User reviews

Three married couples set off on a contest winning cruise. They are: Richard Long and Polly Bergen (as Jerry and Sylvia Carter), Edward Albert and Kate Jackson (as Jimmy and Mary Frances Radney), and Tom Bosley and Celeste Holm (as David and Elizabeth Mason). On ship, they discover why nobody can really remember entering the contest; it's a scam. A mysterious group known as "E&M Productions" has lured the six "winners" on board to kill them. As the travelers meet unfortunate ends, Michael Constantine (as Dr. Burke) assumes the role of investigator. Cesare Danova is the ship's captain. All are delightful.

This is an unexpectedly suspenseful Spelling-Goldberg television production, with good performances and direction (Ralph Senensky). And, it's very well paced. As they are being killed off, the three "happy" couples are revealed to be in significantly troubled marriages; this, and a resemblance to ABC-TV's later "The Love Boat" series, gives the movie a heightened eeriness. Jack B. Sowards' script has a few surprises; and, most of the time, it is challenging to guess which passenger to will die next. Unfortunately, part of an ending explanation does not match a prior character motivation; it's not enough to spoil the movie, however.

This was Richard Long's last role, sadly; the former "Big Valley" star died of a heart attack late in 1974. Also, around this time, beautiful young co-stars Kate Jackson and Edward Albert were a real life couple; although, they were "living in sin" (unmarried). The relatively under-appreciated "TV performer" cast makes "Death Cruise" an enjoyable trip.

****** Death Cruise (10/30/74) Ralph Senensky ~ Richard Long, Kate Jackson, Michael Constantine, Edward Albert

I saw this when I was twelve. It was the movie that made me understand what a good mystery really was. I had read the entire Happy Hollisters children's mystery series and they were about a family of child sleuths who always got their man. But we the readers were not in a position to solve the mystery along with them. This movie showed me that a good mystery is that which makes the viewer/reader, at the end, say, "OH!!!!! OF COURSE!!!!!!!"

Not exactly sure what compelled me to want to check out Death Cruise, but despite some reservations I did indeed go there, and am actually glad that I did. So the premise of this movie has already been stated and three couples and a new ships doctor are involved. Two of the couples stories are kind of interesting - Bosley and Holmes story is the best of the three with Long and Bergen coming in second and Alberts and Jackson a distant third, but Jackson herself makes up the gap. Constantine turns in a nice performance as the doctor/amateur sleuth. It really shouldn't work as well as it did but I was engaged throughout and found in moderately entertaining. Not great but I think worth checking out.

This is a pretty decent movie of the week from the Spelling-Goldberg production house. This movie is pretty much like Murder, She Wrote, which came out ten years later. Michael Constantine does a pretty decent job as the ship's doctor, who also happens to be an amateur detective and the cast, which is made up of many of the top stars of the small screen at the time did a pretty credible job playing the victims. Also, this happens to be one of the final appearances of Richard Long, who would die a few months later.

An ocean cruise is set for murder involving several couples, who believe they've won a trip. Unbeknownst to them they've all been lured on the cruise to be murdered by an unknown person.... It is up to Dr. Burke to piece together the clues that connect all these couples together and before more murders occur.

The Love Boat meets And Then There Were None courtesy of Aaron Spelling. Like The Love Boat we have a variety of guests, all couples, who have their problems; jealous gravel-voiced Polly Bergen is married to womaniser Richard Long, a dissatisfied Tom Bosley is married to oblivious Celeste Holm, and the baby-crazy Kate Jackson is married to not-baby-crazy Edward Albert. Doctor-at-large Michael Constantine and captain Cesare Danova fill out the ship's crew.

I sort of guessed who the murderer is, but it's fun getting there. It's light-hearted, but still has some suspense with its air of a calm-before-the storm. Also there's some histrionics from the assortment of characters; It's nicely constructed and ends well with a nice twist.

Seems to me there have been more than enough movies (or episodes on TV shows) wherein a mystery killer picks off a group of people one by one, and then crosses their faces with a big 'X' on a group-photo where everyone is smiling and happy. The theatrical film "The Last of Sheila" used a group-photo as a red herring, but "Death Cruise" doesn't have time for subtlety. It's a telefilm, short on time and short on budget. A would-be "Ten Little Indians", the cast is littered with has-beens (Richard Long), should-have-beens (Edward Albert), and one fresh face (Kate Jackson, giving off some enchanting, mysterious charisma). It's a cross between "The Love Boat" and "Murder, She Wrote", yet it does predate both and was fairly intriguing for its time. Seen today, it's a tacky hoot, although there is a neat twist at the finish line. As TV-movies go: ** from ****

