''The Screaming Woman'' is a 1972 American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
horror-
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
starring
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
and directed by
Jack Smight
John Ronald Smight (March 9, 1925 – September 1, 2003) was an American theatre and film director. His film credits include ''Harper'' (1966), '' No Way to Treat a Lady'' (1968), '' Airport 1975'' (1974), '' Midway'' (1976), and '' Fast Break ...
. It is loosely based on a short story by
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...
(which in turn was based on his 1948 radio play for the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
show ''
Suspense'') with a script written by Merwin Gerard. The film was produced by
Universal Television
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...
and originally aired as an ''
ABC Movie of the Week
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
'' on January 29, 1972. It features
John Williams's last score (to date) for a TV movie.
Plot
De Havilland plays Laura Wynant, a wealthy former mental patient who has travelled to her country estate to recuperate. While there, she discovers, when hearing faint calls for help, that a woman has been buried alive on her property. Laura tries to inform others of what she has found but nobody believes her, and her family begins to suspect a relapse in her mental condition. Because her hands are nearly crippled by arthritis, she is not able to dig the woman up herself. She tricks a local boy into assisting her by telling him she is digging for a lost earring, but when he is scared by the cries of the buried woman she is forced to tell him the truth, which results in a confrontation with the lad's angry father. While going door-to-door to seek help she encounters the buried woman's husband, who had buried her after striking her on the head with a shovel and thought her dead. Laura is confined to her home under doctor's orders but, in a fit of desperation, experiences enough recovery from the arthritis to provide strength in her hands. She begins to dig up the buried woman, who is still alive. Just then the murderous husband arrives on the scene, intending to bury his wife's body thoroughly. He comes up behind Laura and is about to strike her with the shovel when the buried woman grabs Laura's hand and pulls herself up out of the ground. The husband is petrified, giving the authorities just enough time to arrive on the scene and save Laura and the buried woman.
Cast
*
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
as Laura Wynant
*
Ed Nelson
Edwin Stafford Nelson (December 21, 1928 – August 9, 2014) was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Michael Rossi in the television series '' Peyton Place''.
Nelson appeared in episodes of many TV programs, more than 50 mov ...
as Carl Nesbitt
*
Laraine Stephens
Laraine Stephens is an American actress.
Stephens was born in Oakland, California. She studied at both Los Angeles City College and the University of California, Los Angeles.
A coloratura soprano, Stephens performed in operas before moving in ...
as Caroline Wynant
*
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...
as George Tresvant
*
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...
as Dr. Amos Larkin
*
Charles Knox Robinson
Charles Knox Robinson III (April 13, 1932 — July 22, 2006) was an American actor who appeared in over 80 films and television series over his career. From 1958 through 1971 he was credited as Charles Robinson and, from 1972 onward, his full b ...
as Howard Wynant
*
Alexandra Hay
Alexandra Hay (July 24, 1947 – October 11, 1993) was an American actress of the 1960s and 1970s best known for her roles in '' Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', '' Skidoo'', and '' Model Shop''.
Early life and modeling
Born Alexandra Lynn ...
as Evie Carson
*
Lonny Chapman as Police Sergeant
*
Charles Drake as Ken Bronson
* Russell Wiggins as Harry Sands
*
Gene Andrusco
Gene Andrusco (April 6, 1961 – March 20, 2000), better known as Gene Eugene, was a Canadian-born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musician. Andrusco was best known as the leader of the alternative rock band Adam Again, a member o ...
as David
* Joyce Cunningham as Bernice Wilson
* Jan Arvan as Martin, the Servant
*
Ray Montgomery as Ted Wilson
* John Alderman as Slater
Television debuts
The film was first shown in the United States on January 29, 1972, in Sweden on June 23, 1973, and in Great Britain in July 1985.
Other adaptations
A television adaptation more faithful to the source material was broadcast as "The Screaming Woman", episode 5 of season 1 of ''
The Ray Bradbury Theater
''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 19 ...
'', on February 22, 1986.
References
1972 NBC show.
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Screaming Woman, The
1972 television films
1972 films
1970s horror thriller films
1972 horror films
ABC Movie of the Week
American horror thriller films
American horror television films
Films directed by Jack Smight
Films scored by John Williams
Films based on short fiction
Films based on works by Ray Bradbury
1970s American films