Where are the Children? 1986

     Nancy Harmon has long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage and the deaths of her two small children.  She has also forced aside the hostile front-page newspaper stories and the shocking charges against her.  She changed her name, dyed her red hair sable brown and left California for the wind-swept comforts of Cape Cod.  She is now remarried, she has two more beloved children and the terrible pain she has felt has begun to heal.  That is until the morning when she looks in the backyard for her little boy and girl and finds only one red mitten!!  She knows that the same nightmare she faced before is beginning again!!  It is easy to get wrapped up in this film because the storyline is very gripping.  You can’t help but want to know more about what happened and what will happen.

     In this movie, the viewer isn't trying to guess who committed the crime?  You know who the kidnapper is from the beginning.  A good portion of the movie is from his pint of view.  The reason you would want to watch this movie are basically two-fold.  To learn why there was a kidnapping and to find out if they will be saved before the crimes mentioned in the beginning reoccur.

     This movie is gripping and suspenseful and you just HAVE TO see what what happens to the children.  It doesn't mean the movie is perfect.  I couldn't help feeling at times that the plot and all the happenstance meetings felt contrived.  I think some of this is due to how the movie is laid out with popping back and forth between previous events during suspenseful moments.  The movie also never really gives a reason why the 'bad-guy' was actually at that location.  Why did he want to torment Nancy?  I also have a complaint about the 'why' she lost her first set of children but it is a major spoiler!!   3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

97 min directed by Bruce Malmuth, written by Mary Higgins Clark and Jack Shoulder with jIll Clayburgh, Max Gail, Harley Cross, Elisabeth Harnois, Elizabeth Wilson, Barnard Hughes, Frederic Forrest, James Purcell, Clifton James, Eriq La Salle, Joseph Hindy, Devin Ratray.

Note:  Goodreads gives the book 4.02* out of 5* avg rating, 46,400 ratings, published 1975, 111 editions, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 917 ratings, Rotten Tomatoes 33% with 6 Tomatometer reviews 62% audience score with 50 ratings, Imdb 5.7* out of 10* with 250 reviews.