DIE SCREAMING, MARIANNE

UK, 1971, 99 minutes, Colour.
Susan George, Barry Evans, Christopher Sandford, Judy Huxtable, Leo Genn, Anthony Sharp.
Directed by Pete Walker.

Die Screaming, Marianne has a title which indicates, more or less, what the film is all about. A young Susan George (in the year in which she made Straw Dogs for Sam Peckinpah) is the daughter of a judge. She goes to Portugal, her mother unexpectedly dies, Marianne is to inherit the money from the family, as well as some documents to incriminate her father for crooked practices. Her sister wants her money. Needless to say there are several characters who would be happy if Marianne would die screaming. In the supporting cast is Barry Evans, who died young, who appeared in Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. The surprise casting is Leo Genn, the classic actor of many films including Quo Vadis and The Green Glove, as the judge.

Pete Walker made a number of exploitation films from the late 60s to the early 80s. Some of them are well known like House of Whipcord, Frightmare and House of Mortal Sin.

1. The tone of the title, indication of treatment, themes?

2. The success of the film as a British thriller, the conventions of suspense, crime, characters? The quality of the screen play, the delineation of the characters. the contrived and tense situations? The sordid atmosphere of the people and their crimes?

3. The style of the film: the use of Portugal, British locations, colour, atmosphere, the song, musical score? Appropriate for this kind of thriller?

4. The structure and audience interest in the film: the mysterious prologue with the atmosphere of murder and death and the focus on Marianne, the opening sequences and the puzzle about Marianne, the use of cross-cutting from England to Portugal, the build-up to the climaxes?

5. How interesting a character was Marianne? The traits of her character, strengths and weaknesses, the filling, in of the background, the credibility of her flight, of the pursuit, her response to her mother, to her father, sister? To her rescuer? Living with him? The ambiguity of the marriage?

6. The portrayal of the judge as a sinister and corrupt figure, the background of his work, his hypocrisy. wealth and exile in Portugal, attitude to his wifey the incestuous attitudes towards his daughters? The build-up to his death? A convincing portrait of evil?

7. Marianne's sister and her role in Portugal, her madness, her murderous attitudes?

8. Comment on the two man, the contrasts, the ambiguity of their rescues, the ambiguity of Marianne and the marriage, the greed of one and the heroism of the other? Their involvement in Marianne's crises? The build-up to Portugal and their sign and death?,

9. The importance of the servant and his sinister presence, his role in the murders?

10. What values does a film like this explore? The moral tone and the basic moral presuppositions? An allegory about modern evil and the modern world? Is this kind of film valuable or not?