THE LADY IN WHITE
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1988 Jeff Meyer
To garble Dickens, "There's more Spielburg than spectre in you, my friend." At points, this reminds me of E.T. with ghosts instead of aliens; other times, it contains a rather self-conscious resemblance to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. This isn't a bad film, but it has a *lot* of potential at points, almost all of which is unrealized.
If I sound a bit disappointed with THE LADY IN WHITE, it's because I am. It came with very good word of mouth; more importantly, it's professed aim -- a ghost story without gore, that produced chills instead of shocks -- never materialized. I gave up on the film being another THE HAUNTING after the first appearance of the ghost, a little girl whom the main character, a young boy locked in a school cloakroom after-hours, sees. It's a basic transparency shot, superimposed on the setting; while I wouldn't shoot a film down wholly due to a lack of technical proficiency, THE LADY IN WHITE adds to that a lack of technical imagination. This film is rarely spooky (it occasionally pops to the completely cute, and concludes in a "Close Encounters" light show) and as a ghost story is badly lacking.
However, the director/writer has woven in several other threads besides the spectral elements. It's a mystery in that a child murderer is on the loose in the community (the little girl was one of the first victims); unfortunately, the identity of the killer is telegraphed early into the film. It also tries to be a "kids' eye-view" type of film, narrated by an adult version of the boy (again, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD seems to echo through the film). Parts of this work, especially the younger boy's relation with his older brother; but the strongest element in the whole film is the racial subplot. The film is based in the early sixties, and the black janitor of the school is accused of being the murderer. This, I thought, was handled very well, but it's a very small part of the rest of the film, and can't justify the rest. My other complaint is the soundtrack (*also* done by the writer-director); it's terribly overbearing throughout the film, especially during the suspense scenes.
It's not really a bad film, per se; it's just not a good one. The conclusion is a retread of both fantasy and suspense movie (talk about dragging it out...); and while I liked the "dated feel" the film had, it just wasn't enough.
Rate it a $2 movie if you've got absolutely nothing to do on a fall afternoon (and you should). Otherwise, skip it.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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