A group of old people is being frightened by mysterious phone calls.A group of old people is being frightened by mysterious phone calls.A group of old people is being frightened by mysterious phone calls.
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Zoë Wanamaker
- Olive Mannering
- (as Zoe Wanamaker)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJack Clayton spent many years trying to set up a film of Muriel Spark's novel, which was first published at the end of the 1950s. He was repeatedly told that too many of the leading characters were old people for any film version to be a box-office success. After Driving Miss Daisy (1989) had proved a great hit, he tried again, but, even then, could only set the film up as a TV movie, using the same screenplay that he had prepared for the cinema.
Featured review
Suspicious telephone terror among dirty old men and old ladies of questionable gaga
I read this book in the 70s and was puzzled by it and a little disturbed by the shocking intrusion of the murderer, who seemed a little out of place. Muriel Spark wrote it in her 40s and apparently meant it to be a kind of black comedy and had some fun writing it, visualizing the prospects of living circumstances around the 80s. However, the story and the plot is rather quirky, it doesn't make much sense, and when finally everything is explained, it becomes more weird than ever. There is though a bunch of all the best old English actors in here showing off at a very advanced age and all doing extremely well, although the prize goes to Renée Asherson as Charmian Colston, who is almost whisked away as a hopeless gaga case, which proves not to be the case. Maggie Smith, always excellent, is here for a change in a most abominable role, while Michael Hordern always is to his advantage as slightly gaga, and he ultimately becomes the winner. All the others are good also, and you will enjoy their party summoned by the police inspector on which occasion there is an unknown uninvited guest. This is a film to enjoy in all its unoffensive play with the always imminent presence of death.
helpful•30
- clanciai
- Aug 22, 2019
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