A Cold Night's Death

There were a lot of good made for TV movies released in the seventies, and A Cold night's Death is certainly one of them! The film is set in polar conditions and features a very small cast of just three people. This gives the film a very claustrophobic atmosphere which benefits the paranoid atmosphere greatly. The film begins with a transmission from a madman and shortly thereafter, we follow two more men who go to the polar ice station. It soon becomes apparent that something is not quite right... The production values on show here are surprisingly good considering that the movie is made for television and director Jerrold Freedman more than makes the best of what he had to work with. The acting is very good and features great performances from Robert Cult and Eli Wallach in the lead roles. The film is short at just seventy minutes, but the runtime is used very well and the director certainly gets his point across. The ending is strange and doesn't come as a complete surprise, though it's good to watch and finishes the film off nicely. Overall, this TV movie does leave an impression and I can certainly recommend it.