Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Monday November 16, 2009 in 60s cinema |
For a short period in the early 1960s Bryan Forbes was responsible for some of the most interesting films being made. After forming Beaver Films with Richard Attenborough he wrote the screenplays for The League of Gentleman and The Angry Silence (both 1960). As a director his early films included Whistle Down the Wind (1961), possibly still one of the best films about children ever made, and The L-Shaped Room (1962), a masterclass in kitchen sink realism. In 1964 he directed Seance on a Wet Afternoon, based on the novel by Mark McShane and with Attenborough producing and starring.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a beautifully moody piece, although the film ultimately doesn’t live up to the sum of its sterling parts. It stars Attenborough as the downtrodden husband of an unstable medium (Kim Stanley). Together the two embark on a clumsy kidnap plot in order to collect the reward money. Stanley, in a rare film role, received an Oscar nomination for her very unsettling performance, although Attenborough too delivers the goods. Almost unrecognisable in a false nose, moustache and glasses, he plays a very oddball part. Always an oustanding character actor, this is a role in which he excels and it is probably only surpassed by his chilling performance as John Christie a few years later in 10 Rillington Place.
The film is enhanced by the John Barry soundtrack, and Forbes wisely chose to work with Barry again on his other masterpiece of mood The Whisperers (1967). Made in the winter of 1963, the British cold and damp really soaks through this movie; the locations are excellent – the West End, suburbia and mist filled woods. For location buffs, the house where much of the films action is set is in Wimbledon, South West London, and the derelict Staines Speedway is also featured.
Forbes films are always recognisable by the presence of Nanette Newman, the director’s wife who always appears in his cast. Here she plays the mother of the kidnapped girl, married to Mark Eden (now forever known as the beastly Alan Bradley in Coronation Street). But apart from an appearance by the great Patrick Magee, Seance on a Wet Afternoon doesn’t have a memorable supporting cast and for me the interest lies in Attenborough, Barry and the location shooting. Sadly, apart from The Whisperers, Bryan Forbes stopped making interesting films after this. King Rat (1965) isn’t that memorable, nor is the Michael Caine vehicle Deadfall (1968). And by the 70s things started to become dire with International Velvet (1978). But for a very, very short period he knew how to make great movies.