Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972)

The opening scenes of this film - Susan Hampshire walking out to a Jersey lighthouse where she encounters "Hugh" (Michael Petrovich) rather sum up the mundanity of this fairly dull romantic drama. It looks good, they look good - but somewhere along the line, the story just runs out of steam as it struggles to stay out of a soup of melodrama. Of course the two become lovers, and of course she has baggage - a marriage that no longer works, but when tragedy ensues they must face reality with a fresh, and frequently, troubling perspective. Perhaps the book was more evocative, indulged the imagination more? This adaptation really doesn't. There is little on-screen chemistry between our two principals, and the obstacles to their happiness all-to-often come across as contrived and over-played with demons galore. Frank Finlay - never exactly versatile - probably has the best character as his rather puritanical brother "George" but the whole really doesn't equal what ought to have been the sum of the parts. It's slow, stodgy and rather weakly scored with a predictable and stilted dialogue that made me cringe on occasion. Some lovely location photography, and plenty of seagulls - but otherwise this is pretty lacking on just about every other front.