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calgarth
Reviews
A Cry in the Night (1992)
Best Mary Higgins Clark Movie
A Cry in the Night is the best of the Mary Higgins Clark novels and the best of the movies. Although the movie would have been better if it had followed the book more closely, it was still good. For example, in the book, Erich was slim and only a couple inches taller than Jenny, which made his donning a wig and wearing her coat or his mother's cloak and being mistaken for them much more plausible. Perry King was MUCH too tall and large for the part and I can't imagine anyone mistaking him for a woman and I doubt he would have been able to fit into Jenny's coat.
Believe it or not, this movie actually shows someone shooting a dog -- something that would NEVER be included today now that so many people in the US and Canada have turned into dog freaks. In the movie, Erich shoots one of his employee's dogs because Jenny's two kids were running after it and he claimed he thought it was a rabid stray, citing the fact a local child had died after being bitten by a stray dog. The veterinarian, who was there checking the horses, said he would have done the same thing.
Another reason I liked this novel and movie adaptation is because it wasn't set in New York City, with the exception of the very beginning. Not everyone is from New York and I could never understand why Clark set so many of her novels exclusively in the city and so many of her heroines were heiresses, psychologists, etc., or her favorite -- a district attorney.