A whodunit mystery set on an inescapable and claustrophobic location, victims that were lured there with the cheap excuse of having won a lottery and an unseen assailant marking off the faces of a photograph each time he/she makes another kill. Hmm, that all sounds vaguely familiar. Could it be we're watching an inferior and less inspired knock-off of the almighty Agatha Christie's "And then there were None"? Set on the luxurious cruise liner that producer Aaron Spelling borrowed from other series "The Love Boat", "Death Cruise" is a rather tame and predictable, but nevertheless endurable TV-movie attempt to cash in on the contemporary tremendous success of typical Agatha Christie murder whodunits with impressive cast lists and excessively convoluted plot twists. The differences here are that the actors and actresses' names aren't too spectacular, and neither are the red herrings, the murder methods or the denouement. Someone is rudely interrupting the holidays of thee married couples by, well, murdering them! Each couple struggles with a relationship crisis, however, and they seemingly were all together once before in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1970. The ship's doctor (Michael Constantine) decides to put on his Hercule Poirot moustache and investigate! The script can't hold a candle to any of Agatha Christie's writings, as the final revelations are fairly obvious and not so waterproof. Everything else has written "made-for-TV" written all over it, like wooden performances and off-screen killings. If you want to see solid mysteries set on a vessel, seek for Christie's "Death on the Nile" or the fabulous "The Last of Sheila".

Several couples are given free passage on a cruise ship. Little do they know that the company in the letter with the tickets doesn't exist and it's just a murderer's pretext to get them in one place so he or she could kill them! As for the couples, they all are screwed up. One has a husband who is a philanderer (Richard Long and Polly Bergen), another a husband and wife who don't know what to do with their marriage now that the kids are grown (Tom Bosley and Celeste Holm) and the other is arguing about whether or not they'll have children (Edward Albert and Kate Jackson). You also see quite a bit of Dr. Burke (Michael Constantine) and the Captain (Cesare Danova). But what's the connection between all these people?! As for the doctor, he fancies himself to be an amateur detective and investigates! The plot, when you think about it, is really very much like "The Love Boat" combined with "Diagnosis Murder"!

The set-up for the story was good and the film could have worked. So why did I give it only a 3? Well, the writing was spotty and there were way too many ridiculous moments. First, the killer was easy to figure out because it was obvious they were in a costume. Second, when the crew figured out someone was trying to kill the couples, why didn't they put all the surviving people in a room together with guards? Instead, they gave them ample opportunities to separate themselves and get killed. Why would they continue to allow people to skeet shoot aboard the ship (common back in the day) once they knew a killer was among them? Why would the doctor confront the murderer all alone--without backup and with a gun? And, how could someone at a great distance so easily shoot one man and avoid hitting another only a few feet away? This is NOT an easy shot! There were more inconsistencies and mistakes...but these things SHOULD have been worked out before shooting the script. I can only assume it was hurried into production.

The film's interior shots were done aboard the Queen Mary--an old cruise ship permanently anchored in Long Beach, California (near Hollywood). I was shocked by the rooms, as they were HUGE!

I happened to catch this on community TV a few years back and was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable a film it was.

While a bit corny in certain ways, as its prime function of being a mystery thriller it works superbly, thanks to a script that concocts an ingenious plot; it kept me guessing throughout and the resolution is inspired.

The cast is a star-studded one, containing a mixture of those at the end of their careers (indeed Richard Long died the same year this was made), or those who were on the verge of stardom in hit TV series (Kate Jackson, Tom Bosley). They all do a good job, with the exception of Cesare Danova who sleepwalks through his role.

Strongly recommended.

DEATH CRUISE concerns a group of passengers on the oceanic voyage of the title. With an all-star cast, including 1970's TV luminaries Kate Jackson and Tom Bosley, it seems like a typical episode of LOVE BOAT. That is, until the murders begin!

Have no fear, this is an Aaron Spilling production. So, each pair of celebrity passengers has their own set of soap opera-type issues going on. This gives us some semblance of "character development" before tragedy strikes.

As they're bumped off one by one, someone X-es the victim's face out of a group photo.

An enjoyable, though somewhat soggy yarn. Don't expect TITANIC meets PSYCHO. No, this is more tame than either of those...

Typical TV production of the 70s. Cheap productions values, bad scripts that even Poly Bergen cant save. Silly, unrealistic, illogical story.

