The film follows the travails of unemployed writer Guy Foster (Peter Barkworth), who quickly becomes the center of attention after his wife, Melissa, is found mysteriously strangled in a field after having left to go to a party. Foster is surrounded by an odd assortment of friends, including the ostensibly upper-crust Hepburns (Ronald Fraser and Joan Benham), and the decidedly upper-crust race car driver Don Page (Ray Lonnen), at whose home the party Melissa went to took place. Suffice it to say that all the characters (including the deceased Melissa) are hiding something, with the necessary red herrings placed in abundance throughout the 2 1/2 hour running time.

Barkworth portrays the growing alarm of Foster's character with appropriate disheveled wonderment, especially when a neurologist (Lyndon Brook) gets involved and insists Foster has had longstanding mental problems. All of the supporting cast do excellent work, especially Fraser and Benham as the Hepburns. Fraser's gentlemanly exterior masks a not so subtle feral quality which may or may not be another one of those red herrings.

Where the film's plotting (by Britain's king of television mystery, Francis Durbridge) may leave some incredulous is its reliance on an ever-expanding conspiracy which frankly reeks of one too many coincidences. By the time Foster is implicated in his third attack and/or murder, the suspects are dwindling and the machinations increasing in inverse proportion, leaving the final installment patently absurd at times, if cheekily enjoyable in a quasi-camp manner.

This small scale production has above-average production values (though the main apartment set was not properly battened down--look how the entire wall, including the mirror, shakes every time the door is opened or closed) and has some nice location footage of various British countrysides. There's also a bouncy theme song (tied into the plot) with some glorious vintage early-70s synth sounds that are almost as creepy as the mystery itself.

There's a remake of Melissa on the horizon and it will be interesting to see how contemporary filmmakers rethink some of the now quaint 70s artifacts of this version.

The DVD

Video:
Any fan of British tv will know there's a peculiar dichotomy in the image quality of a lot of their fare: the studio bound, shot on video, elements tend to look fine in these releases, while the location, shot on film elements, tend to look pretty shabby. Melissa is no exception to this general rule: nine tenths of the production, the video part, look quite excellent for a piece of this vintage. Unfortunately the film interpolations are uniformly horrible, with abundant grain and some serious scratching and other damage. This is a phenomenon peculiar to British tv and one that leaves me frankly scratching my head a lot of the time.

Sound:
The standard Dolby soundtrack suffices perfectly well for these proceedings.

Extras:
Brief biographies/filmographies of the cast and Durbridge are the only extras offered.

Final Thoughts:
This enjoyable trifle never gets to Christie territory, but it has its own peculiar charms and should provide ample entertainment for fans of British mysteries.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet