IT HAPPENED AT LAKEWOOD MANOR

US, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Suzanne Somers, Robert Foxworth, Myrna Loy, Lynda Day George.
Directed by Robert Scheerer.

It Happened at Lakewood Manor is enjoyable if average animal menace disaster material - appearing at a time when this was popular in the wake of Jaws. It is typical telemovie material - glossy action adventure, an emphasis on dangers and a gallery of characters briefly introduced for heroism or villainy (and to be disposed of). Robert Foxworth is a reliable star and Linda Day George has done this kind of thing in many telemovies. There is a pleasant guest performance by Myrna Loy. Killer ants disturbed by unscrupulous developers are the enemy against mankind - or rather the warning not to be selfish and exploitive. The film is an example of popular environmental moralising of the late '70s.

1. The popularity of animal menace films over the decades and especially in the '70s? The range of characters menaced, the situation, the moralising background? How persuasive?

2. The conventions of this kind of action adventure: the owners of the house, hero and heroine and their misunderstandings as well as the combination for final heroism? Visiting guests, victims, immoral and unscrupulous guests? The upright workers? How conventionally were these characters presented here? How strongly - especially for audience identification?

3. The use of colour photography, the communication of Lakewood Manor to the audience - an old stately house, its convenience as a hotel, grounds? The sets and the way that they were used for the build-up of disaster and rescue? The special effects especially for the construction site, for the final rescues? The musical score and atmosphere?

4. The presentation of the killer ants - filming ordinary ants but suggesting an atmosphere of menace by the use of close-ups and music? Their effect on various people - at Lakewood Manor, in hospital? The plausibility of this kind of menace and the scientific points put forward about disturbing the environment? The hostility between man and nature? Nature taking its vengeance on man?

5. American building development and exploitation of tourist resorts? The stance of the film? The heroine and her mother and their stands? The hero and his developing sites? The developer and his girlfriend and their lack of scruple? Money-making and double-dealing?

6. The initial crisis with the disappearance of the worker, the introduction of the hospital sequences and the puzzle about the nature of the poisoning? The growing number of examples - the little boy in the swimming pool and his collection of bottles? The black worker? The gradual spread of the ants e.g. into the kitchen and the killing of the cook? The death of the developer's girlfriend? The saving of the guests? The small group having to take refuge higher and higher in the building? The continued menace of the ants? The advice of the expert? The developer and his horrible death? Hero, heroine and mother being saved - mother being rescued by the helicopter? Hero and heroine and their keeping still? Audiences being caught up in this kind of adventure while on screen?

7. The development of the characters and their points of view: the mother and tradition and her staying put, having to face the reality of contemporary change? Hero and heroine and their relationship, their interest in Lakewood Manor? The developer and his girlfriend? The hitch-hiking girl and the worker at the hotel? The little boy and his mother? The experts? The co-workers?

8. The effectiveness of the action sequences and the building up to climax? The persuasiveness of the moralising ending in this context?

9. The perennial popularity of this kind of material for this kind of material for the home audience? Moralising adventure?