`FLANDERS' RARELY FLOUNDERS WITH DEFOE CLASSIC.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Critic

Born to a thief in prison, who was hanged right after, and cast orphaned into the streets of 18th-century London to seek her fortune, author Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders is one of literature's classic rags-to-riches heroines.

In this loose adaptation, filmmaker Pen Densham adds some absorbing variations on Defoe's theme to give us a fiery and inspiring movie, that, if never quite transcending its costume drama origins, is still rendered with uncommon passion and elegance.

Tart-tongued and beguiling Aisling Corcoran, 11, plays Flora, a rebellious little hellcat who's plucked from a wretched orphanage by Morgan Freeman, who plays Hibbel, the gravely elegant servant of a rich benefactor who is about to change the girl's life.

Hibbel takes the child on a journey that will end in America. He tells her that her mother, Moll Flanders, is dead, but he's been instructed to read to the girl her mother's diary.

In it, Moll confesses that in her life she was a thief, a whore and a murderess. As the story unfolds in flashback, we come to understand how Moll could have been all these things and still not be someone that the little girl would be ashamed of.

Robin Wright (Jenny in ``Forrest Gump'') plays Moll, who after her cursed beginnings, dodges various cruel twists of fate but winds up working in a brothel after a malicious madam, Mrs. Allworthy (Stockard Channing), convinces her it's the only way she'll ever meet the rich husband who can rescue her.

Expecting worship, Moll encounters only degradation. She turns to drink, her spirit nearly doused for good. One day she meets a penniless artist (John Lynch) who wishes merely to paint her. The two fall desperately in love. Moll finds the happiness that has always eluded her, but smallpox takes her new husband away.

Penniless, she gives birth unattended to a baby girl, but cruel fate soon catches her in its vortex again, and she is separated from the baby and recaptured into the service of the wicked Mrs. Allworthy.

The rest of the yarn is best spun by Defoe and Densham, who offer a big twist that will take few viewers by surprise but is satisfying just the same.

Densham added the flashback structure and the character of Hibbel - a rare instance of a blackman portrayed in a period depiction of Europe. Previously a producer-writer of major commercial projects like ``Backdraft'' and ``Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,'' Densham makes his directorial debut on a project that appears to be a labor of love. His imperative, it seems, is merely to capture and celebrate Moll's spirit, and he succeeds to an unusual degree in uniting his cast and crew to carry out his vision.

Freeman, as ever, is superb at portraying dignity in servitude. Grave, soulful Irish actor John Lynch (``In the Name of the Father'') finds a great showcase in the role of the artist, bringing emotional depth and conviction to it; and Channing, by contrast, has delicious good fun as the glittering villainess. The camera work (David Tattersall is the cinematographer) and production design are fluid and handsome.

Densham infuses the movie with mainstream entertainment value and still manages to maintain a period integrity that, to say the least, improves on the somewhat silly ``Robin Hood.'' But whereas movies like ``Sense and Sensibility'' and ``Howard's End'' transcend their period by the quality of their insights into human behavior, the appeal of ``Moll'' is somewhat limited by its less-sophisticated nature - it's a melodrama, sometimes a heavy-handed one, and a fairy-tale romance.

Working in its favor, though, is the moving central performance by Robin Wright, a transcendently fine actress (``The Playboys,'' ``State of Grace'') who becomes Freeman's equal in conveying a noble fierceness of spirit that would inspire and prevail in any century and in any circumstances.

Wright is long overdue to move into the ranks of Hollywood's top actresses; with ``Moll,'' she'll no doubt raise her profile.

THE FACTS The film: ``Moll Flanders'' (PG-13; sex, prostitution).

The stars: Robin Wright, Morgan Freeman, Stockard Channing, John Lynch.

Behind the scenes: Directed and written by Pen Densham, based on the character from the novel by Daniel Defoe. Produced by John Watson, Richard B. Lewis and Pen Densham. Released by MGM/UA.

Running time: Two hours, three minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three Stars.