The Memory of Eva Ryker

The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980)

Genres - Drama, Mystery, War  |   Sub-Genres - Detective Film  |   Release Date - May 5, 1980 (USA)  |   Run Time - 144 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Donald A. Stanwood's original novel The Memory of Eva Ryker used the Titanic tragedy as its launching pad. This made-for-TV adaptation of Stanwood's book moved the action up some 27 years, motivating its plotline with the torpedoing of an Athenia-type luxury liner in 1939. The film flashes forward to 1961: millionaire Ralph Bellamy, who lost his wife when the ship went down, hires writer Robert Foxworth (a discredited ex-cop) to investigate the sinking. Bellamy's grown daughter Natalie Wood, who'd survived the ordeal, seems to hold the secret, but she's been in a near-lunatic state for over twenty years. When several other survivors of the sinking are murdered, it becomes all the more crucial to unlock Wood's pent-up memories. In the tradition of Brian De Palma's Obsession (75), Natalie Wood not only plays the title role of Eva Ryker, but also Eva's ill-fated mother. The Memory of Eva Ryker was produced by "master of disaster" Irwin Allen.

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Keywords

luxury-liner, sea-disaster, daughter, investigation, millionaire, torpedo