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Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1964
Running Times: 116 mins
Format: black and white 35mm
Ratio:
Sound: mono CREDITS PRODUCTION
Production Company: Allied / Beaver
Producers: Bryan
Forbes, Richard Attenborough,
Jack Rix
SCRIPT
Script: Bryan
Forbes
Novel: Mark McShane DIRECTION
Director: Bryan
Forbes
1st Assistant Director: Simon Relph
Assistant Director: Christopher Dryhurst PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Gerry Turpin
Camera Operator: David Harcourt
Assistant Camera: Gerry Anstiss
Grip: Ted Lockhart EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Derek York MUSIC
Music: John Barry
Musical Director: John Barry SOUND
Sound Recordist: Bill Daniels
Dubbing Editor: George Fisher
Sound Assistant: Gus Lloyd MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Stuart Freeborn
Hair: Barbara Ritchie
Wardrobe Supervisor: Laurel Staffel DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Ray Simm
Set Dresser: Peter James
Construction Manager: Jock Lyall MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Penny Daniels
Production Secretary: Ann Skinner CAST
Kim Stanley (real name: Patricia Read) (Myra Savage)
Richard Attenborough (Bill Savage)
Mark Eden (Mr Clayton)
Nanette Newman (Mrs Clayton)
Judith Donner (Amanda Clayton)
Patrick Magee (Superintendent Walsh)
Gerald Sim (Sergeant Beedle)
Marian Spencer (Mrs Wintry)
Arnold Bell
Hajni Biro (maid at Clayton's)
Marie Burke, Maria Kazan, Margaret Lacey (women at first seance)
Maggie McGrath (woman at second seance)
Lionel Gamlin (man at seance)
Ronald Hines (policeman outside Clayton's)
John Lees (plain clothes policeman)
Godfrey James (Mrs Clayton's chauffeur)
Diana Lambert (Mr Clayton's secretary)
Stanley Morgan (man in trilby)
Frank Singuineau (bus conductor) SUMMARY Fake psychic Myra convinces her weak-willed husband Billy to kidnap the daughter of wealthy parents, planning to extort money from the couple then offer her services as a psychic to help the police trace the missing child. But Myra becomes more and more unhinged as the plot continues, convinced that she can contact her long dead son Arthur and leading Billy to believe that she doesn't care if their victim is found dead or alive... CAPSULE REVIEW In the cold light of print, Séance on a Wet Afternoon may seem far-fetched and frankly unbelievable. But a real frisson of horror is generated by Myra's increasingly psychotic behaviour and by the likeable and sympathetic Billy's hen-pecked acquiescence to all but her most outlandish demands simply because he loves her so much. Stanley is frequently terrifying as Myra, a woman so completely unbalanced that she can't even maintain her own lies, so psychotic that the life of a child means nothing to her. That she so hated the cinema that she barely made an impact on movie audiences is a matter of great regret. Attenborough too is excellent (though it isn't really clear why he sports a fake nose) as the alternately pathetic and admirable Billy, a quiet and subtly affecting performance that perfectly complements Stanley. AVAILABILITY
UK
DVD Distributors: Carlton Visual Entertainment (3711505753)
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Artixo
Video Distributor: VidAmerica
CENSORSHIP HISTORY Finland
Rating: K-16 Sweden
Rating: 15
AWARDS
1964
National Board of Review, USA
Award Best Actress (Kim Stanley) - winner 1964
San Sebastián International Film Festival
Best Actor (Richard Attenborough) - winner (tied with Maurice Biraud for Les aventures de Salavin (1963)) 1965
Academy Awards, USA
Best Actress in a Leading Role (Kim Stanley) - nominated British Academy Awards
Best British Actor (Richard Attenborough) - winner
Best British Cinematography: black and white (Gerry Turpin) - winner
Best British Screenplay (Bryan Forbes) - winner
Best Foreign Actress (Kim Stanley) - winner Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Best Foreign Film (Bryan Forbes) - winner Laurel Awards
Golden Laurel Dramatic Performance, Female (Kim Stanley) - third place New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Best Actress (Kim Stanley) - winner 1965
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Best British Dramatic Screenplay (Bryan Forbes) - winner TIMELINE
1964
October
26: Sweden - theatrical release
1966
April
11: Denmark - theatrical release
1967
August
4: Finland - theatrical release
2004
January
26: UK - DVD release (Carlton Visual Entertainment (3711505753))
LINKS SEE ALSO
Korei (2000) REFERENCES MAGAZINES Radio Times 10-16 August 1985 p.16
review BOOKS Creature Features Strikes Again p.339
credits, review (by John Stanley) KEYWORDS
book into film, fake psychics, seances, kidnapping,
children
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