CUTTING CLASS

Donovan Leitch Jr. 

CUTTING CLASS (1989). Director: Rospo Pallenberg.

High schooler Brian Woods (Donovan Leitch Jr.) went "away" for a while after his apparent murder of his father. Now his former best friend, Dwight (Brad Pitt), wants nothing to do with him. Adding tension is the fact that Brian and Dwight's girlfriend, Paula (Jill Schoelen of When a Stranger Calls Back), may be attracted to one another. An unknown person then goes about murdering teachers and students alike in various creative ways. The first apparent victim is Paula's father, William (Martin Mull), the district attorney who had Brian institutionalized. 

Robert Glaudini and Scholen try to help Brad Pitt

Cutting Class got mostly negative reviews, but it holds the attention and has various points of interest, including the cast. In this early role Brad Pitt is competent and nice-looking but one would not have necessarily imagined that he'd emerge a sex symbol and major star. Leitch, who is also a producer, musician, and former model, is the son of pop singer Donovan; he's good-looking and intense in this but his performance is a bit off at times. Schoelen is cute and competent, but Roddy McDowall (of Midnight Lace) is just awful in his over-the-top, campy turn as the principal who has an obvious yen for Paula. Martin Mull somehow survives an arrow in the chest early in the picture and we see scenes throughout of him struggling to get home in moments of black comedy. Brenda James is vivid as the bitchy Colleen, who becomes a victim of the killer. Robert Glaudini (of Parasite) is Shultz, the high school janitor.

Cutting Class isn't overly bloody, but it does have some creative "kills:" Colleen and her boyfriend pulled under the bleaches during a basketball game where the cries of the crowd drown out their screams as their throats are cut; vice principal Mrs. Knott (Nancy Fish) getting repeatedly clobbered at the photocopy machine (an idea used in other slasher films); and the coach (Dirk Blocker) getting punctured while bouncing on the trampoline. An art teacher getting cooked in a kiln is also a little different, although nowadays it would be much more graphic. Math teacher Mr. Glynn (Eric Boles) has a more conventional axe-to-the-head demise, but a bit of business involving a message left on the blackboard by the killer which Glynn rushes to solve is inexplicable. 

The biggest problem with Cutting Class is that it doesn't make much of an attempt to create suspense over the identity of the killer, who will come as no surprise to anyone in the audience. On the plus side is the climax, which takes place in a large workshop full of deadly instruments and is quite exciting. This was the only full movie directed by Rospo Pallenberg. 

Verdict: Not nearly as terrible as most people think, but despite good moments it still doesn't add up to that much. **1/2. 

MIDNIGHT LACE

Doris Day in jeopardy

MIDNIGHT LACE (1960). Director: David Miller.

Heiress Kit Preston (Doris Day) has never had a difficult day in her life, so the perky but somewhat neurotic lady is unprepared when she starts to get death threats from a sinister, cartoon-like voice in the London fog and over the telephone. Kit recently wed businessman Anthony Preston (Rex Harrison), and while he is concerned, neither he nor Inspector Byrnes (John Williams) are absolutely certain that Kit has been hearing anything. She is suspicious of everyone she encounters, including her maid's nephew (Roddy McDowall of Dead Man's Island); a hunky contractor working on a house next door (John Gavin); and an odd fellow who keeps following her (Anthony Dawson). Then someone pushes her in front of a bus ...

Day, Harrison, Williams, Gavin, Loy

Midnight Lace is a smooth and entertaining suspense film with a host of good actors, including those mentioned and Myrna Loy as Kit's aunt and Herbert Marshall (of Gog) as Anthony's business associate. Natasha Parry [The Dark Man] and Hermione Baddeley are also notable. As for Day, she gives a convincing if borderline comical performance of a incredibly overwrought woman who is admittedly in a tense situation but has no clue as to how to handle it without getting hysterical -- and I do mean hysterical. One has to witness her incredible meltdown on the staircase to believe it! The picture is fun however. It has some structural similarities to another film directed by David Miller, Sudden Fear. (In that film Joan Crawford handles things with much more vigor than Day does). 

Verdict: Unless you really hate Day you should enjoy this. ***. 

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. ***.