Blanche Fury

Seance on a Wet Afternoon is undoubtedly a fine film. The oppressive, sinister atmosphere, the performances of Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley, the cinematography, the insight it provides into the disintegrating mind of the medium, all make it powerful viewing. (Though it has to be said that the cod psychology is just too glib: she lost a child so she's got to be barmy, hasn't she?)

Yet undoubtedly too it contains some absolutely clunking plot holes; you could jump a double decker bus over a line of other double decker buses through them. When Attenborough tells the chauffeur there's a message for him he (the chauffeur) not only leaves the girl in the car, he leaves the keys too. Even if he was really stupid enough to do that, could Attenborough have relied on him doing so? If the chauffeur took the keys with him, wouldn't the whole kidnap plot (and thus the film) deflate with a rather embarrassing fizzle? Then Attenborough drives the car, a Rolls (or Bentley?), through the streets and apparently no one remembers seeing it go where it was going. The police go to the kidnappers' house and Attenborough and Stanley simply pretend to be out and the police give up just like that. Wouldn't they at least have put a watch on the house? When Attenborough goes to pick up the money the chauffeur is not there to try to identify him, a ploy that surely the dimmest PC Plod would have used.

It would be easy to utterly damn the film for these absurdities (and some of the idmb reviewers do), but I would say that when something has other merits, as this film has, then one suspends one's disbelief and is able to mostly overlook, or at least forgive, the inconsistencies and illogicalities. It's true that bits of the film don't make sense, but seeing the big picture I don't care (or not very much).

The point that other Britmovie posters might like to address is this: what other British films contain plot holes that don't spoil one's enjoyment? (I wouldn't include semi-fantasy films like the Bonds, which I'm sure are bursting with impossibilities, because they clearly aren't meant to be taken all that seriously. I'm thinking of films which aim at some level of realism.)

Blanche Fury

I can answer my own question. 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' is a film of considerable charm, and although it's slightly fantastical everything that happens is possible and more or less plausible. Except when Stanley Holloway and (?) steal the steam engine from the sidings and drive it down the street, ending by crashing into a tree. This clearly couldn't possibly happen; for one thing, you can't steer railway engines. I think this is a slight blemish on the film, having something so fantastic in an otherwise realistic film, but it doesn't bother me too much. It suits the film's almost fairytale atmosphere.

narabdela

I don't mind plot holes in a comedy or "put your brain into neutral and enjoy" adventure capers; but when I spot one in a serious film then I'm done for. My enjoyment is completely ruined.

CaptainWaggett

Surely the main plothole in this sequence is that if all the Titfielders can get to town in the middle of the night, they really don't need a railway...

hankoler

The Amazing Mr Blunden, brilliant film I thought.

stevie boy

Try the Whistle Blower the end scene with Caine & Gielgud,ludicrous

TimR

The first one that comes to mind is The Chalk Garden.

Hayley Mills is supposed to be a repellent, truly destructive monster-in-training who meets her match in governess Deborah Kerr.

There is real drama in this in the original play, but in the film, Hayley Mills becomes the star and the role moves from featured to central - and there are numerous, repetitive scenes of her having tantrums, screaming at the top of her lungs, rampaging across a beach, making obnoxious remarks, scheming, plotting and preparing blackmail.

Her redemption begins when she realizes she has gone too far - I won't give away the plot - but she suddenly reveals a fully developed conscience that was nowhere to be seen until that point. It is not remotely believable.

I still enjoy that film a great deal, but the change is ridiculous.

"Home was never like this"

"Mine was"

Keechelus

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (Preminger 1965) has more suspensions of logic than SEANCE, I think ... but like the Forbes movie, it still succeeds in driving us on to the conclusion.

Hmm, you create an interesting picture: a row of London Roadmaster busses leapt by a rocket-powered mate. Occupied by screaming Korean tourists, we hope -- because after the successful landing, the entire population of Seoul will come to Blighty for the thrill ride. A positive balance of trade not anticipated in 1964 ...

bobbydj

Yep. Last time I watched it that's exactly what bothered me. After all, it's not like the car was a rusty Ford Anglia or something. On the contrary, it was probably the most expensive motor on the market at that time. Now then Jeeves, do please remember to remove the keys from the ignition once the Rolls is parked, won't you? Yes M'lady. Oh Jeeves. Not again. I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go. *hands chauffeur P45*

But yes, the better point is that Dickie *was* relying on him to do this. Did people really do this in the olden days - just leave their keys in the ignition? I doubt it!

It would've been much better to have had him jemmy some panel off and appear to "hot wire" the car. Yes, we'd have wondered where such a boring little man could have acquired such know-how. But still, surely more plausible than the actual leaving-the-keys-in gambit.

Anyway, good thread idea. I'll see if I can recall any of my own plot clangers later.

Steve Crook

You can't have people trying to hot-wire a Roller
If they knew you were doing that in the film they wouldn't let you have the car for free

But people are always saying how everyone was much more trusting "back in the old days", in some mythical Golden Age. "We used to leave our doors open", yes, quite probably, because you had nothing anyone would want to nick

Maybe the chauffeur was one of these trusting types?

Steve

Wicked Lady

I think the idea was that Dickie WAS such a dull, harmless little chap. It's not like he was lurking about like an extra from The Sweeney, looking like he was ready to pounce on the motor and whip off down the high road. He looked like lovely, cuddly Dickie (with a dodgy rubber nose). And who wouldn't trust Dickie?

Tom Bancroft

In the 50's and possibly into the early 60's, I seem to remember that it was not thought too risky to leave the car for a few moments with the keys in the ignition whilst nipping into the paper shop or into your mates whilst he put the finishing touches to his D.A. before a trip into town.
I guess the driver of a Rolls believed that nobody would have the temerity to nick his pride and joy - it would also stand out a mile when being traced.
Car theft has always been with us (how many old black and whites feature the crooks in a stolen car?). However, I think the figures for car theft were a lot lower in those days and only as car crime began to escalate has it become unthinkable to leave 'an invitation to a thief'.

"I want to be a sailor - sailing out to sea"

D Cairns

Red Road has a plot that doesn't really stand up, but discussing it involves massive spoilers, so don't read this if you think you might like to see it.
Kate Dickie is planning to revenge herself on the drunk driver who killed her child. She seduces him, thereby getting a sperm sample so she can claim she was raped.
The problems with this idea are (1) the connection between the two characters is a matter of public record, even though the bloke doesn't know who she is. A background check might well reveal the truth and (2) far from being easy to convict someone of rape, it is absurdly hard. With only her own testimony, there's no way she could secure a conviction, especially when the guy's flatmate has seen her wooing the guy.

This is a case where the entire movie kind of teeters on the brink of collapse due to the very concept being impracticable.