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| Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson |
DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE (1976 telefilm). Director: E. W. Swackhamer. Joel Gregory Jr. (Robert Wagner) is the son of a man who was once the lover of the late movie star Lorna Love (Marianna Hill). Joel and his pregnant wife, Donna (Kate Jackson), move into the Love estate to work on a book about the great romance between Lorna and his father. Mysterious people run about the estate at night, and there is an attempt on Donna's life. Conan Carroll (John Carradine), who worked with Lorna and loathed her, is attacked and killed on the grounds, not far from a vault where Lorna's perfectly preserved corpse (!) is on display. Then Joel starts acting all weird ...
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| Dorothy Lamour |
Death at Love House sets up an intriguing situation but it's one of those movies where characterization and common sense are sacrificed so there can be inexplicable and unlikely plot twists. If anything, the denouement raises more questions than it answers. However, Wagner and Jackson give good performances, and along with Carradine we have appearances by Sylvia Sidney as a housekeeper, Joan Blondell as an obsessive aging fan, and Dorothy Lamour as Lorna's old rival in pictures. Marianna Hill proves no great actress in her brief scenes as Lorna Love. Wagner plays his father in sepia flashbacks. Laurence Rosenthal's score helps a bit. Verdict: You won't love this love house. **1/4.
LOL, I trust you, Bill, I won't love it but you know I am going to look for it. Must have missed this one back in the day (I was 10 when it came out!) but I was already a huge fan of Charlie's Angels and had to beg my parents to stay up to watch on Wednesday nights (it was on at 10 p.m. I believe!) so I could watch Farrah, Kate and Jaclyn. I don't think I knew who Dorothy Lamour was yet, but probably already was familiar with RJ from reruns of It Takes a Thief!
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You and I are alike Chris in that there are some movies we just gotta check out no matter what other people say about them! This was streaming on amazon prime but I have no doubt someone posted it to youtube as well. The Amazon print isn't great but it's watchable. Can't believe they are still saying RJ was responsible for Natalie's death. Sounds more like an horrible "misadventure" than an out and out murder but who knows?
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