Like Walk Softly Stranger, it begins in a way in which we're thinking, 'Is this a spy thriller?' Sidney Poitier is on holiday in London with his daughter Yvette Curtis, bumps into mischievous looking Ester Anderson, who's clearly being tailed by different people. And they become entangled. But it turns out she's a diplomat's niece with sickle cell anaemia which will kill her. (Treatment of the condition has much improved since the film was made and life expectancies are longer, but it is true that it is a Black people's disease.)
The three leads are good. Anderson's and Curtis's careers ended soon after.
So some slightly unwise thrillery bits and music, but underneath a decent story, particularly when the woman and girl bond. Also has some nice subtext about Africa, its heritage and music, and interesting London locations. Less effective is a subplot about Poitier's cross country motorcycling hobby, which I thought might be in there as it was a personal interest of the actor, but it turns out he was doubled. I would have simplified that side of things as the racing scenes are boring.
We saw a cropped print of Paul Beeson's 1.85:1 images. Edited by Pembroke J Herring (Groundhog Day, Out of Africa) and Peter Pitt (no doubt the mandated British editor, or assembly editor).
Lawrence Roman wrote it as an original screenplay.
The music wins no prizes for subtlety and the whole thing may have got financed because of the huge success of Love Story.
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