Miles-10
This is a brilliant how-catch-'em told as a character study of a middle-aged couple, Billy and Myra, that decides to kidnap a child in order to fix everything that has gone wrong with their lives. As it evolves, the crime itself seems to bounce back and forth between lucky improvisation and clever planning. In terms of suspense, the best scenes are the kidnapping itself and the ransom pick-up. The movie seems to be saying that things are more apt to go according to plan when dealing with adults rather than children. Poor Billy has to do most of the dirty work. Myra masterminds the crime, but she is clearly an unstable person from the outset. At one point, Billy complains to Myra that he is not "a master criminal" implying that that is what their crime needs, and he is right about that. It needs two master criminals, and neither of them is up to it, but they give it their best.Despite all of that, you have people doing horrible things with a surprising hold on their humanity. There is genuine tenderness on the part of Billy throughout and even from the police inspector at the end.There is a revealing power shift in the course of the movie as the submissive Billy gradually reveals that he holds the marriage together and actually does have more talent as a master criminal than she does. Myra and Billy are both motivated by pain and loss, but she can't stand it while he has long since accepted it.The cinematography is tops, with judicious, almost invisible use of zoom lenses, clear-eyed views of London in the early 1960s, and moody, sinister looks at the kidnappers house, cluttered with the refuse of the couple's bad memories.
clanciai
A very interesting dive into the world of spiritualism with an almost devastating charting of the psychology of a disturbed medium. Kim Stanley's performance as Myra, using the spirit of her stillborn child as a link with the other side, is almost ghoulish, being totally blind to reality and having lost all touch with her own humanity. A drama of great suspense, especially as she insists on a séance when the mother of the child they have kidnapped appears, the child being sick in the next room, it's almost unbearably uncomfortable but extremely interesting and fascinating. Bryan Forbes, born today in 1926, died last year, made a number of very diverse and tricky films, sometimes experimental, but always intelligent. This was one of his best, certainly a suspense thriller dealing with the out of the ordinary... One of the last great noir films.
chaos-rampant
A bit of a lost classic that slipped between the cracks despite the Oscar nomination for lead actress Kim Stanley, this story of kidnapping and madness in the Savage household starts off with a first hour so expertly paced, nuanced and beautifully photographed that you begin to think the 8.4 score it has on IMDb isn't a stretch at all. The way Forbes handles the exposition, withhelding information from the audience long enough to keep them guessing, releasing them in an ambiguous fashion to maintain an aura of mystery, all the while not forgetting those little casual moments that don't advance the plot but allow the material to breathe and the characters to emerge thridimensional and human instead of drab caricatures drawn as plot devices, is a masterclass in storytelling that one would expect from a master of Bergman's calibre. The second half steadily accelerates, building up tension between the kidnappers and between them and the police, with some absolutely riveting pieces of suspense such as the cat and mouse game in the subway or the mother of the kidnapped girl making a sudden appearance at the house her daughter is being held to participate in a seance where the medium foreshadows her daughter's fate while she remains unaware, right down to the brilliant conclusion around a seance table where stage actor Patrick Magee has a cameo (Mr. Alexander from a CLOCKWORK ORANGE), Seance is a terrific piece of film-making that will particularly appeal to horror fans. Kim Stanley deserved that Oscar and so did Richard Attenborough (who would go on to sweep the Oscars with GANDHI), both of whom give electrifying performances as husband and wife.
Spikeopath
Myra Savage is a struggling psychic, who along with her weak-willed husband, Billy, kidnap the young daughter of wealthy parents. The plan is to extort money from the fretting parents and then for Myra to help the parents find the child with her psychic ability, thus improving her standing in the psychic field. But as the story unfolds, Myra grows ever more close to the edge of insanity, could the still born death of the Savage's own child be the critical issue?Seance On A Wet Afternoon is something of a hidden/forgotten British treasure, not only because of its eerie atmospherics, but also because it contains a quite incredible acting performance from Kim Stanley as the troubled Myra Savage. Stanley was nominated for an Academy Award but lost out to Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, I wonder just how many people even remember Stanley's film? Tho chiefly marketed as a crime picture, this piece actually feels more like an offshoot of the horror genre, it's a genuinely creepy picture that has unease lurking in every marvellous black and white corner. Boosted by an excellently understated turn from Richard Attenborough (also producer here) as Billy Savage, directed with exceptional skill from Bryan Forbes (Whistle Down the Wind), and with a plinking creepy score from maestro John Barry, this adaptation of Mark McShane's novel comes highly recommended for those that like a great psychological character study. Oh and of course for those that know brilliant acting when they see it! 8/10
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