How long is seance on a wet afternoon

Godfrey James Mrs. Clayton's Chauffeur as Mrs. Clayton's Chauffeur. Judith Donner Amanda as Amanda. Mark Eden Mr. Clayton as Mr. Nanette Newman Mrs. Clayton as Mrs. Diana Lambert Mr. Clayton's Secretary as Mr. Clayton's Secretary. Gerald Sim Beedle as Beedle. Bryan Forbes. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. Myra and Billy Savage are a married couple living in London. Myra is the dominant in the couple, Billy, the weak-minded follower.

Myra, with Billy's support, devises a scheme to raise her public prominence as a medium: kidnap Amanda Clayton, the young daughter of a wealthy couple, and using her psychic powers provide information to the Claytons and the police of Amanda and the requested ransom money's whereabouts. Myra and Billy view this scheme as a victimless crime, if a crime at all, as they don't plan on harming Amanda, and they are returning the requested ransom.

To carry out the scheme successfully, they will have to: kidnap Amanda; convince Amanda that her temporary captivity is not out of the ordinary, while having her not be able to identify them; insert Myra into the case of Amanda's kidnapping, her information which will be the key to finding Amanda and the money; and return Amanda and the money without having either traced back to them.

Beyond these logistics, Myra and Billy themselves will factor into how the plan works. Myra may have either conscious or subconscious thoughts on what she wants to do, in her belief that she truly does have the power. Two of the greatest performers you will ever see Add content advisory. Did you know Edit. Trivia Director Bryan Forbes looked for the house with the turret as a film location. When he went to the owner for permission, she asked who was in the movie. When told that an American actress named Kim Stanley , the woman blanched, stepped back, and said that Stanley was one of her oldest friends whom she had not seen in seventeen years.

Goofs During the final seance, there is a close up of a man's hand with a pinkie ring and gray sleeve, who is not at the table. It is a repeated shot from the previous seance, when the gray-jacketed man took part. Quotes Myra Savage : You know what I sometimes wish? Connections Edited into The Clock User reviews 87 Review. Top review. Should Kim Stanley have won the Oscar? This should help the film to gain the wider appeal that it deserves. This succeeds on all levels - extraordinary direction with riveting tracking shots, evocative cinematography, great set pieces, a winding plot, and amazing acting from the two leads.

The showy yet introspective role of Myra Savage might be one to elicit histrionics and stern looks in the wrong hands, but the character is immensely deepened and supplemented by Kim Stanley's superbly rich "Method" performance.

Stanley is matched by Richard Attenborough's Bill Savage, attenuated and subordinated by his wife's unstable, grasping personality. She and her husband Bill plan a publicity stunt. They will kidnap the daughter of a prominent businessman. At the critical moment Myra will tap into her psychic powers, contact the distressed parents and provide the police with the vital clues they need to find the girl. What could go wrong? Mark McShane's novel was made into a film directed by Bryan Forbes.

This new version for radio is dramatised by Adrian Bean. Mar 14, Lauren rated it really liked it Shelves: suspense. Reading Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction reminded me of how good it is sometimes to read, as the authors put it, something totally disconnected from current publishing trends. So I grabbed up Seance on a Wet Afternoon , a suspense novel from that blissfully has nothing to do with now.

Seance is about medium Myra Savage and her dogged, loyal husband Bill. Myra makes a small but sufficient living hosting seances; Bill is out-of-work due to chronic severe Reading Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction reminded me of how good it is sometimes to read, as the authors put it, something totally disconnected from current publishing trends.

Myra makes a small but sufficient living hosting seances; Bill is out-of-work due to chronic severe asthma. Both of them believe absolutely in Myra's power and Myra, indeed, believes more in it than in anything else. She won't entirely claim to receive messages from the dead when she knows she doesn't and she won't engage in too much pageantry and showmanship; her professional ethics, such as they are, are almost sound.

