Search - Melissa on DVD

MURDER MYSTERY WITH BRITISH TWISTS AND TURNS

Harold Wolf | Wells, IN United States | 06/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Melissa" is a murder mystery that also involves blackmail and drugs. It was first a BBC production in 1974, and one character's bell-bottom trousers identifies the era, but the story and the suspense is as good as any British Mystery available. Certainly a bargain with a recent amazon reduction in price.

Guy Foster (Peter Barkworth), a failing writer, looks suspiciously involved in his wife's murder. He decides to try to find answers himself. Items mysteriously disappear and reappear from his flat. He is identified by a doctor and that doctor's receptionist as a former patient, unknown to Guy himself, but then he does enjoy his scotch and water a bit much. Perhaps too much? He discovers a loan debt owed his dead wife, gambling associations, a letter from Mellissa (the murdered wife) that suddenly has it's contents changed, and phone calls from deceased Melissa. Who's crazy and what's going on?

Detective Chief Inspector Carter, played by Philip Voss ("Lillie" [see my review] & "Catherine Cookson's The Dwelling Place")[both recommended] searches for the answers along with Guy, but along different avenues. Suspicion is eventually placed upon every character in the story with the exception of DCI Carter.

It is a cliff-hanger for sure. Can you identify the culprit early?
3 episodes--but you will not be able to pause between them.

It is, as Felix in the film mentions, "Jolly good; bang on!"
Closed captioning was available.
Recommended to British Mystery fans, especially since it is almost the length of TWO full-length USA movies, but less than the price of most contemporary releases.

Thanks for leaving a positive helpful vote and then leave a review if you can figure out "who-dun-it" before the end of the DVD. I failed, but enjoyed the attempt all the way through.

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