| Lady in White | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Frank LaLoggia |
| Produced by | Frank LaLoggia Andrew G. La Marca |
| Written by | Frank LaLoggia |
| Starring | Lukas Haas Len Cariou Alex Rocco Katherine Helmond |
| Music by | Frank LaLoggia |
| Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
| Editing by | Steve Mann |
| Distributed by | New Century Vista Film Company |
| Release date(s) | April 22, 1988 |
| Running time | Theatrical cut 112 min. Extended cut 117 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Italian |
| Budget | $4.7 million[1] |
| Gross revenue | $1,705,139 |
Lady in White is a 1988 American horror film of the ghost/mystery genre. Much of the film was made in Wayne County, New York, taking advantage of appropriate local color. The movie is based on the story of The Lady in White who supposedly searches for her daughter in Durand-Eastman Park in Rochester, New York while protecting young women who are on dates with their boyfriends.
The film was directed, produced, and written by Frank LaLoggia, a native of nearby Rochester, NY. Starring were Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, and Katherine Helmond.
Contents |
The film begins with a man visiting a grave, telling a story in flashback. On Halloween 1962, 9-year-old Franklin "Frankie" Scarlatti (Lukas Haas) is locked into the school cloak room by school bullies Donald (Jared Rushton) and Louie (Gregory Levinson). Later that night, Frankie witnesses the murder of the ghost Melissa Anne Montgomery (Joelle Jacobi) by a darkened figure. The figure strangles Frankie, but Frankie lives and is soon found by the police. In a subplot, Harold Williams, the black school janitor, who got drunk while watching a ballgame in his office on the night of Frankie's assault, is accused of the attempted murder of Frankie and the murder of Melissa and ten other children. This sets off instances of outrage in the community but Angelo Scarlatti (Alex Rocco), Frankie's father, believes Mr. Williams' claim of innocence upon failure to link the janitor to Frankie's assault and the fact that Harold Williams is also a father. Mr. Williams is later freed when a grand jury decides against going to trial, on the basis of inability to prove his guilt in committing the murders, but is murdered himself by the mother of one of the victims.
Soon, all Frankie can see is the ghost of Melissa and he befriends her. Frankie tries to figure out the identity of the killer before he can kill again, to reunite Melissa with the ghost of her mother, and bring solace to the mysterious Lady in White who roams the town he lives in.
Finally Frankie and his brother Geno solve the mystery: Frankie realizes that the killer came back for his class ring he dropped when he killed Melissa and when Geno sees that Angelo owns an identical class ring from the same school year; he realizes the killer must have been a schoolfriend of his father's. Geno compares the initals on it with his father's yearbook, he realizes that the murderer is family friend Phill. Frankie, with Phill at that time, figures out the truth when Phill is whistling "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking", Melissa's song, and ends up running to the cliff where Melissa was thrown over. Phill admits to being the killer, but had no idea he was assulting Frankie on Halloween and wouldn't have done it had Frankie not been in his Halloween costume as he cares about him. Phill attacks Frankie, but he's saved by the Lady in White who lives in the abandoned cliffside cottage Melissa and her mother had lived in. Frankie then awakens in the well-preserved bedroom which had been Melissa's, under the care of the Lady in White. She reveals that she is Melissa's aunt and had been despondent over the loss of her sister (who jumped into the ocean after seeing Melissa's body in grief) and niece. She also tells Frankie that she had set fire to her own house and tried to take her own life with the conflagration in order to be reunited with her family in the great beyond, but had been rescued from the blaze and subsequently branded the town crazy. Phill then storms into the cottage, murders the Lady in White and tries to throw Frankie off the cliff as the house burns down and they struggle, but Frankie is saved by the ghost of Melissa's mother who knocks Phill off the cliff. She and Melissa reunite and head off to Heaven as Angelo, Geno, the police, and hunters with scent-tracking dogs arrive. Phill is still alive and hanging onto the cliff. Angelo tries to save him, but, out of guilt, Phill lets go and falls to his death. With Phill dead, the group watches as the Montgomery cottage burns down.
In order to prepare him for an emotional scene, director Frank LaLoggia tried to convince young star Lukas Haas that his mother had been killed.
The song "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?," sung by Bing Crosby, played a large part in the plot of this story.
   | The Lady in White - Lady in White (1988) - Box office / business |
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