The Crying Child

By TODD EVERETT

The Crying Child (Wed. (26), 9-11 p.m., USA)
 
Cast: Mariel Hemingway, Finola Hughes, Kin Shriner, George DelHoyo, Collin Wilcox Paxton, Will Leskin, Joe Inscoe, Richard Wilkins. Recovering from the stillbirth of her first child, Madeline Jeffreys (Mariel Hemingway) and her husband Ran (George DelHoyo) retreat to the island cabin she has inherited where she hears the cries of an unseen baby and surmises that it's somehow her dead son. Combining elements of mystery and the supernatural, "The Crying Child" just may involve some viewers. Others will find it just silly.
 

Subplot finds Finola Hughes as Madeline's longtime friend and Kin Shriner as Ran's old friend in a relationship much different from the antagonism those actors' characters shared on seven seasons of "General Hospital." It should pull in some fans of the long-running soap.

TX: TX:Filmed in North Carolina by Irish Films in association with MTE. Executive producer, Barry Weitz; producers, Robert Lewis, John L. Roman; director, Lewis; script, Rob Gilmer, based on the novel by Barbara Michaels; TX:Main drawbacks of Rob Gilmer's script (or maybe Barbara Michaels' original novel), even for those who accept supernatural elements, are the loose logic and unanswered questions: How do the protagonists stumble on important artifacts that have escaped generations, even as a 150-year-old house was being wired for electricity? How does a blind woman (Collin Wilcox Paxton) move around the island so easily, unaided? Who, exactly, was the pagan, and just what is happening in the cataclysmic burning scene toward the end? Story would have worked better with the tragic ending that seems to be coming but resolves into mush. On the upside, it's nice to see Hemingway away from "Central Park West," and Hughes under any circumstances; mystery pulls viewers along under Robert Lewis' direction; d.p. Stephen Lighthill and production designer Donald Lee Harris make the most of North Carolina scenery and the old house.

Camera, Stephen Lighthill; editor, Andrew London; production designer, Donald Lee Harris; set decorator, Matt Sullivan; sound, Carl Rudisill; music, Shirley Walker; casting, Melissa Skoff.