PETER FIRTH HARRIET ROBINSON DON HENDERSONDirector of Photography JON WALKER Production Design MARK SUTHERLAND Sound PAUL LORD

Music HARRY GREGSON WILLIAMS Screenplay CHRIS JONES & GENEVIEVE JOLLIFFE Producer GENEVIEVE JOLIFFEEDirector CHRIS JONES

Copyright Living Spirit Pictures Ltd All rights reserved

“THE MOST CONVINCINGPORTRAYAL OF A SERIAL KILLER

EVER PUT ON FILM...”BRIAN MASTERS

(AUTHOR OF DENNIS NILSEN’S AND JEFFREYDAHMNER’S BIOGRAPHIES)

“MESMERISINGLY GOOD AND ATRIUMPH OF BRITISH

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION”LFF

“EXTRAORDINARILY WELLMADE...WHITE ANGEL HAS AN

INDEFINABLE HAUNTINGQUALITY...GROTESQUELY

COMPELLING”STARBURST

“UNPRETENTIOUSLY GRIPPINGAND SOLIDLY COMMERCIAL”

FILM REVIEW

“TERRIFYING”MARIELLA FROSTRUP

“CHILLINGLY IMPRESSIVE...SOSCARILY SINISTER IT MAKESPSYCHO LOOK LIKE AN OLD

EALING COMEDY”NME

“STYLISH, SLICK AND VERY,VERY FRIGHTENING”

SELECT

“UNASHAMEDLYENTERTAINING”

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CENTREPIECE FILMLONDON INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

BEST ACTORVALENCIENNES ACTION &

ADVENTURE FESTIVAL

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Living Spirit Pictures Limited, Ealing Film Studios, Ealing Green, London, W5 5EP Direct Line 0181 758 8544 Voice Mail/Fax 0181 758 8559 email mail@livingspirit.com Web Site www.livingspirit.com

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White Angel Dir: Chris JonesDir: Chris JonesDir: Chris JonesDir: Chris JonesDir: Chris Jones

UK 1993 Scr: Chris Jones, Genevieve Jolliffe Leading players: Peter Firth, Harriet Robinson, Don Henderson, Anne Catherine Arton R.t: 92 mins UK Dist: Living Spirit Pictures

White Angel heralds the arrival of two young, talented filmmakers: producer Genevieve Jolliffc and director Chris Jones. More a film about serial killing than about a serial killer, White Angel offers a novel and very British view, whilst dealing with the complex (subtle?) differences between manslaughter and murder. Leslie Steckler (Peter Firth) is a soft-spoken dentist who rents a room in Ellen Carter’s (Harriet Robinson) house. She is a successful writer on criminal psychology who is being hounded by the police in connection with her husband’s

THE LONDON FILM FESTIVAL HANDBOOKOctober 1993

disappearance. Meanwhile, London is in the grips of a serial killer, ‘the White Angel’, and the dentist and the writer become entangled in a dangerous game of blackmail. The plot is full of surprises, twists and turns (all best left untold) that keep you on the edge of your seat, relying on powerful psychological devices and avoiding unnecessary gore. In many ways it’s a first in its chilling (fictional) portrait of a very British way of serial killing. Mesmerizingly good, and a triumph of British independent production. Rosa Bosch

Press Cuttings

TOM RIDGEWAYTOM RIDGEWAYTOM RIDGEWAYTOM RIDGEWAYTOM RIDGEWAY finds the Big Smoke illuminated by the best from theworld of cinema with this year's LONDON FILM FESTIVALLONDON FILM FESTIVALLONDON FILM FESTIVALLONDON FILM FESTIVALLONDON FILM FESTIVAL

Ellen Carter finds happiness is a warm gun

Making a killingWhite Angel Monday 15

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BBBBBrrrrright lightsight lightsight lightsight lightsight lights...............

