DEAD MAN'S ISLAND

Barbara Eden

DEAD MAN'S ISLAND (1996 telefilm). Director: Peter Roger Hunt.

Henrietta O'Dwyer (Barbara Eden) is an investigative reporter who was once in love with a man named Chase Prescott (William Shatner). Nearly thirty years have gone by, both have married other people, and Chase is now a very wealthy industrialist with a mansion on an isolated island that was once Indian land. Chase asks Henrietta to come to the island and informs her that someone tried to poison him; he wants her to ferret out who the would-be murderer is before he or she can succeed in taking his life.

William Shatner

The suspects in the movie consist of a near-classic 90's TV cast (in addition to Eden and Shatner, of course): Morgan Fairchild is an actress who wants Chase to back her in a Broadway show; Traci Lords is Chase's current and much younger spouse; Christopher Atkins and David Faustino (from Married With Children) are his sons; Olivia Hussey and Christopher Cazenove are the maid and butler; and Jameson Parker, Roddy McDowall and Don Most (from Happy Days) are his employees. As for motive, some of them will get a large amount of cash in Chase's will, while others have different grudges to bear.

Morgan Fairchild

Eden is, as usual, pleasant, but she isn't that convincing in her role, and her narration of the story is unnecessary. The other cast members are no better than they should be and Roddy McDowall is Roddy McDowall. If you like murder mysteries with the usual elements and two-dimensional suspects, there are much worse movies than Dead Man's Island, which moves pretty quickly and has some suspense, even if you may not entirely buy the denouement. It's amazing that Eden was actually sixty-five when she made this teleflick as she looks years younger. The island and mansion settings for the movie are beautiful.

Verdict: Not exactly Agatha Christie, but fun. ***.