TV and Movies

[Oznell]

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...  

[twinsister]

@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.

[spiderw]

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!

[godi]

I don’t remember this one but it’s loaded in the DVR

[drizzellla]

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.

[Oznell]

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.

[Oznell]

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...

[Judaline]

@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? 

[MarnieRez3]

@Oznell
Even if I do not get a chance to tape the current offering, your thorough commentary and photos make my day! Thank you for sharing all your cinema knowledge with us. I want you to be a guest programmer on TCM! 💚 See you in the dark!

[Oznell]

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!