Well, sound-ish. When someone at her seance table has enough psychic energy for their minds to meet, she performs a genuine reading; when they don't, she throws out vague platitudes and moves on. But while Myra knows she isn't genuinely getting any messages from the beyond, she's convinced that she could , if only she could combine her gifts with those of more powerful, talented people. She's in need of networking, but her lack of flash--and solidly working-class background--isn't conducive to it.

What she needs is five minutes of fame, that's all. Then the rest of the world will forget about her, but her peers in the paranormal will remember, and she'll have access to all the resources she needs. So she decides, as you do, to kidnap a six year-old girl, the daughter of a wealthy family. Hey, then she can give the family inside clues as to the girl's whereabouts and the time of her return! And when the furor has died down a little, she can even tell them where to find the ransom money!

She rationalizes this as being all fairly above-board morally--after all, they don't plan on hurting the girl, and they don't plan on keeping the money. Wrecking the parents' psychological well-being for a few days, possibly getting someone else falsely accused, and potentially terrifying a child And before you can say, "Wait, isn't this a notably terrible plan?

Myra has a kind of intelligence, but not nearly enough to plan this level of crime, and Bill's no help on that score. What you get in Seance on a Wet Afternoon is a crime planned and executed by people with no particular talent for criminality, and things go predictably but rivetingly wrong.

This is a doom-laden novel in a lot of ways. Once it's clear that Myra's plan has massive holes in it, that Bill has a conscience about the child and a tenderness towards her and Myra does not, that the other people involved are failing to dance to Myra's tune And the actual ending is a huge strength. I like the way McShane deals with Myra's powers--there's a lot of ambiguity around them for much of the novel, and then the revelation of truth comes twice, in two very different and almost low-key Shakespearean ways.

I know this was made into a movie, and after reading the last scene, I'm eager to see it, because I think it would be terrific on film. This is a quiet, clever novel that, in its pacing, character types, and plot, makes for a nice vacation from current genre norms.

Myra, a woman with slight extra-sensory powers, making a desultory living as a little-known medium for gossipy old ladies, yearns to be famous. Of course so many things can go wrong with such a risky plan, and when things do go horribly wrong, Myra tries to make it wor Myra, a woman with slight extra-sensory powers, making a desultory living as a little-known medium for gossipy old ladies, yearns to be famous.

Of course so many things can go wrong with such a risky plan, and when things do go horribly wrong, Myra tries to make it work for her, obsessed with her goal of fame. This is a chilling suspense novel, with just a hint of the supernatural. The kidnapping plan is detailed in creepily realistic minutiae, creating a foreboding atmosphere as the reader realizes that these two idiots are reaching way beyond their skill levels in committing this heinous crime.

When Bill suffers an asthma attack while trying to get away from pursuers, I was rasping along with him as he crawled and choked, so harrowingly rendered are the descriptions. A slim book at pages, it packs a lot of ambiance into its brief timeframe, with a resolution which, though it reintroduces the supernatural element, does not feel like cheating.

View all 4 comments. Ive watched the film of this book, made in , several times over the years and always thought it was an interesting idea and was shot very atmospherically. I finally managed to get a copy of the book and I really do recommend the book. Having watched the film first the book offers a deeper insight into the characters and it really is more dramatic.

The whole story centers on tne two main characters, Myra, a self proclaimed psychic and medium, and her husband Bill. Its only pages and only Ive watched the film of this book, made in , several times over the years and always thought it was an interesting idea and was shot very atmospherically.

Its only pages and only has 4 chapters. However, the author draws you into their world as you live out "the plan" along with them. The plan is to kidnap a young girl then Myra will proclaim she knows where she is and become a highly sought after medium.

Obviously as with all plans it doesnt go as planned! Considering its content its quire a slow gentle read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Feb 13, Rupert rated it really liked it. This is truly a strange little nugget of a book.

