THE LITTLE FELLER
Australia, 1982, 90 minutes, Colour.
Steve Bisley, Loran Lesley, Sally Conabere.
Directed by Colin Eggleston.
The Little Feller is a Queensland-made telemovie thriller. It uses city locations very well and the city photographs attractively. The stars perform well - Sally Conabere having an opportunity for manic charm and eventually over-the-edge hysterics contrasting with Lorna Lesley as the anxious wife. Steve Bisley has an opportunity to be a leading man (as different from his cocky characterisations in such films as The Last of the Knucklemen, Squizzy Taylor, Mad Max). The film was directed by Colin Eggleston, who directed the offbeat ecology thriller The Long Weekend.
Screenplay is by Ron Mc Lean - the telemovie is aimed at a very broad audience and while it has some melodramatic situations, it runs the risk of being too predictable.
1. An entertaining telemovie thriller? Comparisons with American versions of the same story?
2. Production values: Brisbane colour photography, special effects, the score? A smooth-looking production?
3. The predicability of the film? The expectations of the genre (e.g. Play Misty For Me)? The thwarted woman, her vengeance under the guise of charm. the threatened mother, the troubled hero, the emphasis on the kidnapped child? How plausible the presentation of the characters and situations? How entertainingly, if predictably, presented?
4. The use of conventions and stereotypes for the thriller? The relationship between the three central characters? Glenda and her divorce? The kidnapping of the child? Her mad behaviour? The response of the parents? The authorities? - Sufficient for this kind of thriller?
5. The film's focus on Glenda? The introduction to her as attractive? Her relationship with Frank? With Wendy? Friendship - and the suggestions of madness underlying the charm? Her behaviour with Wendy and Frank? The touch of violence, possessiveness, jealousy? The details of her day-to-day life? Her obsession with Frank and its growing revelation? Her attitude towards the baby? Her possessiveness, the kidnapping, the treatment of the boy? The confrontations? The final violence on the balcony and her death? Melodramatic character-drawing?
6. Frank as an ordinary man, husband, father? Details of his work, home life? His love for his wife - and their relationship as presented? The past and Glenda? Her intrusion into their lives? Her viciousness - the pouring of the ink on his plans? His love for his son - and the home sequences? The reaction to the kidnapping? Becoming frantic? The final resolution?
7. Wendy as compared with Glenda? Housewife, mother, care for her child? Love for her husband? The friendship with Glenda? Her genuineness? Glenda’s artificial friendship? The tensions in the relationship? Glenda's attacks on her and despising her? Trusting her with the child? Wendy's suffering with the disappearance of her son? Tracking him down? The final confrontation with Glenda?
8. The family sequences, the little boy, his relationship to the adults, at home, playing near the river etc.? His response to being taken by Glenda? The danger to his life?
9. The action sequences - the suspense with the kidnapping, the building up of the investigation, the leads? The final confrontation with Wendy and Glenda? The balcony sequence?
10. The home audience responding to the characters, the tension of the situation, the thriller devices? The quality of Australian telemovies?
