Seance on a Wet Afternoon

This little seen film stars one of America's greatest actresses in one of Britian's greatest thrillers. Kim Stanley was an excellent Method actress. I agree that she very much reminds me of Geraldine Page, another brilliant actress. The way she says her lines, or uses her hands and face is very much like Page. (Ironically, Page turned down this role!)

I'm not going to get too much into the plot because I don't want to give too much away. If you want to know more about the plot, then check out some of the other comments. Let's just say great acting by the entire cast, and a good tense story, make for a night of suspense. So turn out the lights and enjoy!

PS: If you're looking for a copy of this video don't forget to check your public library.

An unsuccessful psychic and spiritualist has grown frustrated with her lack of celebrity--and so devises a plan to bring herself the fame she craves. She and her husband will kidnap a child. When the police are baffled and press coverage has reached a fevered pitch, she will have a "vision" that will lead to the child's recovery and the reap the rewards of publicity. But no sooner is the plan underway than there are complications--and in this instance the complications are the characters themselves.

Everything about Brian Forbes' SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON is understated yet oddly moody. The story, although unusual, is told in a direct sort of way; although it offers an occasional twist, the plot avoids tricky devices. The script is very natural sounding, the black and white cinematography avoids undue cleverness, and the background music is discreet. This throws all attention on the characters--and Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough offer amazing performances, with Stanley the very personification of rising madness and Attenborough painfully accurate as her emotionally dependent husband.

The interplay between Stanley and Attenborough is justly famous, and the two stars are well supported, most particularly by Judith Donner as the kidnapped child and Nanette Newman as her distracted mother. The film has a dreamy, claustrophobic quality that many will find fascinating; some, however, may consider it a bit talky and its conclusion an anticlimax. But if you are in the mood for a psychological thriller that really is psychological, you couldn't pick a better choice for rainy day viewing. Recommended.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This great, seldom-scene movie stars Kim Stanley as an unbalanced woman who holds seances in her home and concocts a plot to gain celebrity with her so-called "powers". With the help of her husband, she plans to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy couple, then use her "powers"to reveal the girl's whereabouts. As the story unfolds, the audience is shown the reasons behind the woman's emotional problems and the growing inevitability of disaster that her plan holds. Richard Attenborough gives a great performance as he teeters between the desire to fulfill his unhappy wife's scheme and the knowledge that the deed they are doing is wrong. Reccommended for those who want a shiver without the gore. Thought provoking.

One Saturday afternoon (not a wet one!) my mother happened to flick over from the sports on one channel to uncover an absolute gem of BRITISH Cinema from the 1960's. A little later I happened to come from my 'office', from where I run my home-based business, into the living room and was utterly transfixed by some of the greatest acting of all time in a British picture, together with a masterpiece of investigating the cinematic possibilities of the British city- and landscape. It's such a shame that the film wasn't a commercial success and that the independent production company behind it folded not long after the film's release. Both Mum and myself were amazed that we'd never even heard of Kim Stanley, who apparently was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in 'Seance...'. She should have been in more films than she was, but then again that was her choice to go more for theatrical work. I'd recommend this film to anybody and give it top rating.

Kim Stanley delivers a tremendously affecting performance as a sad English suburban housewife who desperately wants to prove her validity as a medium and will go to criminal means to do so in this chilly and chilling drama.

Critics heaped praise upon Stanley, always known as more of a stage actress than a movie actress, and the Academy awarded her a best actress nomination for her work in this film, and rightly so. At a time when movie acting could still be superficial, when Hollywood starlets were cast in ill-fitting roles because they looked better and would sell more tickets, Stanley gave a performance that distinguished itself in sheer commitment to character. It was rare then and still rare now to see a performance in which the actress creates a living, breathing human being before your very eyes.

But in the interest of fairness, one must also mention the equally strong work of Richard Attenborough, who gets a less showy but as important role as Stanley's beleaguered husband, who will do anything to keep his wife happy, even after he begins to suspect that she may be ill. Attenborough creates the image of a middle-aged man who suspects that he was lucky to get the wife he has, and who wants more than anything to live a normal, family-oriented life that seems to always remain just beyond his grasp.

"Seance on a Wet Afternoon" is not a masterpiece, but it is a subtly and intensely disquieting film, the kind that lingers in your head long after you've seen it.

Grade: A-