We believe serialkillers are notmonsters.' GenevieveJolliffe and ChrisJones, stars of theLondon Film Festival

In their short working career (three years),Chris Jones, 25, and Genevieve Jolliffe,23, have set up their own production com-pany and co-written, produced and di-rected a feature length film. Jolliffe is officially the youngest femalefeature film producer in the world (her firstfeature film, The Runner, was made whenshe was 19). Understandably, they’re feeling quitepleased with themselves; they are stillbuzzing from their trip to the MontrealFiIm Festival, where their debut feature,White Angel, was premiered. People areno longer put off by their youth (‘It’s a bigdisadvantage when distributing -I’vegrown a beard and Gen wears glasses’),and are beginning to take them seriously.Back home, they were greeted with ‘atleast 20 faxes, hundreds of messages,and six US companies making distribu-tion offers’. Jones’ first creative steps on the home-movie front were, in his own words, ‘prettysophisticated zombie movies. They hadno story, no plot. It was just a good ex-cuse to do special effects, lots of explod-ing heads, that sort of thing’. He andJolliffe met at Boumemouth Film School.Disillusioned with the way the school was

run, they left before graduation, takingwith them ‘the psychotic element thatfilm school gives you; you believe any-thing is possible’. Jones describes White Angel as ‘adark, psychological thriller’. It tells thestory of a serial killer, Leslie Steckler(Peter Firth)aka The White Angel.Avoiding the sensationalism of SilenceOf The Lambs or the gore of Henry,Portrait Of A Serial Killer, the film fo-cuses instead on the killer-next-doorwho can blend into his surroundings.‘We believe serial killers are not mon-sters; what they have done is mon-strous, but they are not born killers, theyare made killers.’ The duo are keeping their next projectfirmly under wraps: ‘We don’t want Holly-wood stealing our ideas.’ Time insteadto concentrate on the London Film Fes-tival, and the inevitable faxes, phonemessages and distribution offers that willfollow.

VICKI REIDWhite Angel is the centrepiece in theBritish Film section of the London FilmFestival and will be screened onNovember 15 at the Odeon West End,London WC2

THE NEW HOT SHOTS OF BRITISH FILM

E L L EDecember1993

WHITEANGEL

Stars: Peter Firth, HarrietPeter Firth, HarrietPeter Firth, HarrietPeter Firth, HarrietPeter Firth, HarrietRobinson, Don HendersonRobinson, Don HendersonRobinson, Don HendersonRobinson, Don HendersonRobinson, Don HendersonDirector: Chris JonesChris JonesChris JonesChris JonesChris JonesCertificate: 18tbc18tbc18tbc18tbc18tbcRunning Time: 1hr 32mins1hr 32mins1hr 32mins1hr 32mins1hr 32minsOpening Date: Apr 15Apr 15Apr 15Apr 15Apr 15

Criminal psychology expertbecomes entangled in the horrorand mystery of a serial killer.

Crime writer Ellen (Robinson) letsa room in her suburban house to mild-mannered dentist Leslie Steckler (Firth).London is at fever pitch over the kill-ings of the ‘White Angel’, who bringsdeath to women in white. Ellen herselfis being doggedly pursued by Inspec-tor Taylor (Henderson) following herhusband’s disappearance. Soon Ellen develops her own fear-ful fascination with Leslie, especiallywhen long-term lodger Mik moves out.A cat-and-mouse scenario of blackmailunfolds; but will either emerge un-scathed, or uncharged by the Inspector?There’s many a complex twist en routeto the verdict. Coolly appraising the delicate bal-ance between murder and manslaugh-ter, this is a remarkably effective filmabout killing which glamorises no kill-ers. The careful low-key photographyby Jon Walker, crucially integratingvideo documents, is absorbing and fre-quently chilling in its affects. Peter Firthespecially personifies this, but the leadsall contribute to the all-too credible at-mosphere. Centrepiece of last year’s LondonFilm Festival, this first feature fromChris Jones and partner/producer

HHHH

FILM REVIEW

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STAY AT HOME!

OK

GOOD

RECOMMENDED

EXCELLENT

HHH

White Angel 'Effective'

Genevieve Jolliffe (who raised thecapital themselves soon after leavingfilm school) augurs well for independ-ent British film-making as an indus-try rather than art - and, naturally, fortheir own careers. Unpretentiouslygripping and solidly commercial,White Angel deserves more than alittle glorification.

