Medium

Filmed opera can be deadly if not done right; fortunately, The Medium is in the loving and capable directorial hands of the man who wrote the piece, Gian-Carlo Menotti. Slightly expanded from the one-act stage version, this is the story of fraudulent medium Marie Powers, whose mute and crippled son Leo Coleman helps to fleece her customers. During one seance, Powers feels a hand clutching her throat. She assumes it is her put-upon son who is responsible. Tossed out in a driving rain, Coleman returns to visit his sweetheart Anna Maria Alberghetti (another of the medium's beleaguered assistants). His mother, assuming that her house has been invaded by burglars, kills the boy. Whether or not her punishment is Divine Intervention is left for the viewer to ponder.