Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Encyclopedia
Séance on a Wet Afternoon is a 1964 British film
directed by Bryan Forbes
, based on the novel by Mark McShane in which an unstable medium
convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and collect the ransom. The film stars Richard Attenborough
(who was also the film's co-producer), Kim Stanley
, Nanette Newman
, Mark Eden
and Patrick Magee
.
s in her dreary home. Her husband Bill (Richard Attenborough), unable to work full-time, for being asthmatic, assists in his wife’s séances. At Myra’s instigation, Bill kidnaps the young daughter (Judith Donner) of a wealthy couple (Mark Eden and Nanette Newman), confining her in a room (in the Savage home) dressed as a hospital ward. Myra dresses as a nurse to deceive her to believing she is hospitalised. However, Myra insists she is "borrowing" the girl to demonstrate her psychomancy to a police investigator (Patrick Magee) in helping him find the missing girl. However, her plan goes awry as her unsteady mental health begins to fray.
The haunting music played on the phonograph over and over by Myra and Billie throughout the film, in which the voice of a boy soprano
becomes an invisible character reminding them of their dead baby, is from the movement "Oh for the Wings of a Dove" from the choral work "Hear My Prayer
" by Felix Mendelssohn.
and Simone Signoret
were originally approached for the part, but both actresses turned down the role. Forbes and Attenborough then contacted Kim Stanley, an American theatre and television actress whose previous film work was limited to starring in the 1958 feature The Goddess and providing the uncredited opening and closing narration for the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird
. Attenborough would later be quoted as stating that Stanley was the best choice, noting that the "complexity of dramatic impression vital to the credibility of Myra was hard to find. Also an intellectual ability to follow and understand the character. I didn’t believe Simone (Signoret) could convey, as Kim did, the otherworldliness which this woman inhabited in her private fantasies."
After completing Séance on a Wet Afternoon, Stanley would not appear in another film until Frances
in 1982.
called the film "superbly atmospheric" while The Sunday Telegraph dubbed it "compassionate, intelligent and absorbing." The New York Herald Tribune
called Séance on a Wet Afternoon "the perfect psychological suspense thriller and a flawless film to boot" while The New York Times
stated "it isn’t often you see a melodrama that sends you forth with a lump in your throat, as well as a set of muscles weary from being tense for nigh two hours."
Kim Stanley won the Best Actress Award from the New York Film Critics Circle
and the National Board of Review
. She was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Actress
(she lost to Julie Andrews
in Mary Poppins
) and the BAFTA Award
for Best Foreign Actress
(she lost to Anne Bancroft
in The Pumpkin Eater
). Richard Attenborough won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor
, while Forbes’ screenplay and Gerry Turpin’s cinematography received nominations. Forbes' script won the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award and the 1965 Edgar Award
from the Mystery Writers of America
.
horror film
Seance , directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
. An opera
of the same name
based on the film, created by Broadway
composer Stephen Schwartz
(Pippin
, Godspell
, Wicked
), had its world premiere on September 26, 2009, at the Granada Theater at Opera Santa Barbara
in California.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
directed by Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes, CBE is an English film director, actor and writer.-Career:Bryan Forbes was born John Theobald Clarke on 22 July 1926 in Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, West Ham, Essex , and grew up at 43 Cranmer Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex .Forbes trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of...
, based on the novel by Mark McShane in which an unstable medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and collect the ransom. The film stars Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
(who was also the film's co-producer), Kim Stanley
Kim Stanley
Kim Stanley was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances....
, Nanette Newman
Nanette Newman
-Early life:Newman was born in Northampton, England. She was educated at Sternhold College, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts stage school and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.-Career:...
, Mark Eden
Mark Eden
Mark Eden is a British actor.-Career:Born in London, Eden has appeared in repertory theatre in England and Wales and at the Royal Court Theatre. His many television and film roles include the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo in which he played Marco Polo...
and Patrick Magee
Patrick Magee (actor)
Patrick Magee was a Northern Irish actor best known for his collaborations with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as his appearances in horror films and in Stanley Kubrick's films A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.-Early life:He was born Patrick McGee in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern...
.
Plot
Myra Savage (Kim Stanley) is a self-styled medium who holds séanceSéance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
s in her dreary home. Her husband Bill (Richard Attenborough), unable to work full-time, for being asthmatic, assists in his wife’s séances. At Myra’s instigation, Bill kidnaps the young daughter (Judith Donner) of a wealthy couple (Mark Eden and Nanette Newman), confining her in a room (in the Savage home) dressed as a hospital ward. Myra dresses as a nurse to deceive her to believing she is hospitalised. However, Myra insists she is "borrowing" the girl to demonstrate her psychomancy to a police investigator (Patrick Magee) in helping him find the missing girl. However, her plan goes awry as her unsteady mental health begins to fray.
The haunting music played on the phonograph over and over by Myra and Billie throughout the film, in which the voice of a boy soprano
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
becomes an invisible character reminding them of their dead baby, is from the movement "Oh for the Wings of a Dove" from the choral work "Hear My Prayer
Hear My Prayer
Hear My Prayer is a Christian anthem for soprano solo, chorus and organ or orchestra composed by Felix Mendelssohn in Germany in 1844. The first performance took place in Crosby Hall, London, on 8 January 1845. The accompanist on that occasion was organist, composer and teacher Ann Mounsey...