Mark Wyman

A FEW years back a critic (who shall remain nameless)attempted to excuse the inevitable box-office humiliationof a typically self-indulgent piece of British art-house fareon the grounds that “its champagne taste may prove toorich for an audience reared on popcorn”. Offensive as thisstatement was, it nonetheless served to illustrate the rea-son why so many British films do no more than brisklyburl round the festival circuit before plugging a few holesin rep programmes: not just a failure, but a fundamentaland contemptuous refusal to address the country’s owncinema-goers. These are the subsidy junkies: film-mak-ers whose projects are largely financed by public moneywhich is more or less written off, thereby relieving thefilm of the tedious burden of actually having to find anaudience. Finally released, the movie barely makes dol-lar one, so when the film-maker plans his next project, it’sout with the begging bowl again. When Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe plan their nextpicture, they’ll have a head start on the financing, becauseWhite Angel will have made them a profit. Guess why. Correct. There’s a serial killer stalking suburbia, dubbed theWhite Angel by the tabloids because a figure in a whitedress and flowing blonde hair has been spotted fleeing thescenes of the murders. The media are afoam with the pos-sibility of the UK’s first female serial killer. But it’s not awoman, it’s Leslie Steckler (Peter Firth), a dentist whoseunassuming charm and gentle manner make him a terri-bly British murder hobbyist, towards the Brian Cox endof the Lecter Scale. Ellen Carter (Harriet Robinson) is also a killer. She’s acrime writer who put the last full stop in her husband’sstory a couple of years back, but without a body the po-lice couldn’t get her to autograph her work. She lets herspare room to Steckler, who has had his eye on her fromafar and soon - literally - unearths the evidence of her bigsecret. Knowing that the police net is closing, he black-mails Carter into writing a book about him, so that oncehe’s inside, his crimes will be understood. From here the plot concerns itself with Carter’s attemptsto escape Steckler’s web, but far more fascinating is herprobing of the killer’s psyche in a series of disarmingstraight-to-camcorder interviews. These are at the heartof Firth’s grimly believable performance; he squints atthe light and squirms at the questions before ultimatelyturning the camera on Carter and teasing out the detailsof her own crime. Admittedly the plot is as leaky as the St Mirren backfour- for two so successfully evasive killers, they do leavea lot of highly illustrative evidence lying around - but thisis compensated by two strong central performances, whichlend the film credibility and generate a genuine sense ofclaustrophobia. And for all its flaws, White Angel repre-sents a welcome British manifestation of the guerrilla film-making ethic that gave us movies like The Evil Dead, She’sGotta Have It and El Mariachi, and for that deserves to beencouraged.

(15) PETER FIRTH, HARRIET ROBINSON

DIR: CHRIS JONES

WHITE ANGEL

FILMSCHRIS BROOKMYRE

Inwarmblood

EEEEENTERTAINMENTNTERTAINMENTNTERTAINMENTNTERTAINMENTNTERTAINMENT

Driller Killer : Peter Firth, mild-mannered dentist with the killer touch in Chris Jones's White Angel

The Scotsman (Full Page) 16th April 1994 Page 21

Film crewshocked bycoincidence

of killingsBY BY BY BY BY ALlSON RALlSON RALlSON RALlSON RALlSON ROBEROBEROBEROBEROBERTSTSTSTSTS

ARARARARARTS REPORTS REPORTS REPORTS REPORTS REPORTERTERTERTERTER

A NEW film about a serial killerwas shot 100 yards fromCromwell Street, Gloucester,where the remains of nine womenhave been found buried at thehome of builder Frederick West. White Angel goes on generalrelease next week, but was madetwo years ago. The film’s plotrevolves around a killer of 14women who buries the bodies inhis back garden and bricks themup in the walls of his home. The cast and crew, who oftenparked their cars in CromwellStreet, were said to be “deeplyshocked” by the macabre coinci-dence. Preparations for the film’srelease were being made at thetime when Mr West was arrestedand charged murder. Chris Jones, the film’s direc-tor, said: “This is absolutely un-canny. We shot quite a few scenesin the next street along fromCromwell Street and some of theparallels with what happens inthe film are quite deep.” Don Henderson, who plays ahard-nosed detective on the trailof the serial killer, said that theconnections were “odd, chillingand rather frightening. It’s al-most as if reality is imitating art,”he said. White Angel will be screenedin cinemas across the countryfrom April 15. It also starsHarriet Robinson as a crimewriter and Peter Firth as the mur-derer. The film, which has a 15certificate, will not be shown inGloucester itself because of itssensitive subject matter.

