Made-for-tv movies, in their heyday, were a very hit or miss thing. Most were boilerplate weekly entries with limited budgets and were quickly forgotten.
But some, a handful of them, were excellent, as good as anything else you'll see either at the movies or on TV. And some of those have had remarkable staying power, still available either on DVD or streaming. The two Richard Chamberlain entries; Count of Monte Christo and The Man in the Iron Mask come to mind, or Elizabeth Montgomery's excellent portrayal of Lizzie Borden, Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black. And several others.
Death Takes a Holiday is among that group, it's an extremely well done remake of the classic Frederic March film which itself was based on a play. It's better than you have any right to expect for a tv movie and boasts some big names (at the time) including Myrna Loy and Yvette Mimieux and veteran tv actor Monte Markham. All are superb in their roles and turn in top notch performances.
I've only seen this movie twice; when it was first broadcast and then once in the 80's when it was rerun. Sadly, unlike the movies mentioned above it then disappeared. It's not available anywhere that I can find and I've looked because I've never forgotten it and would love to watch it again. Yes the golden age of made-for-tv movies was very much a hit or miss affair, Death Takes a Holiday was one of the hits and deserves to be re-released.
Note; it was remade, after a fashion, in the 90's as Meet Joe Black starring Brad Pitt. In my opinion a weak, poorly written and poorly acted "remake" though only the premise is the same, the plot is completely different. It's a movie that's best forgotten. The 70's version is vastly superior.
