THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN

Liz Montgomery as Lizzie

THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN (1975 telefilm). Director: Paul Wendkos.

In Falls River, Massachusetts in 1892, Andrew Borden (Fritz Weaver) and his wife, Abby (Helen Craig) are found axed to death in their home. The chief suspect immediately becomes Andrew's daughter, Lizzie (Elizabeth Montgomery), who maintains her innocence both in court and to her sister, Emma (Katherine Helmond). With flashbacks showing the troubled life of the family, the movie shows us the investigation, the trial, and the outcome. The Lizzie Borden story remains one of the most fascinating unsolved mysteries and double murders in history, and this early look at the case, sticking mostly to the facts, makes for a compelling TV movie. It leaves out the fact that a cousin was staying in the house at the time of the murders but he was apparently out of the house during the actual gruesome event. The movie's explanation for how Lizzie did not get blood on her clothing is somewhat suspect, however. The biggest problem with the telefilm is the lead performance, with Montgomery often acting as if she were in rehearsal, and hardly giving what could be called a committed performance for much of the film's length. Helmond is more on the mark as her sister, as are Weaver and Craig, and Fionnula Flanagan as the maid, Bridget. Ed Flanders [The Exorcist III] makes an efficient prosecutor, and John Beal [The Vampire] is fine as a doctor who ministers to family friend, Lizzie. Helen Craig, who plays the unpleasant stepmother, is better in this than she was as the evil nurse in The Snake Pit. This is superior to the Lifetime movie Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, (although the fictionalized series that followed, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, was quite entertaining).  Paul Wendkos also directed the excellent telefilm The Brotherhood of the Bell. NOTE: A new Lizzie Borden theatrical film, focusing on the character's lesbianism, has just been released, and it seems based (without crediting him) on Evan Hunter's novel, Lizzie, which also posited the theory that Lizzie and maid Bridget were lovers.

Verdict: Entertaining, but just misses being really special. **3/4. 

DEMON SEED

Julie Christie at mercy of malevolent computer

DEMON SEED (1977). Director: Donald Cammell.

"We look at the world differently. You find me boring. I find myself ... quite interesting."

Scientist Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) has not only computerized his whole house, but is the inventor of a new super-computer named Proteus 4 [beautifully voiced by Robert Vaughn]. Proteus 4's artificial intelligence has curiosity about humans as well as itself, and to that end it links up with the computer system in Harris' house. Desiring to duplicate itself, it imprisons Harris' wife Susan (Julie Christie), using the system against her, and tells her that she is to help him in his reproductive efforts ... not good. Gerrit Graham plays Walter, Harris' assistant, who figures in a bizarre scene when Proteus 4 unleashes a metallic, unwinding cube against him as he tries to help Susan. Demon Seed made use of the notion of blending the biological with the mechanical two years before the much better-known Alien.  The actors are all good, the film holds the attention, but it becomes increasingly absurd to an almost comical degree. Based on a novel by Dean R. Koontz.

Verdict: Ridiculous but entertaining. **1/2.

TO TRAP A SPY

TO TRAP A SPY (1964). Director: Don Medford. 

"What's that got to do with me? I'm just a housewife with two children." 

Before the sixties spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. hit the airwaves, a pilot episode was filmed under the name Solo. When the show became a big hit, it was decided to increase the coffers a bit by expanding the first episode into feature-length and releasing it to theaters in color instead of black and white as it was shown on TV. To further make it a little different, it was decided to use the Solo pilot instead of the subsequent U.N.C.L.E. episode [Both of which were "The Vulcan Affair" with some changes]. Therefore the sinister organization in To Trap a Spy isn't Thrush but Wasp, and Solo's boss isn't Alexander Waverly but Mr. Allison (Will Kuluva). Sexy Luciana Paluzzi, who was a hit woman in Thunderball, figures in the added footage, which includes an after-bedroom scene with Solo. [Actually Paluzzi gives a good and more nuanced performance than she did in the Bond film.] 

The plot has Solo (an excellent Robert Vaughn as a very classy spy) importuning a pretty housewife, Elaine May Bender (an equally good Patricia Crowley) to distract old boyfriend Andrew Vulcan (Fritz Weaver), who is planning an assassination of African dignitary Ashumen (William Marshall). But things are never as they seem, and complications arise, leading to desperate circumstances for Solo and the fish-out-of-water Elaine. Weaver and Marshall are both in good form, and Kuluva, frankly, makes a more realistic head of a super-spy agency than the lovable but rather dithery Leo G. Carroll. Some very good scenes and Vaughn and Paluzzi especially play well together. NOTE: David McCallum/Ilya doesn't have much to do in this. Click here for more on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

Verdict: The Birth of UNCLE. ***.