Frederick West makes his fifthappearance in court today as po-lice continue their search for bod-ies at two locations. It will be thefirst time all nine murder chargesare publicly put to Mr West. Athis appearance a month ago theninth set of human remains hadyet to be found at 25 CromwellStreet.

THE TIMES APRIL 7th 1994

A genuinely chilling psychology-of-a-killer movie is the subterranean-budget,British made White Angel. Peter Firthstars as the anally fastidious dentistLeslie Steckler who moves in with EllenCarter (Harriet Robinson) a crime-writerwho has killed her husband. Steckler’s a uniquely English take onthe serial killer, he’s Richard Briers inEver Decreasing Circles turned patho-logical murderer. He’s the kind ofcreepy suburban obsessive who startsoff insisting on replacing the telephonereceiver the right way round, and endsup making tea for expired houseguestsarranged in an awkward sprawl on hissofa. “The real problem, he confides, asif hosting a Swindon cable DIY show. “isthe blood. Such a lot of it. Made aterrible mess of my car.” The film fully exploits its dormitory-town context: Steckler kills his wife overthe sandwiches at a picnic; he tells ushis story by filming himself with hisvideo camera; Carter buys a gun from asmall-time villain who’s wearing a partyhat and bearing the automatic in agiftwrapped box because he’s in themiddle of celebrating his kid’s birthday.Although limited by its budget, detailslike this make White Angel stylish, slickand often very frightening - everythingyou don’t expect from British movies.

SELECTM A G A Z I N E

April 1994

VOX

WHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELDirector: Chris JonesStarring: Peter Firth, HarrietRobinson, Don Henderson(Pilgrim)

Murder and blackmail bring crimewriter Ellen Carter (Robinson)and her lodger, dentist LeslieSteckler (Firth), together in anunusual partnership he revealshimself as a serial killer; shereluctantly agrees to write his storyto let him explain his actions.

The script (co-written bydirector Jones) starts off weakly,but once past the clichés, it re-mains clever, manipulating itsaudience in an almost ashamedlyentertaining manner·

Robinson is not as command-ing a performer as the excellentFirth or Henderson as the raspypolice inspector, but she plays hercrucial role well enough to sustaininterest. Though White Angel may nothave enough visual oomph tocompete with its Hollywood coun-terparts, it’s a decent alternativeand for quality of content, muchmore satisfying. Its impressive,sharp ending will leave you smiling.

April 1994

White AngelLeslie Steckler, a mild-mannered den-tist, likes to dress up in frocks and mur-der women in white - hence his nick-name, ‘the white angel’. Ellen Carter isa crime writer who kills her abusivehusband in a fit of rage. She is alsoSteckler’s landlady. When Steckler dis-covers the body of Ellen’s husband hemakes her a deal: he won’t got to thepolice if she writes his life story (with-out bias). Not only has writer-directorChris Jones, aged 24, come up with anintriguing premise for his first film, buthe has directed it with a commendablelack of melodrama, soliciting natural-

istic performances from his two leads.The result is a chillingly real drama thatis not above keeping its audience inuncomfortable apprehension. (JC-W)

Cast: Peter Firth (Leslie Steckler), HarrietRobinson (Ellen Carter), Don Henderson (In-spector Taylor), Anne Catherine Arton (Mik),Harry Miller (Alan Smith), Joe Collins(Graham), Caroline Staunton, Mark Stevens,Inez Thorn, Ken Sharrock, Samantha Nor-man, John Bennett. Dir: Chris Jones. Pro: Genevieve Jolliffe.Screenplay: Jones and Jolliffe. Ph: JonWalker. Ed: John Holland. Pro Des: MarkSutherland. M: Harry Gregson-Williams.Costumes: Sheena Gunn. Sound: WyndhamVincent. (Living Spirit Pictures). 92 mins.

