W

US, 1973, 95 minutes, Colour.
Twiggy, Michael Witney, Eugene Roche, Dirk Benedict, John Vernon.
Directed by Richard Quine.

'W' is part of a group of thrillers like 'Wait Until Dark' that seemed chiefly for woman audiences, showing a woman being terrorised and gearing the audience to be terrified with her. The makers of 'W' had this in mind and, on paper, the film, despite incredible plot details, must have seemed good. But, it is only average of its kind. Perhaps the drawback is Twiggy as the heroine: she is gauche, a bit too Cockney and tends to recite lengthy passages heavily. In comparison, the hero and the villain seem to be overacting.

Again, Twiggy is not as innocent a victim as first thought, complicating our sympathy.

1. Was this a good melodrama? How frightening and scary was it? What was its main impact?

2. Was the film designed mainly for men or woman? What characteristics of a woman's picture did it have?

3. The significance and tone of the title and its mystery? The appropriate music for this kind of film? The modern style and decor, the frightening sequences, the menace? Was it a successful film of atmosphere and menace - did it have consistency?

4. How well could audiences identify with the characters? The initial sympathy with Katy? Sharing in the fear and the scares? Then the discovery of the injustice, the change of attitude? The sense of menace threatening the people, even though they had done just things? How did the film play with the audience feelings?

5. How credible was the plot? Billy, Katy’s leaving of him and her breakdown, the accusation of murder and gaol sentence? Did the film portray real feelings? Did it offer scope for real moral decisions?

6. How good was Twiggy's performance as Katy? Her style of acting? Her English background? The filling in of the story prior to the plot? The response to the opening frights? Katy’s weakness and gradually growing to strength through this ordeal? The consistency of her behaviour? Her relationship to Ben and Billy? Was justice done at the end? (her fright when the threat of a gaol sentence hovered over her? Her support of Billy in the end?)

7. Was Ben a conventional hero? The background of his love and marriage for Katy, his allowing Billy to stay in gaol? His anger and response to the scares? The way that he helped Katy? His response to Jasper? Such sequences as the visit to the prison? The justice of his arrest and the comparison with Billy? The credibility of his character and behaviour?

8. What comment on the irony of justice did the plot offer? Did this make the film interesting as regards theme?

9. Audience response to Billy before he was seen? The "W" on the car etc.? The explanation of his madness and marriage? His cunning in being in prison and getting out of it? The malice and motivation behind his frightening the couple? His use of Jasper and being callous? The murder? The melodramatics of his breakdown and support by Casey?

10. Did the character of Jasper add interest to the film? The murder? The mystery about him, the revelation that he was a con-man, the threats. and his being killed? The suggestions by the phone and the automatic answering etc?

11. The comment on prisons and the way that they are run with people allowed in and out?

12. The value of films of menace and scares?