Stay in Touch
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
Sign in
05-17-2019 12:56 PM
8:00 p.m. Eastern: "A Blueprint for Murder" Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Gary Merrill
Hey! Hard on the heels of our very recent (adoring) discussion of Joseph Cotten, TCM is giving us yet more of him! (It's actually part of a prime time mini-Gary Merrill festival, but I like him too, and I'll take it!
Joseph Cotten's small extended family suffers a tragedy, but they pull together. Until Cotten and close friend and lawyer (Gary Merrill) and Merrill's smart, intuitive wife (Catherine McLeod) start to wonder if Cotten's pleasant widowed sister-in-law (stunning Jean Peters) is a secret sociopath...
There are odd undercurrents running through the in-laws' relationship, and with proof elusive, Joseph Cotten must decide if he can carry out a cunning scheme that even he thinks is preposterous....
(I'm being deliberately vague and cagey, to not give too much away!) This noirish film is imbued with an intriguingly uneasy mood that heightens over time, despite an almost flat, documentary-like style. It's what they love to call a "taut thriller", and we all know our Jos. Cotten shines in those.
I really like Merrill and McLeod as his loyal and supportive friends, and Jean Peters makes her cool ambiguity work well for her here. A favorite brass-tacks character actor, Jack Kruschen, shows up as a policeman on the case.
Great Friday night flick, and 'popcorn dropper' for sure...
05-17-2019 01:07 PM
@Oznell - never heard of this one - looks good.
I liked him in Portrait of Jennie with Jennifer Jones. I haven't seen that one in a while.
05-17-2019 01:58 PM
I think Joseph Cotten was one of those great actors who always gave a noteworthy performance. He may not have been given the big roles as other actors of the time but he definitely left his mark in the entertainment world. I always like his movies and will DVR this one!
05-17-2019 02:41 PM
I don’t remember this one but it’s loaded in the DVR
05-17-2019 03:18 PM
Oh Oznell. Once again Thank You! Yes, after watching this movie, you can't forget it.
I want to make sure I don't miss it. And thanks to you I won't.
05-17-2019 04:08 PM
Good, @drizzellla! And gang, those who haven't seen it but love Joseph Cotten should definitely enjoy. Not sure why TCM shows it so infrequently, and other ones, constantly.
05-18-2019 07:02 AM
Oh, that explains it. I was just watching my DVR of the movie early this morning, and Dave Karger says it's the first time TCM has ever shown it! Makes sense, since it's a 20th Century Fox film and the Fox movie channel has shown it up until now.
Somehow, TCM must have suddenly gotten the rights to it also? Never sure how these things work...
05-18-2019 08:52 AM
@Oznell Funny, after you first mentioned this film last time, I tried to find it. No luck. Then, whatta fluke-I was checking on another movie on TCM and there it was! I recorded it and also another Joseph Cotten flick-something about a Man in a Cloak?
05-18-2019 11:20 AM
05-18-2019 11:21 AM
Oh, yeah, @Judaline, that "man in a cloak" one, as much as I love Joseph Cotten, I have never seen. For some reason, find it hard to watch period films, which is weird since I love history!
Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox.
*You're signing up to receive QVC promotional email.
Find recent orders, do a return or exchange, create a Wish List & more.
Privacy StatementGeneral Terms of Use
QVC is not responsible for the availability, content, security, policies, or practices of the above referenced third-party linked sites nor liable for statements, claims, opinions, or representations contained therein. QVC's Privacy Statement does not apply to these third-party web sites.
© 1995-2024 QVC, Inc. All rights reserved. | QVC, Q and the Q logo are registered service marks of ER Marks, Inc. 888-345-5788