" by Felix Mendelssohn.
Casting
According to Jon Krampner's biography Female Brando: The Legend of Kim Stanley, Forbes and Attenborough had initially encountered difficulty in casting the role of Myra. Deborah KerrDeborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
and Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...
were originally approached for the part, but both actresses turned down the role. Forbes and Attenborough then contacted Kim Stanley, an American theatre and television actress whose previous film work was limited to starring in the 1958 feature The Goddess and providing the uncredited opening and closing narration for the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
. Attenborough would later be quoted as stating that Stanley was the best choice, noting that the "complexity of dramatic impression vital to the credibility of Myra was hard to find. Also an intellectual ability to follow and understand the character. I didn’t believe Simone (Signoret) could convey, as Kim did, the otherworldliness which this woman inhabited in her private fantasies."
After completing Séance on a Wet Afternoon, Stanley would not appear in another film until Frances
Frances
Frances is a 1982 American drama film starring Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, and Sam Shepard. When it was released this film was advertised as a purportedly true account of actress Frances Farmer's life but the script was largely fictional and sensationalized...
in 1982.
Cast
- Kim StanleyKim StanleyKim Stanley was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances....
as Myra Savage - Richard AttenboroughRichard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
as Billy Savage - Nanette NewmanNanette Newman-Early life:Newman was born in Northampton, England. She was educated at Sternhold College, the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts stage school and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.-Career:...
as Mrs. Clayton - Mark EdenMark EdenMark Eden is a British actor.-Career:Born in London, Eden has appeared in repertory theatre in England and Wales and at the Royal Court Theatre. His many television and film roles include the Doctor Who serial Marco Polo in which he played Marco Polo...
as Charles Clayton - Patrick MageePatrick Magee (actor)Patrick Magee was a Northern Irish actor best known for his collaborations with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as his appearances in horror films and in Stanley Kubrick's films A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.-Early life:He was born Patrick McGee in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern...
as Superintendent Walsh - Gerald SimGerald SimGerald Grant Sim is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing the Rector in To the Manor Born. He is the younger brother of actress Sheila Sim and brother-in-law of actor/director Lord Attenborough.- Career :...
as Detective Sergeant Beedle - Judith Donner as Amanda Clayton
- Margaret LaceyMargaret LaceyMargaret Lacey was a Welsh actress.She appeared in over 30 films between 1957 and 1985 mostly playing a sweet old lady or motherly figure in minor roles...
as Woman at first Seance - Marie Burke as Woman at first Seance
- Maria Kazan as Woman at first Seance
- Lionel Gamlin as Man at Seances
- Marian SpencerMarian SpencerMarian Alexander Spencer is a former Vice Mayor of the Cincinnati City Council in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is also the first African American woman to be elected to the Council.-Personal life:In 1920 Spencer was born in the town of Gallipolis, Ohio...
as Mrs. Wintry - Godfrey JamesGodfrey JamesGodfrey James is an English actor.His film appearances include: Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan's Claw, The Oblong Box, The Land That Time Forgot, Séance on a Wet Afternoon and At the Earth's Core....
as Mrs. Clayton's Chauffeur - Ronald HinesRonald HinesRonald Hines is a British television actor.He has had a lengthy career, but possibly his best known role was as the husband in three of the four series of Not in Front of the Children...
as Policeman outside Clayton's
Reception and awards
Critical reaction in the British and American media was overwhelmingly strong. The London ExpressLondon Express
"Be Free" is the first single taken from the album London Express. It's also the opening song of that album....
called the film "superbly atmospheric" while The Sunday Telegraph dubbed it "compassionate, intelligent and absorbing." The New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
called Séance on a Wet Afternoon "the perfect psychological suspense thriller and a flawless film to boot" while The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated "it isn’t often you see a melodrama that sends you forth with a lump in your throat, as well as a set of muscles weary from being tense for nigh two hours."
Kim Stanley won the Best Actress Award from the New York Film Critics Circle
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking.-1930s:-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
and the National Board of Review
National Board of Review Awards 1964
The 36th National Board of Review Awards were announced on December 22, 1964.- Top Ten Films :#Becket#My Fair Lady#Girl with Green Eyes#The World of Henry Orient#Zorba the Greek#Topkapi#The Chalk Garden...
. She was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(she lost to Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
in Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...
) and the BAFTA Award
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
for Best Foreign Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
(she lost to Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
in The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater
The Pumpkin Eater is a 1964 British drama film starring Anne Bancroft as an unusually fertile woman and Peter Finch as her philandering husband....
). Richard Attenborough won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
, while Forbes’ screenplay and Gerry Turpin’s cinematography received nominations. Forbes' script won the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award and the 1965 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
from the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
.
Remakes
Séance on a Wet Afternoon was remade in 2000 as the Japanese languageJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Seance , directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...
. An opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
of the same name
Séance on a Wet Afternoon (opera)
Séance on a Wet Afternoon is an opera in 2 acts by Stephen Schwartz to a libretto by the composer, based on the novel by Mark McShane and the screenplay by Bryan Forbes to the 1964 film of the same name...
based on the film, created by Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
composer Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz (composer)
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell , Pippin and Wicked...
(Pippin
Pippin (musical)
Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...
, Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
, Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
), had its world premiere on September 26, 2009, at the Granada Theater at Opera Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
in California.