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Png A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)  
Man's large collection of gold coins is stolen and is replaced by little girl
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The 1994 film "A Simple Twist of Fate" is a film set in the period from 1979 to 1992.
 
The film is loosely based on George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner.
 
Michael McCann is a teacher who leaves his position in Washington D.C. to live in rural Virginia as a woodworker and recluse.
 
He collects coins and over several years amasses a large collection of gold coins.
 
His coin collection is stolen by a burglar and shortly thereafter he finds a little girl and adopts her. He raises her for about eight years and then her biological father appears and attempts to get legal custody of the girl.
 
Several types of gold coins are shown including a United States 1907 high relief St. Gaudens $20 coin, other St. Gaudens $20 coins, Liberty Head $20 coins, South African 1 ounce Krugerrands, and smaller gold coins.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
1. Title
The coin used in the title appears to not be a real coin but a replica of some kind.
 
It is 1979 and Michael McCann is a music teacher in Washington D.C. His wife is pregnant and a friend gives him a gold coin as a gift for the child.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
2. Michael holds coin
The friend tells Michael that "it will be there when you need it."
 
Michael's wife tells him that a genetic test has revealed that he is not the father of her baby. A divorce follows and Michael leaves his position and moves to rural Virginia.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
3. Virginia house
Michael lives as a recluse and works as a woodworker and furniture maker.
 
His only friend is April Simon who runs a small antiques and coin store.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
4. April Simon in her shop
April shows Michael a gold coin.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
5. Michael examines gold coin
The coin is a United States $20 St. Gaudens 1907 high-relief double eagle, a very rare coin.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
6. Gold coin obverse
The date 1907 is in Roman numerals.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
7. Gold coin reverse
Only around 12,000 of these were minted as the minting of each coin took longer than regular $20 coins making them uneconomical to produce.
 
Michael buys the coin from April. She tries to interest him in some silver Walking Liberty half-dollars but he tells her he only wants gold coins.
 
At home, Michael looks at his coin collection.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
8. Michael and his coin collection
He probably made the wooden case as he is a woodworker.
 
The next scene shows some regular $10 and $20 coins.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
9. $20 gold coins
The top row are United States Liberty Head $10 gold coins dated 1905, 1894, 1893, and 1900. The middle row are United States Liberty Head $20 double eagles dated 1900 and 1904. These are all common date gold coins and worth little more than the bullion or gold value.
 
Michael enjoys playing with his coins and here he shuffles them like playing cards.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
10. Michael shuffles coins
Michael also keeps records of the current value of his coins.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
11. Michael does coin accounting
He has 20 South African krugerrand gold coins lined up. These are one ounce bullion coins first minted in 1967. The number on his calculator is "7840" which meant that the price of gold per troy ounce was 7840 / 20 or $392 at the time (in 1984).
 
The following scene is typical in films about misers.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
12. Michael handles his coins
Meanwhile, John Newland, a wealthy local man who is entering politics, is visited by his brother Tanny, a career criminal and drug addict.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
13. John Newland confronts his brother Tanny
John has been paying Tanny to keep an embarrassing incident in John's life out of the newspapers. John gives Tanny some money and Tanny leaves to visit a friend, Marsha Swanson.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
14. Tanny and Marsha
Marsha has a daughter who was fathered by John Newland.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
15. Little Mathilda
John is elected as a Congressman and is seen here with his wife Nancy.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
16. John and Nancy
Tanny Newland is driving another girlfriend and, while intoxicated, wrecks the car. He climbs out of the car and walks into the woods, coming upon Michael's house in the night. He breaks in, finds the coin collection, and steals it. Michael later wakes up, finds the coin collection gone, calls the police who find nothing.
 
Marsha is driving with Mathilda and she also wrecks her car near Michael's house. Both leave the car and Marsha falls in the snow while little Mathilda sees an open door at Michael's house and enters it. Michael hears a noise, wakes up, and finds Mathilda.
 
Tanny has disappeared and becomes the subject of local legends as to his whereabouts.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
17. Mathilda found
Michael looks around the property, finds Marsha dead, and calls the police. He is later allowed to adopt the child with the secret assistance of Congressman Newland.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
18. Michael at home with Mathilda
Michael's looses his reclusive personality and becomes a devoted father. He becomes better friends with April who is also a single parent and has a little boy.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
19. Michael visits April
Several years go by and Mathilda is growing up and going to school.
 
John Newland and his wife Nancy discover that she can not have a child and decide to adopt one. John invites Mathilda to visit the Newland estate because she likes the horses.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
20. John shows Mathilda a book on horses
Nancy notices that her husband is especially interested in Mathilda and he tells Nancy why.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
21. John confesses to Nancy
John tells Nancy about his affair with Marsha and that Mathilda is his biological daughter. Nancy pressures John to legally adopt Mathilda and the couple file a custody lawsuit against Michael.
 
The main issue at the trial is that the Newlands have more money than Michael does and can send Mathilda to an expensive college.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
22. Custody trial
The judge, a friend of the Newlands, is about to give the little girl to them. There is a commotion outside and people head to a quarry which has been drained of water.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
23. At the quarry
Mathilda, Michael, and to the right the judge, look at something.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
24. Tanny and the coins
Tanny Newland and Michael's coin collection have been found.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
25. Michaels coin collection
The judge allows Michael to keep Mathilda as he now has money of his own. Michael takes Mathilda to visit her mother's grave.
 
A Simple Twist of Fate
26. Mathilda at her mother's grave
Cast, Directors, Writers:
 
Steve Martin as Michael McCann
Alana Austin as Mathilda McCann
Gabriel Byrne as John Newland
Laura Linney as Nancy Newland
Catherine O'Hara as April Simon
Stephen Baldwin as Tanny Newland
 
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Writers: Steve Martin, George Eliot (novel Silas Marner)
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