EMMA'S FOOTSTEPS as much as I wanted to like the film.
True it didn't have the budget that it needed and so resorted to long dialog scenes. But the producers also made the mistake of shooting the film in the 2.35:1 wide screen format. For some reason several Mormon filmmakers are drawn to this wider format even though their efforts will have only have very brief theatrical screenings and mostly be seen on wide screen televisions which are 1.78:1 (16x9).
This film has a great deal of wall space with lots of talk and outdoors the limited cast seems smaller in the wider format. CandleLight, who is releasing the film has chosen to use the wider format for two shorter Church History releases: CARTHAGE and STORYTELLERS. WHY??? Because their directors like the wider format!
Review of In Emma's Footsteps
