Melissa (1997)
Award-winning war correspondent Guy Foster, distraught after the loss of his first wife, joins a cruise to Cape Town, where he meets beautiful and mysterious Melissa. A sophisticated blonde PR girl, Melissa is travelling with an exuberant group of media friends. Guy falls desperately in love with the exotic Melissa and she suggests they marry. But while they celebrate, dark events begin to take place. An elderly widower is ‘accidentally’ lost overboard. The bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in Cape Town. Then one of Melissa’s friends is brutally killed. The finger of suspicion falls on Guy – and when Melissa herself is killed, he is found bending over her bloodied corpse.
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brilliant actors, brilliant editing
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
I am a huge fan of the 1974 production which remains faithful to the Original story. However I would have been very disappointed if this 1997 version had of turned out to be precisely the same. Whilst it would have still been very watchable it would have been essentially going over old ground due to the excellently portrayed earlier version. What Alan Bleasdale gives us in his version is a prologue to the original story which provides additional story lines and much more background to the original characters and how some of their pasts link up with one another. In the original story Cape Town is only mentioned in passing, however Alan Bleasdale uses this setting to portray Guy's past and how he meets Melissa as well as a backdrop for three additional murders. In my opinion this production was brilliantly written and offered us something much more than just a straight forward adaptation and the additional material fits seamlessly in to the original story. The cast consists of very well established names which results in very strong and memorable performances all round.
Melissa was fantastic. Not because of Bleasdale's production - In fact compared to G.B.H and Jakes Progress it was rather disappointing. But because of performances from Jennifer Ehle, Julie Walter and the marvellous and incredibly underestimated Diana Weston it shone like a shining star.
This was an engaging and enthralling mystery series, with many unexpected developments along the way. Jennifer Ehle was excellent in the title role, and provided the program with a lot of momentum. The entire cast was good, with perhaps the exception of Adrian Dunbar, and the material that they had to work with was first class. Anyone looking for a screen adaptation of the novel will be disappointed, as Alan Beasdale has taken major liberties with his source material - but in my opinion, his version is better than the original. A worthwhile experience - hang in for the whole of the series for an enjoyable time!
This is what British drama - good British drama - is all about: fine performances (not just a big name dragging a bunch of good-lookers), effective direction, an unbeatable, realistic script and effects that don't take over from actions.Jennifer Ehle was excellent as the enigmatic Melissa in the title role, Julie Walters - as ever - turns out a stirring performance, and Diana Weston's drunken Hope brings a smile to the face with those Shirley Bassey impersonations.Something of a gentle thriller, and something that will definitely keep you guessing until the end.