Gordon Hessler was (or is, he's still alive) one of my favorite directors. Sure he's a hired gun, a working man, doing what he's suppose to do, but his elegant form of storytelling and eye for macabre details made him one of the best. He had a pretty interesting career, working for TV - especially Alfred Hitchcock, then made a bunch of black, nasty genre films in England, often with Vincent Price, then turned to TV-movies and finally, at the end of his active career, became some kind of ninja/martial arts director! How's that for a filmography? But he always did it as a professional and Scream, Pretty Peggy might hardly be original, but it's still a fine little TV-shocker...
The story is written by a favorite of this blog, Jimmy Sangster - and would be dishonest to not mention that it reminds me of a lot of other script he's written, and it's something about it that makes me thing it's a remake. It has an obvious inspiration (which I won't mention, it will spoil the film), but it still has a few other details that I've seen before. Some of them could have been used in Freddie Francis Paranoiac, starring Oliver Reed. I'm not sure really. Anyway, this is about Peggy (a very likable Sian Barbara Allen) who finds the perfect job, in-betweeen her studies, at a big spooky mansion outside town. It's just and old lady, played by Bette Davis, and her son (fine performance by Ted Bessell). Soon Peggy understands they're not alone, an insane daughter is also living in the apartment above the garage... and she might be involved in the disapperance of the girl that worked for them before Peggy! Soon Peggy will scream, a lot...
Scream, Pretty Peggy, is a basic made for TV movie, but that doesn't mean it's bad in anyway. The script focuses mostly on scenes in and around the house, with more dialogue than scares. This is good, its not a bad thing - because it elevates above a lot of other more sensational scripts and gets spooky without showing much at all. Now, I like graphic violence and spectular scares, but these hardly belong in a ABC's Movie of the Week. It's all about the story and Sangster has done a terrific job. The creepy moments are plenty and this film also includes some of the most grotesque statues I've seen. I can't even imagine why anyone would like to have them in their house!
The actors are all superb, but I think Ted Bessell makes the best performance of the show. Very naturalistic and sympathetic, which a daring thing to do in such a short movie. Characters in these productions often is a bit edgy, to catch the attention fast from the stressed audience in from of the TVs. There's often no room for boring people, but Bessell surely breaths a lot of life into his part. Bette Davis, one of the major legends of the silver screen, is good - but she seems a bit far away from somewhere. Which is a bit unusal, she's often very good even in small parts or in low budget productions. Maybe she took the job just for the money and wasn't fond of the script? Could be, because her character is a bit underwritten and less interesting than usual.
If you wanna see an original and fresh TV-movie that delivers something you never seen before, this is not the movie for you - but it's still highly competent, intelligently written and with a couple of very creepy scenes and an OK twist at the end. I've seen better, but remember that these productions has a very high lowest point.
"Gordon Hessler was (or is, he's still alive) one of my favorite directors. Sure he's a hired gun, a working man, doing what he's suppose to do, but his elegant form of storytelling and eye for macabre details made him one of the best."
Yeah, hired gun is usually used in a negative way but I think there´s more to it then that.
Some directors showcase a really good craftmanship, that sorta elevates the material and makes into....well.....I wouldn´t call it art but at least it stands out from the rest.
"He had a pretty interesting career, working for TV - especially Alfred Hitchcock, then made a bunch of black, nasty genre films in England, often with Vincent Price, then turned to TV-movies and finally, at the end of his active career, became some kind of ninja/martial arts director! How's that for a filmography?"
Impressive....I only seen some of his films.
"The story is written by a favorite of this blog, Jimmy Sangster - and would be dishonest to not mention that it reminds me of a lot of other script he's written, and it's something about it that makes me thing it's a remake. It has an obvious inspiration (which I won't mention, it will spoil the film), but it still has a few other details that I've seen before. Some of them could have been used in Freddie Francis Paranoiac, starring Oliver Reed. I'm not sure really."
You could be right, Sangster wrote Paranoiac (1963) according to IMDB.
"Scream, Pretty Peggy, is a basic made for TV movie, but that doesn't mean it's bad in anyway. The script focuses mostly on scenes in and around the house, with more dialogue than scares. This is good, its not a bad thing - because it elevates above a lot of other more sensational scripts and gets spooky without showing much at all. Now, I like graphic violence and spectular scares, but these hardly belong in a ABC's Movie of the Week."
Exactly....you don´t expect grusome violence or nudity in TV-productions, same goes for BBC produced TV-movies, it´s all about atmosphere, creepy moments, great script, direction, acting, etc.
"If you wanna see an original and fresh TV-movie that delivers something you never seen before, this is not the movie for you - but it's still highly competent, intelligently written and with a couple of very creepy scenes and an OK twist at the end. I've seen better, but remember that these productions has a very high lowest point."
I want to see it, one day, good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | March 04, 2013 at 16:39
Megatron, your comments is always so ambitious! How you manage to do this? :)
Posted by: Fred Anderson | March 06, 2013 at 08:04
Ninja/Fred: Well....write a good comment or nothing at all....that´s my philosophy.
Posted by: Megatron | March 06, 2013 at 17:49