Having thought that the mid 1970s was something of a golden era where American TVMs were produced I gave DEATH CRUISE the benefit of the doubt when I saw the relatively high rating on this page and expected more than something you'd get on the Hallmark channel but to be honest it seems like I wasted my time

The plot summary on the main details gives away the premise a bit too quickly . This is indeed how the plot unravels but there's far too much screen time dedicated to the characters all of whom are crashing bores . I've always got the impression these exotic cruise ship passengers are invariably badly dressed yawn merchants who quite literally suck the life out of everybody around them and this is exactly how they are portrayed in this TVM

The murderer in the midst isn't the most obvious person you'd think off and it does have some unintentional funny moments such as two characters finding a fellow passenger has gone overboard and the female character blurting out " Darling I want to have a baby " but if you're watching a film that feels like THE LOVE BOAT mixed in with MURDER SHE WROTE you'll find yourself not only siding with the murderer but feeling he hasn't murdered enough passengers

I love watching made-for-TV movies from the '70s. Some are good, some are bad, some are between good and bad. This is a between one. It gets two stars for Michael Constantine, who is pulling a Jessica Fletcher; and two stars for Cesare Danova, whom I have loved since Gidget went to Rome. Other than that, it's a forgettable movie.

The story has an interesting idea, but it's not acted out well. The way spouses react when their mates are killed is unbelievable. Namely, they hardly react at all. Moreover, there is no suspense whatsoever in the killings. People are just suddenly killed or end up dead or end up missing. The reason for the killings is also not the highly interesting complex motive the film makes it out to be.

Every time this movie used to re-air on late night TV in the late 70s and early 80s I would always make time to sit in front of the TV and watch it. To see the lovely Kate Jackson, handsome Richard Long, the "great" Polly Bergen whom I've never seen anywhere else except for this TV movie, the endearing Tom Bosley, and another "great" whom I've never seen outside this movie, Celeste Holme. This is truly the love boat on a cruise to murder and mayhem and boy was it ever good!! And every time I would watch it I would always forget who the real murderer was.

As expected, someone here is already criticizing the movie as if that really is a big help to anyone. This is a great TV movie and worth watching each and every time. I can't say that about half the movies I've seen this month.

If you ever get a chance to watch it on TV someday, which isn't likely, watch it. In light of "The Girl Most Likely To" finally coming out this year on DVD, maybe there's hope for a DVD release of "Death Cruise."

"Death Cruise" (1974) is one of those nice little mysteries that follows the tradition of "Ten Little Indians" and Agatha Christie. The story follows three couples (one old, one middle age, and one young) who have seemly won a free cruise from the same contest that none of them can remember entering (never an encouraging sign in this type of movie). And sure enough, faster than you can say Sherlock Holmes, they quickly discover that it was all a ruse to get them on board as one by one, they all begin to meet their ends at the hands of a murderer. The one hope that might save them comes in the form of the ship's good doctor, Dr. Burke (Michael Constantine) who takes on the role of the amateur detective very competently. All of the actors play their parts very well, with Tom Bosley and Cheleste Holm as the older couple who are struggling to find their way now that their children are all grown up, Richard Long as a philandering husband and Polly Bergen as his poor wife, along with Edward Albert and Kate Jackson as a young couple just starting out, and Cesare Danova as the ship's captain. All of this, plus an enormous twist ending that Alfred Hitchcock himself might have appreciated, make this a nice pleasant movie to watch, especially if you like to dream of a simpler time, like the 70s. Catch it on you tube sometime. 8 out of 10.

Yes, for the last three years, this has been my favorite movie. It never fails to intrigue me, no matter how many times I've watched it. I first watched it solely because of Kate Jackson, but came back every time for the rest of the cast and their wonderful performance. Is it the most exciting, thrilling movie? No, but I believe it holds its own very well. It will always hold a special place in my heart reserved for the films I've watched.

It's About Time "Kate Jackson" got her credit for this film.., i can remember watching it & trying to understand it on TV.., my grandmother lay in bed dying from cancer & i was barely 15. i didn't find out till years later that Richard long had died tho.., i miss him on the other shows/movies he was in.

I have a copy of the VHS tape still but it's NOT "CC'd" or Closed Captioned for the Hearing Impaired & thats the ONLY flaw in the movie that i can remember or know of to date.., i haven't been able to find a DVD or VHS copy that has sub-titles in English even. If someone out there knows of either copy on VHS or DVD thats CC'd or has English sub-titles please let me know.

thanks - Cofffeenut

An all-star cast in a Aaron Spelling TV film. Still have Kate Jackson from "The Rookies" at the time. In the last TV movie, she was with future "Charlie's Angels" co-star Cheryl Ladd. This time she has Edward Albert playing her husband. Future "Happy Days" star, Tom Bosley is in the movie. The movie starts out with couples getting a all- expense paid cruise. By a non-existent company. The couples are being killed off one by one. And they have one thing in common, life insurance.

It was a good TV film, but sadly it was actor, Richard Long's final appearance since "The Big Valley". The movie launched "The Love Boat", years later.

2 out of 5 stars.