I was so excited when I heard they had made another movie in the Love Saga... boy was I disappointed when I saw this one.. Belinda was not Belinda at all-completely different character, different personality, and she was BLONDE- I was extremely disappointed to how much they changed Belinda-however after watching it again, I actually liked it taken out of the Love Saga context- If I take it as it's own movie and not identify it with the Saga, it's actually a very good movie, good storyline, and good acting-it's seeing her as Belinda that is disappointing-Jordan Bridges does a great job- I did not know his name the first time I saw it, but thought that his expressions and some facial features looked really familiar.. it drove me crazy- Finally I looked him up and discovered he was Beau Bridges' son.... his expressions and everything are Beau Bridges- Lou Diamond Phillips and Patrick Duffy do a Great job as well.. as well as the little orphan girl.. So I would recommend this movie as a movie on it's own.. but definitely not as part of the Love Saga-If that makes sense

The eighth of Janette Oke's novels to be translated to a Hallmark TV movie is full of peculiar choices. First is the casting of Annalise Basso and Haylie Duff as nineteenth-century graduates of Harvard Medical School. Each is younger than 25 and could play 15 if she wished. This makes for a very unprepossessing start to the movie that it never quite overcomes.

Director Lou Diamond Phillips makes some interesting choices among his supporting cast, including Cloris Leachman as the orphanage matron, Patrick Duffy as the out-of-his-depth mayor and himself as the local bigot. These characters are presented early on, along with with a cholera epic, leading to a story that by now is fairly cut-and-dried.

Two female doctors Haylie Duff and Sarah Jones come to Sikeston, Missouri and none too soon. The town is in the grip of an epidemic that appears to have started in the town orphanage. It's soon identified not as a kind of influenza as was thought, but the far more deadly cholera, most common back in a time of less sanitation.

Besides having to battle the usual Victorian prejudices about women in certain male only professions, both women especially Duff have their own demons to battle. Duff in fact is a recent widow who was unable to save her husband despite her medical training. Back two centuries ago, it was common for folks to die a lot younger.

The only real support they get is from the matron of the orphanage, Cloris Leachman and from Jordan Bridges the town blacksmith whom Duff gets romantically involved with. They have a week mayor in Patrick Duffy who wants to do the right thing, but is also mindful he has to go to these folks for votes later on. Sikeston also has a rabble rouser in Lou Diamond Phillips who lost family members and is willing to just throw the sick orphans on the street and out of town.

In addition to being the Grinch of the story, Lou Diamond Phillips also directs Love Takes Wing and gets nice performances from his cast. Particularly effective are the scenes with Haylie Duff and orphan Annalise Basso who bond quite nicely in the story and on the screen.

How do they deal with the epidemic? Well it seems that Johns Hopkins has developed a brand new technique for dealing with dehydration which is how cholera kills. I won't say, but I will say that nowadays it's something taken for granted.

Which shows you that even the most matter of fact and mundane things we have now are things that someone had to think up and bring about. And prove they work.

Love Takes Wing is a nice family film from the Hallmark Channel definitely worth a viewing.