merrywater

I remember seeing this movie once as a kid. Three items present made an impression on me: the yellow slicker or rain coat, the gloves, and the dark blue Mercedes Benz 300 SEL. I was positively surprised to see this movie online and the sentimental journey of seeing it anew was quite a charge to me!

HFTH is perhaps not too original, being a kind of family murder mystery, but childhood nostalgia is childhood nostalgia, and the musical score is actually breathtaking - almost as if composed by some neoclassical master. Very well suited for this rather 'gothic' melodrama. The composer was George Aliceson(!) Tipton - a prolific creator of soundtracks back then.

Two household names of the 70s appear in this ABC movie of the week: Sally Field and Jessica Walter. Having been somewhat type-cast as a neurotic, Walter plays an alcoholic here, and she does not survive to the final credits.

A feel good drama for the frequently boring Christmas/New Year's Holidays, I dare say.

The HAMMER HOUSE of MYSTERY and SUSPENSE series lasted for only one season. If all episodes would have turned out as offbeat as "Black Carrion", the reason for the cancellation of the show would have been self explanatory. However, most of its episodes do keep up a good standard within the British suspense tradition.

What makes this episode fail is the uninspired direction of a particularly nonsensical plot.

The plot deals with a journalist and his female sidekick getting assigned by a music magazine, or something, to unravel a "mysterious disappearance": What happened to a short-lived (one season!) rock duo of the 60s? A truly corny assignment, indeed. There are a number of obvious influences from various sources, among which the movies "All You Need Is Cash" and "The Duel" might be mentioned. (Though supposedly being filmed in 1963, the retained footage of the duo appears in a most unconvincingly crisp clear color . Compare this to the corresponding footage of the Rutles in "All You Need Is Cash" which actually appears vintage.) On top of that, the sidekick seems to have a distressing personal relation to the duo, shown in flashbacks, that she surprisingly did not inform her companion of as they set out for the story.

The rest of the plot is, besides being a bummer, overacted and taking itself too seriously.

A badly aged product of the 80s.

I'll rate this flick 5 out of 10 just due to the atmosphere of sleazy 70s TV pictures.

The plot is drug it out beyond credibility, and the main protagonist is acting like an utter fool, even considering the bewildering twist in the end.

Not to spoil things, in case you get to see this picture on youtube (as I did, otherwise it'd perhaps be rather hard, not being available on VHS or DVD, etc.) the major idea is a plot within a plot within a plot.