FILM REVIEW YEARBOOK

12th April 1994

How tomake akilling

Instead of moaning about the state of theindustry, two young film-makers went out

and raised money for their new thrillerthemselves. They talk to David Gritten

The Daily Telegraph

“When they came backand said they were setting upWhite Angel,” Smith recalls, “Iwas pleased to invest. I was justbacking a hunch.” He is the ma-jor investor, with a 30 per centstake. As a tribute, Jolliffe andJones named a gangster char-acter in the film after him.“From a low base, they’vemade this film and got a na-tional release,” Smith says. “Ithink they’re remarkable.”

Equally remarkable istheir demeanour. They aredown-to-earth, polite, enthu-siastic, and confident withoutbeing arrogant. Jones, thick-setwith a wispy beard, seems evenyounger than his years; he andJolliffe, a vivacious youngwoman with cascading red hair,finish each other’s sentences.

They started five years

ago, borrowing £5,000 fromPrince Charles’s Youth Busi-ness Trust. They bought someoffice equipment and a year laterreceived a further £ 2,000 ex-pansion loan from the Trust.

Thus their company, Liv-ing Spirit Pictures, was born. Atfirst they made Gloucestershiretheir base, but recently havemoved to Brighthampton, a vil-lage near Oxford.

“In London we’d besmall fish in a big pond,” saysJones. “Anyway, people therespend their time talking about it,not doing it.” “And there are toomany long lunches,” adds Jolliffe.

Jones caught the film bugwhile studying for A-levels. Hemade a Super 8 film for £50 andshowed it at his college in thelunch hour, charging 10p admis-sion. “The whole college turned

out and I got a standing ova-tion.”

Jones, who hails fromWigan, met Jolliffe, from theIsle of Wight, at BournemouthFilm School. She left after sixmonths, and he fell foul of theschool’s attitude that moviesshould be politically correctand socially redeeming. AfterBournemouth he applied to theNational Film School but wasrejected as being immature.“They said most of their appli-cants were 27 or 28,” he re-members. “So I’m still not oldenough to be there - yet I’vemade a feature film.”

Now they’re anxiouslyawaiting reviews of the filmThey had a shock a few weeksago when it emerged they theyhad shot a few scenes only a mileaway from Gloucester’s

Cromwell Street, site of a realserial killer’s exploits. Giventhat a character in White An-gel boards up a body inside ahouse, this was uncomfortablyclose to art imitating life.

If the film is a success.Jones and Jolliffe say they willnot be tempted to follow otherbright young things to Holly-wood. ’One doesn’t live tomake films, one lives andmakes films,” Jones says.

They have no planseven to leave Brighthampton.Two more films are in thepipeline, and they aim to de-velop their relationship withinvestors. “We’re anxious notto get too big too quick,” saysJones, “because that way liesdisaster.”

£50 to £ 30,000 into White An-gel.

“We said to people ‘Don’tmortgage your house. Treat thislike a flutter on the Grand Na-tional- with the knowledge thatwe have some inside info.”’

Making White Angel wasa long, hard slog which startedtwo years ago. Cast and crewworked for deferred fees, amongthem Peter Firth (currently inShadowlands) as the mass killerwith a distinctive way of dis-patching his victims, and DonHenderson (from TV’s TheParadise Club). Instead of hav-ing a script to show potential in-vestors, Jolliffe and Jonesscraped together enough moneyto get the film shot in 19 days.

“Then we edited a lot ofscenes together to show somenew investors what it wasabout,” says Jolliffe. “They putmoney in. And some of theoriginal investors saw what wehad and tripled or quadrupledtheir investment.” Eventuallythey made a distribution dealwith a small company called Pil-grim.

But Jolliffe and Jones arevague about the exact financesof White Angel. They say it cost“under a million pounds” buttheir sheepish smiles’ suggestthe real sum was far less. “Whenyou sell a film,” Jones admits,“the buyers look at its cost. Theywon’t pay a lot for somethingthat wasn’t expensive to make.”Already the couple have secureddeals in the US, Germany andthe Pacific rim.

All of this is good newsto their investors, who includeAlan Smith, publisher of videoand camcorder magazines. Hefirst met Jones and Jollffe threeyears ago when his What Video?awarded them a prize for theirshort film The Thing from Be-neath the Bed.

