Word: melodrama
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THIS COMPLEX LIST of suspects may suggest the makings of a contrived prime-time melodrama, but it should be noted that P.D. James is a true mystery artiste, whose writing transcends the seeming transparency of her material. Her prose is direct, with an unmistakably British flavor. It is of little wonder that her novels have translated so easily into high quality PBS television specials...
...magazine in Beirut, a public speech by the speaker of the Iranian parliament, guarded private comments by government officials in Washington and Jerusalem, even a Danish sailor's revelations about a voyage through the Persian Gulf. Some of the more mind-boggling versions of the tale had touches of melodrama that might have come from the most lurid spy fiction: a presidential envoy slipping into Tehran bearing (so the Iranians claimed) presents of pistols, a Bible and a key-shaped cake; an American cargo plane disappearing from radar screens over Turkey; a Danish ship changing the name painted...
...abruptly pushed aside a potential successor, Donald Zuckert, president of Ted Bates Advertising/New York. At the same time, Jacoby elevated two of his favorites without getting any nod from the Saatchis. The brothers retaliated by dumping Jacoby from the top job and installing Zuckert. The combative Jacoby heightened the melodrama, whether intentionally or not, by removing his portrait from a prominent wall at the agency and by accusing the Saatchis of breaking his five-year contract. "I don't know what happened. They hadn't told me they were going to do this," Jacoby says...
...copyright on Gaston Leroux's 1911 thriller The Phantom of the Opera expired this year, plans were announced for no fewer than three competing musical adaptations. The flurry of interest was perplexing. Leroux's tale, part horror melodrama, part bodice-ripping gothic, seemed too grim and kinky for a musical. The central character is, after all, not only hideously ugly but an extortionist, kidnaper, incendiary and megalomaniac -- and the heroine must at least halfway fall in love with...
Director Brosh knew that the absurd plight of Eleanor Mann's family had to be acted out with comic melodrama. But, as it has often been said, it takes very good acting to portray bad acting well. And unfortunately, the actors portraying the Mann family and their various persecutors aren't quite that good, so that the audience isn't sure how much of the bad acting is intentional. Indeed, it is a relief when the melodrama is dropped, and Eleanor opts for more sincere tones...