An unusual topic--even for a TV movie-of-the-week--but the plot itself is pure soap
Cloris Leachman, wire-drawn and over-anxious (but with glossy, flowing blonde hair), plays a somewhat-unhappily married woman in her 30s who learns she's four months pregnant...but the fetus may in danger after Leachman's husband discloses he had a fling with a 20-year-old cashier and contracted syphilis. Non-exploitative TV movie doesn't delve at all in the treatment involved; it does, however, include the usual statistics which come with the territory (here, the VD numbers arrive courtesy of a polite County Health Department worker, who keeps popping up like a detective-saint). As Cloris's husband, James Olson is so angst-ridden that one begins focusing on the throbbing veins in his temples rather than on his performance, but Kenneth Mars (Leachman's co-star the year prior in "Young Frankenstein") is solid in a surprising dramatic role that adds a much-needed twist to the story.
- moonspinner55
- Jan 11, 2015