THE SCREAMING WOMAN

US, 1972, 73 minutes, Colour.
Olivia de Havilland, Ed Nelson, Lorraine Stephens, Joseph Cotten, Walter Pidgeon, Alexandra Hay, Charles Drake, Lonnie Chapman.
Directed by Jack Smight.

The Screaming Woman is based on a story by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451). Olivia de Havilland had starred in the horror pastiche, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, and was the star of Lady in a Cage. Here she portrays a woman who is released from a mental institution to the care of her son and his wife. In the grounds, she thinks she hears the screams of a woman buried. This is a variation on the boy who cried wolf as the police are not prone to accept her claims.

Olivia de Havilland is very good in the central role. Ed Nelson is sinister. There is a cast of veterans in support.

The film was directed by Jack Smight, a director of many feature films including Harper, The Illustrated Man, No Way to Treat a Lady.

1. Was this an effective thriller? Why?

2. Was it too sensational or was it realisttc? Why?

3. How did it createl its atmosphere of horror? Our sympathy for the behaviour of the screaming woman?

4. What impression did she make in herself? How mad did she seem? How sensitive was she? The effect of being so rich? Old? Her sympathy towards the buried woman, and her concern? The frustration of that concern? The impact of the people she asked - she seemed to be crying wolf? Her attitude of defeat when she was sedated etc.? How strong was her will and the fact that she restored a woman to life? Her satisfaction with this?

5. The dramatic impact of her begging people to help her and the emotional response to this? David, David's father and his refusal to listen; the couple who did not want to be involved, the agent who had harmed her family and his laughing at her; the murderer himself?

6. What was your response to the son-in-law and his wanting to commit his mother? The attitude of his wife and her selfishness, taunts ? Her being thwarted?

7. Was the murderer too unsympathetic? Was his crime realistic? His relationship with his wife and his girlfriend? The dramatic impact of her arrival?

8. Comment on the style of filming. As a telemovie?

9. The importance of having stars in the leading roles? The guest spots of Walter Pidgeon and Joseph Cotton?

10. What values did the film explore? Attitudes towards life and society? Loneliness and restoring people to life?