GIVEN the gloomy state ofour film industry it is more thana little noteworthy that WhiteAngel, a small low-budget movieabout a serial killer made by twoyoung debutant British film-mak-ers, opens on Friday in 15 cin-emas, three of them in London.But there’s more: producer Gen-evieve Jolliffe, 24, and directorChris Jones, 26, who also wroteWhite Angel, financed it whollythrough private investors, with-out major distributors’ backing.To seek comparisons for such anunderdog triumph one must thinkin terms of Stalybridge Celticwinning the FA Cup.

How often do we hear thatthe British film industry is dead?Yesterday David Puttnam saidthat if Hollywood was like theCoca-Cola Corporation then Eu-ropean attempts to make filmswere like “the home-madelemonade business” Perhaps,but•l there is an astonishingamount of fizz left in the Britishlemon bottle and young film-makers on this side of the pondhave proved time and again thata little ingenuity goes a long way.

British films have been fi-nanced privately before, but oneof two things usually happens. Ei-ther the produc ers’ mothers andfathers lose all their money andthe film never makes it into cin-emas, or a major film distributorsteps in to save the film’s tot-ering finances and assumescontrol of its destiny.

White Angel, astonish-ingly, has avoided both traps.“We’ve already told our inves-tors they’ll get their moneyback,” says Jones, “and we’vedone it without any help from abig film company. We’ve keptcontrol all the way.”

He and ,Jolliffe persuadedsome 50 people- most of whomhad never invested in a film be-fore to put sums ranging from

Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe, who found they had been filming near the scene of real serial murders

EDITED BY GAVIN MARTIN

WHITE ANGEL

DIRECTOR Chris JonesChris JonesChris JonesChris JonesChris Jones

STARRING Peter Firth,Peter Firth,Peter Firth,Peter Firth,Peter Firth,

Harriet Robinson, DonHarriet Robinson, DonHarriet Robinson, DonHarriet Robinson, DonHarriet Robinson, Don

HendersonHendersonHendersonHendersonHendersonRELEASED IN the wake of theGloucester multiple murder revela-tions, White Angel is a timely lookat compulsive and revenge killings.Grounded in suburban sitcom land,its protagonist is the balding middle-aged Steckler (a superb Firth), a dullsuburban dentist who moves into thehouse of crime writer Ellen Carter(Robinson).

But neither character is whatthey seem: we discover creepySteckler is the local serial killer andthat Carter murdered her husbandthree years previously before theopening credits are up. WhenSteckler finds the husband’s bodybricked up behind the fireplace heblackmails her into writing hisbiography. During the ensuing cat-and-mouse confessionals, andbetween the light relief thrown in byDon Henderson’s crabbymisogynistic old cop, the differencebetween revenge and repeat killings,survival, psychosis and culpability,becomes horrifically blurred.

A chillingly impressive film,written and produced by two youngBritish film-makers, details arescrupulously observed, and tensionis sustained right up until the finaltwist in the already tourniqued plot.Digging deep into the disturbed,dark psyche of middle class Britain,White Angel is so scarily sinister itmakes Psycho look like an oldEaling comedy.

Sam Steele

NME April '94

FILM

Either a very dark comedy, or astrangely ironic drama, WhiteAngel is an accomplished Britishmade tale of a true crime writer(Harriet Robinson) who takes in anew tenant (regular Brit characteractor Peter Firth). Unfortunately heturns out to be a serial killer - butshe can’t turn him in, because he’sfound out that she murdered herhusband, and, as a murdererhimself, wants to be the subject ofher next book. The tension in thesuburban house is superbly handled,interspersed with bloody murderscenes and the semi-detachedreflections of the killer, as hediscusses both his unusual hobbyand his victims: “number eight, Ithink the press called her - shewasn’t even one of mine.” (DG)

The Guardian Guide Nov '97

alongside Henry’s one.Firth must be a godsend to people

like Jones and Jolliffe. Someone whois not afraid to go for it all the way nomatter how cashpoor a production is.What he did for The Pleasure Princi-ple, he doubles for White Angel anddelivers an utterly convincing por-trayal whether in drag, uncovering lay-ers of genteel English dementia ormaking the most of the kitchen sinkatmosphere. Canadian Robinson is ad-equate in a part needing an unstudiedambivalent attitude to carry it off andDon Henderson as the affable Inspec-tor Taylor is nothing more than an-other marquee name.

