Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38910 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 300 minutes

DVD Description
Award-winning war correspondent Guy Foster, distraught after the loss of his first wife, joins a cruise to Cape Town, where he meets beautiful and mysterious Melissa. A sophisticated blonde, PR girl, Melissa is travelling with an exuberant group of media friends. Guy falls desperately in love with the exotic Melissa and she suggests they marry. But while they celebrate, dark events begin to take place. An elderly widower is ‘accidentally’ lost overboard. The bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in Cape Town. Then one of Melissa’s friends is brutally killed. The finger of suspicion falls on Guy – and when Melissa herself is killed, he is found bending over her bloodied corpse.

Synopsis
Based on the mystery detective story by Francis Durbridge in which Guy Foster falls in love with the lovely Melissa on an African cruise and they are soon married. However joy turns to horror when there are four mysterious and brutal deaths and Guy becomes the chief suspect.

Customer Reviews

I Wished That This Was Brilliant
After GBH and Jakes Progress - Melissa sounded like it was going to be a marvellous piece of drama. Based on a short story it's a murder mystery between a circle of friends. What's good about it? Erm... well I can't think of much really. It kind of seems over long and the narrative is abitconfusing. Half the time you don't know whats going on and when you find out - its abit too late in the day. You need alot of paitence. The pay off at the end is really good - but you hoped they got there a little bit earlier really. And the acting is a tad hammy. Oh - I wish I didn't have to say this but - after the other gems that Alan Bleasdale delivered - this really isn't in the same league. Well, you can't win them all I suppose!

Fantastic reworking of a Francis Durbridge classic
I am a huge fan of the 1974 production which remains faithful to the Original story. However I would have been very disappointed if this 1997 version had of turned out to be precisely the same. Whilst it would have still been very watchable it would have been essentially going over old ground due to the excellently portrayed earlier version. What Alan Bleasdale gives us in his version is a prologue to the original story which provides additional story lines and much more background to the original characters and how some of their pasts link up with one another. In the original story Cape Town is only mentioned in passing, however Alan Bleasdale uses this setting to portray Guy's past and how he meets Melissa as well as a backdrop for three additional murders. In my opinion this production was brilliantly written and offered us something much more than just a straight forward adaptation and the additional material fits seamlessly in to the original story. The cast consists of very well established names which results in very strong and memorable performances all round.

Personally I liked it.
Despite being 300 minutes long which could be offputting, I enjoyed this "whodunnit" which I found very gripping and didn't give too much away until the end. I did find some of the characters annoying but surely that is the sign of a good actor - someone who makes you care enough to dislike them! Jennifer Ehle and Tim Dutton played their parts beautifully. I would definitely watch again.