THE CRADLE WILL FALL

US, 1983, 100 minutes, Colour.
Lauren Hutton, Ben Murphy, James Farentino, William H. Macy.
Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey.

The Cradle Will Fall is an entertaining thriller about a clever lawyer played by Lauren Hutton and a mad doctor played by James Farentino. There are nightmare memories, murders, threats for the heroine - until a final rescue by boyfriend Ben Murphy. The material is familiar but entertainingly presented by director John Llewellyn Moxey, a director of many telemovies in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s.

1. Entertaining telemovie thriller? Popular ingredients?

2. A piece of Americana? and murder? The modern city? Law? Medicine? Madness?

3. The title and its reference to Kathy? The blend of law and terror?

4. Kathy and her work, Lauren Hutton credible as an attorney, her dizzy spells and illness, the accident, relationship with Richard, a widow? Hospital, the nightmares and memories, seeing the doctor with the body? The investigation? Her office staff and their support? Richard and the possibility of going to Seattle? Decisions to be made? Her friends? Her interviews with the doctor, the decision about the operation? Chris Lewis and the possibility of his being the killer? The change in detection? The doctor as guilty? The pursuit? The hiding in the underground of the hospital? Her being rescued by Richard? A happy future? Television heroine?

5. The doctor and his research, Angie Lewis and her age, dilemmas, the swelling, the visit to the doctor, his killing her, the cover-up? The intensity of his research? Medical opinions? Madness, murdering his secretary? The pursuit of Kathy, the chase, his being caught?

6. The police investigation? Richard and the autopsies? The curiosity, his colleague? The possibility of going to Seattle? The clash with Kathy? The discovery of the truth? The rescue?

7. The District Attorney's office, their work, the staff?

8. Lewis and the discovery of his wife's body, his having an affair, going to visit the secretary, his innocence?

9. Angie and her secret, the shoe? The secretary and her sympathy, the doctor murdering her?

10. Popular themes of science and the mad doctor? Law and investigation?

11. The film as an exercise in terror? her vindication? The terrorising of a career woman?