Even so, White Angel has an in-definable haunting quality which re-fused to let me go until long after ithad concluded. It could be the docu-mentary style punching it over in thesame grotesquely compelling way TVnews uses footage of bereaved rela-tives. Perhaps it was the short, sharp,shock cuts of murder in the first de-gree providing the slow-burningpower. Then again, in perhaps themost direct life from Henry, it couldbe Steckler’s home video of his wife’ssudden demise. Whatever, Jones andJolliffe’s labour of love can’t be dis-missed as just another cheap exploiter.Extraordinarily well made, ‘LivingSpirit's high maintenance study in tenseurban terror heralds the arrival of twovery talented individuals whose workdeserves to be seen. (Starburst rating:6)

White AngelWho is the real ‘White Angel’,

the first ‘female’ serial killer to holdLondon in a grip of terror? Is it mild-mannered dentist Leslie Steckler(Peter Firth) who hides a blonde wigand a pair of red high heels underhis bed? Or could it be crime writerEllen Carter (Harriet Robinson) per-sonally investigating the mechanicsof murder in much the same wayMichael Gough did in Horrors ofthe Black Museum? Such is the in-triguing premise of Chris Jones andGenevieve Jolliffe’s remarkablehome movie, made under their ‘Liv-ing Spirit’ banner, shot on locationin and around Ruislip, North WestLondon.

Rather than being the pretentiousamateurish bore I was expecting(sorry guys!), White Angel actuallygripped me until the rush of climac-tic contrivances and pedanticbroadstokes tended to almost oblit-erate all the subtle shadings and unu-sual twists which had gone before.Despite its flaws, obviously due moreto financial headaches than any lackof artistry, and occasional clever-cloggs attitude, White Angel is stillanother worthwhile portrait to hangin the cinematic rogue’s gallery

WHITE ANGEL Steckler

(Peter Firth) and

Robinson seek

the killer

WHITE ANGEL Harriet Robinson (Ellen Carter) finds trouble

WHITE ANGEL has an indefinable hauning quality

STABURST Issue 189

WHITE ANGEL: Producer,Genevieve Jolliffe. Director,Chris Jones. Screenplay,Jones & Jollfffe. Music, HarryGregson-WIlliams. StarringPeter Firth, Harriet Robinson& Don Henderson. 92 mins.Cert R/15. Released America:To be announced. ReleasedBritain: April 15th.

On the first day of shooting, the 22 year-old di-rector Chris Jones, who had seen the completedscript for the first time, asked how many of the22 strong crew had been on a set before and wassomewhat dismayed when no one put up theirhand. The completed picture was premiered atBAFTA in the presence of the Prince of Wales,who presented Living Spirit Pictures with anaward for the ‘most tenacious’ business estab-lished in 1989 by the Youth Business Trust. Itwas subsequently sold for cinema, TV or videorelease in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal,Benelux, Yugoslavia, Poland, Turkey, Mexico,Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Korea, Japan,Australia, Canada, the US and UK.

ProducersProducersProducersProducersProducersBritain’s youngest producer was 20-year-oldGenevieve Jolliffe, who claimed that her ‘slam-bang action picture’ The Runner (GB 91) wasturned down for financing by the British Film In-stitute Production Board because they were onlywilling to subsidise films which lost money. Withstart-up backing from Prince Charles’s Youth Busi-ness Trust, Ms Jolliffe’s Living Spirit Picturesraised production money from accountants anddentists with surplus funds at their disposal andthe balance of the £ 100,000 budget came from asmall-time distributor whose advertisement she hadseen in the trade press. Shooting of what the tyroproducer claimed was a million dollar Americanproduction made on an island off the coast ofCanada actually took place in Nantwich, Chesh-ire, with some underground tunnel scenes shot at acolliery in Wales. The American leading man,Terence Ford, was Harrison Ford’s younger brother,desperate to get out of soap opera into feature films.

