YOU'LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN
US, 1973, 73 minutes, Colour.
David Hartman, Ralph Meeker, Jane Wyatt, Joseph Campanella, Bo Svenson, Ben Gazzara.
Directed by Jeannot Swarc.
You'll Never See Me Again is quite an enjoyable but ordinary telemovie thriller. Its main interest is that it was directed by Jeannot Szwarc who was responsible for quite a number of effective horror telemovies as well as such cinema features as Extreme Close-up and the science feature, Bug.
1. The quality of the film as a telemovie, for the home audience, background of suspense and interest? The irony of the title and its references?
2. How good was this film as a thriller? The conventions of mystery, disappearance, husband going mad, atmosphere of death? The resolution and its credibility?
3. The techniques of the telemovie? How did they contribute to audience enjoyment?
4. How did the audience become involved in the plot? The Initial relationship between husband and wife and its development, the contrast with their squabble and the wife's disappearance? Involvement with the husband tracking down his wife, the lies told to him? How credible was the mystery about his wife's parents, the husband not having seen the mother and believing the woman? The attitude of the stepfather? The mystery of the look of the room and the final revelation? The melodrama and build-up and the rescue of the wife?
5. How credible were the principal characters? Conventional people for this kind of melodrama? Husband and wife and their love and their quarrel, strengths and weaknesses, impatience and pettiness? The desperate love of the husband, the relief of the wife when rescued? The harsh stepfather and his cruelty and lies? The nurse who took the role of the stepmother and broke under pressure? The personality of the police? The various characters, for instance the garage attendants?
6. How well did the film establish and keep its atmosphere and moods?
7. How satisfactory was the build-up and the stepfather's attempt to kill the girl? The rescue?
8. What themes do such telemovies portray? How conventionally for the home audience? Marriage, violence, love and hate, rescue?