First came across it as a movie and really liked it. Then a beautifully designed first edition paperback not the one pictured here crossed my path in my bookstore. The book is a slow burning suspense with a pace all its own, like a rainy gray afternoon in rural England. Fairly detailed fair treatment of psychic otherness while depicting characters who are so lost in it they lose touch with simple humanity.

A great little thriller. The movie made from it is aces also. May 27, Mmars rated it it was amazing. What a little sleeping gem this is. The storyline is unique. The characterizations seem to just flow with the story, the descriptions are just enough, and the plot never left me wondering exactly what just happened or how. I often struggle with action descriptions - battle scenes, fights, chases, escapes, etc.

But in this case, everything was clear and contibuted to the story. Perhaps because the psychological state of the kidnappers was kept front and center I was kept fully engaged in the stor What a little sleeping gem this is.

Perhaps because the psychological state of the kidnappers was kept front and center I was kept fully engaged in the story.

Also, a nice flip on sexual stereotypes. The wife, the clairvoyant, was the ruthless one. The husband, who did all the public dirty work - the kidnapping of a rich girl, the collection of the ransom money in a busy public sphere, etc. Also, I didn't find this graphic or disturbing considering the topic is a child kidnapping. Originally published in , searching this one out is definitely worth the effort.

Love that Carroll and Graf paperback cover! This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I looked this out after seeing Bryan Forbes movie, again, quite recently.

I was intrigued greatly by the ambiance and atmosphere. The Novel is compelling though some of the London details seemed shaky, and this is moderately important to the mechanics. An interesting comment in the text refers to Myra's speech which was described as non accented, as she had been around fairgrounds a lot.

This may have an I looked this out after seeing Bryan Forbes movie, again, quite recently. This may have an influence on Kim Stanley's very precise speech in the movie she's from Texas.

It's the second part of the book that really grabs you, the set up is as per the book. The second half of the novel is much darker, and the title makes more sense too. I was held by the novel. Shelves: published , mystery-thriller , fraudio , published , spring Bettie's Books Bettie's Books A curiosity from the early s, a suspense novella about a misguided plot to kidnap a child as way of publicizing the "talents" of a down-at-heel psychic.

A very well written character study that preserves a snapshot of a post-war, pre-Swinging 60s Britain of bad food, poor housing and cramped little lives. As others have commented, this was adapted into a movie starring Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley, and although the movie was superficially very faithful to the book, the book is m A curiosity from the early s, a suspense novella about a misguided plot to kidnap a child as way of publicizing the "talents" of a down-at-heel psychic.

As others have commented, this was adapted into a movie starring Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley, and although the movie was superficially very faithful to the book, the book is much, much better.

Crucially, the movie makes two changes to the book which were probably meant to satisfy the nervous moralizing of film-making at the time, and make World's Worst Kidnappers Myra and Bill a bit more palatable and relatable.

The book, therefore, is harder and nastier, and much better for that. The film and opera add a major element, and in the case of the opera an entire character is completely added that is absent in the novel. Yet the novel, without those elements, feels a bit tighter and leaner, stripped down to the bare essentials of the grisly and ironic plot. The writing is brisk and direct, and several moments of the story are uncomfortably tense.

It was a quick and enjoyable read. Jul 27, Adrian Griffiths rated it it was amazing. This is a terrific thriller, it's short but gripping all the way through. A medium who believes she has true paranormal powers is frustrated that nobody believes in her, so she decides together with her devoted husband to kidnap a child and then pretend to use her powers to solve the mystery.

Of course it does not go well. But the story is really well written, and any potential plot holes are all avoided, as the precarious plan realistically unravels. You'll be hooked all the way to the end to This is a terrific thriller, it's short but gripping all the way through.

You'll be hooked all the way to the end to see how it turns out. Highly recommended Mar 21, Jake rated it liked it. A very short read. A novella. But written in a very tight, economic style. Being from the area of London where the story is set, I liked the way the story takes place in suburban London at a time when suburbia was harmless and nothing of any consequence ever happened there.

And I also liked the very Britishness of the characters.