HRH MEETSLIVING SPIRITHRH the Prince of Wales becamethe proud owner of a VHS copyof White Angel last Thursday,following a meeting with thefilm’s producer and director,

Genevieve Jolliffe and ChrisJones. The duo met the Prince,and handed over a VHS of thethriller at St James’ Palace,during a presentation-cum-celebration of successful busi-nesses helped by The Prince’sYouth Business Trust. Jonesand Jolliffe set up their pro-duction company, LivingSpirit Pictures, with financialassistance from the Trust in1989. They have since com-pleted two features and arecurrently in pre-productionwith their third. “We told thePrince that the British film in-dustry needed a strong base ofcommercial films to supportart films,” commented a forth-right Jones.

White Angel opens in the UKon 15 April.Royal film performance: HRH, Jones and Jolliffe94

Britain’s youngest producer, GenevieveJolliffe, was 20 when she made her ‘slam-bang action picture’ The Runner (GB 91).

MOVING PICUTRES INTERNATIONAL 10 March 19th94

VIDEO VIEW March '95

WHITE ANGELPOLYGRAMPG 1078MAY 17£39.95THRILLER, 18

With the dust still flying on theFrederick West serial killer revelations, thistaut and eerie thriller receives a timely re-lease.

Any deliberate similarity to the Westcase is denied but bizarrely the film wasshot just a mile away from where he lived -although a year previous to his unmasking.The public’s ghoulish interest in the Westcase, with his wife still in court, shouldensure interest in the title.

White Angel stars Peter Firth(Shadowlands) as the cross-dressing serialkiller, Harriet Robinson (Love Potion No.9)as the woman he blackmails and DonHenderson (TV’s Sweeney) as the hard bit-ten detective. Its twisting tale unfolds in-triguingly and involves copious, though notgraphic murders. Renters who favourstrongly plotted thrillers should be aimedin this direction.

The effective sleeve should help seethis off the shelves as will the coverage

garned in a limited cinema run. The PRpush is already hard at work with a dou-ble page spread already in the News OfThe World. Recommended as a UK Si-lence Of The Lambs. (Holdbacks: sat-ellite one year; TV two years).

A serial killer moves with a writer andsecrets are revealed.Timely terror

RENTAL ACTIVITY RENTAL ACTIVITY RENTAL ACTIVITY RENTAL ACTIVITY RENTAL ACTIVITY 75%75%75%75%75%

WHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELWHITE ANGELPolyGram/ Peter Firth,Harriet Robinson, DonHenderson / 18/ 94 minsRelease Date - May 17th

****eter Firth was once a flavour of themonth blue-eyed boy, giving powerful performances as the disturbed

young horse-stabber in Equus, and as theweak landowner who rejects his milkmaidwife because of a former liason in Tess. He’s worked steadily, though quietly since,with roles in Letter To Brezhnev andShadowlands, but this is his first meaty partin a decade and he launches into it likeLestat into a jugular. Outwardly he’s mild-mannered dentistLeslie Steckler, who rents an apartmentfrom former crime novelist Ellen Carter(Harriet Robinson). Ellen killed her husbandand bricked him up behind the lounge wall,explaining to neighbours that he’d simplygone abroad. The inspector in charge ofinvestigating the disappearance (DonHenderson) believes she’s murdered him,but doesn’t have the proof. Leslie, though,uncovers the body, and tells Ellen the priceof his silence is for her to write his lifestory. Leslie claims to be the White Angel, aserial killer who’s been attacking womenand disposing of their bodies in rubbishbags all over the area. So begins an elaborate game of witsbetween the two killers, with Ellen franti-cally dreaming up schemes to dispose ofher tormentor, and Leslie always one stepahead. For some reason there’s been severalattempts to draw comparisons between thisstory-line and the Cromwell Street murders,but apart from the fact there’s one bodyhidden in the house, and two assassins areinvolved there’s little reason to associatethem.What we do have, though, is a crackingthriller with plenty of edge-of-the-seattension, a creepily restrained performanceby Peter Firth, and more twists and turnsthan a Dune sandworm. Harriet Robinson isequally impressive as the nervy authorwho’s never quite what she seems. It might make you want to keep the lighton tonight!

P

Guide toReview ratings

* Poor** Good

*** Very Good**** Excellent!

VIDEO WORLDVIDEO WORLDVIDEO WORLDVIDEO WORLDVIDEO WORLDMay '95May '95May '95May '95May '95