Rehearsal for Murder

Dostoevsky is claimed to once have said that if a gun is seen in the first act of a play then it must be shot with by the third...

This was very true of "Rehearsal For Murder" a made for TV film back in the early 80's with a veteran and sterling cast - including a very angular and fresh-faced Jeff Goldblum, pre-Fly.

The man who carried the show was the late, great, inimitable Robert Preston - while known known to have been in some westerns in the 50s, he shone in the original film of "The Music Man," as he did in "The Last Starfighter" and still to my view Robert Preston earned the Oscar in Blake Edwards' version of "Victor, Victoria" with Alex Karras, Dame Julie Andrews and James Garner (perhaps Karras getting Best Actor In Supporting Role).

I digress, yet Robert carried the show as the aggrieved and lovelorn playwright Alex Dennison, who was convinced his fiancée - played by Lynn Redgrave - was in fact murdered and not a suicide as most folk thought in the movie.

In what appears to be a roleplaying manhunt of a whodunit by Preston/Dennison, you are given the impression he already knows who did the deed - or does he? William "St Elsewhere" Daniels, Patrick "The Avengers" MacNee and ex-Wiseguy alumni William Russ all executed their parts with intricate precision in this mystery that will have you turning every which way until the very last minute and even then you may not see where the plot is heading...

A very well-written script from Richard Levinson & William Link - with a long combined history of writing for hit series like "Murder She Wrote," "Columbo," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" then it's no mystery why this show if done as a book would be a sure-fire page-turner! http://tinyurl.com/3464k/

This has remained one of my favorite movies of all time. Written by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creators of "Columbo" and "Murder, She Wrote," the story takes place in an empty theater as playwright Alex Dennison stages an elaborate plan to reveal the truth behind his movie star fiancée's supposed suicide. Cast and crew from her first, and only stage play performance are gathered together a year after her death under the pretext of a reading of his new play. As the scenes are read, it becomes evident that Alex has an ulterior motive in inviting these people for this "rehearsal." When the group learns that Alex believes Monica was actually murdered, and that one of them is the prime suspect, it is only through various methods of duress that they reluctantly go along with his scheme. Very much like a stage play, each character is introduced, playing what seems to be a stock part: the ingénue yearning for stardom; the producer keeping his eye on the bottom line; the stage director trying to make a name for himself; the embittered ex-lover; the leading man with an eye for the ladies, and so on. At the center of the story, Robert Preston is perfect as the distinguished playwright who has suffered a tragic loss; determined to prove that the woman he loved was murdered. At times, you can't be certain that he hasn't simply gone over the edge in his grief.

Jeff Goldblum's face is the only one on the DVD cover, and although he was excellent playing the part of supporting actor Leo Gibbs, this movie truly is a shining example of ensemble performance, with great performances by William Daniels, Lawrence Pressman, Patrick Macnee, and Madolyn Smith. The only discordant note is Lynn Redgrave. Admittedly, playing a character that is only seen in flashbacks and manufactured scenes from a play, it is hard to get a sense of Monica Welles' true nature. Still, the movie was not so much about her, but rather about how others may have seen her from different perspectives, along with their possible motives.

There are many twists and turns, but the clues are there for anyone to see, especially in dialogue. The first and most notable one, is when Alex tells the group about his new play. "Unusual form, a mystery," Alex notes, "You take the audience by the hand, and you lead them... in the wrong direction. They trust you, and you betray them! All in the name of surprise." These words sum up the story perfectly and succinctly, and I'm glad I have the chance to give this movie a hearty recommendation.

Robert Preston plays a Broadway playwright who is just about getting over the death of Lynn Redgrave almost a year earlier. She was an actress involved with Preston who wrote a play for her in which she opened to mixed reviews. That night she went off her building roof and her death was ruled a suicide. Preston's never believed it though.

So he's gathered several friends and acquaintances though which include Lawrence Pressman, David Greene, Jeff Goldblum, Madolyn Smith, and William Daniels to read scenes from a new play he's written. Seems as though Preston has the flotsam and jetsam of a plot of a murder mystery that everyone discovers rather quickly is the plot of the murder of Redgrave the year before. Her death was ruled a suicide, but Preston never believed it.

He's borrowed from no less than the greatest playwright of all Master William Shakespeare who had Hamlet use that device to confirm his suspicions about Uncle Claudius. Preston's suspicions are confirmed, but the murderer is the last one you'd suspect.

This is a pretty good cast of players and they're quite up to the dialog that a clever script provides. Nothing special here, but nicely served up.

Whenever you see the names "Levinson" and "Link" in the writing credits, you can be assured of a well scripted, unique whodunit, with plot twists that would give Dame Agatha a run for her money.

" ... unusual form -- a mystery -- you take the audience by the hand and you lead them -- in the wrong direction." Those are the prophetic words of playwright Alex Dennison in this Levinson and Link play within a play, called "Rehearsal For Murder". Dennison (Robert Preston) reunites five show-biz friends, ostensibly to get feedback on his new mystery novel. The real reason for the reunion is to unmask the killer of Monica Welles, Dennison's fiancé, who was murdered a year earlier. Which of the five friends is the killer?

"Rehearsal For Murder" is a filmed stage play, which means that the emphasis is on the crafts of script and acting, both of which here are excellent, and production design which in this case is adequate. The multiple plot twists make the screenplay ingenious, if perhaps a little far-fetched. The entire cast gives a fine performance, though I must confess to a preference for Robert Preston, one of the most credible actors of all time.

There's no heavy duty "message" in this film, no special effects, no cinematic gimmicks. It's just an old-fashioned, entertaining murder mystery for viewers who like whodunits. I have long considered "Murder By Natural Causes" (1979) to be Levinson and Link's best work. But "Rehearsal For Murder" is not far behind.

... because the quality of the two halves is a bit uneven.

Playwright Alex Dennison (Robert Preston) is opening his Broadway play with his fiancée, Monica Welles (Lynn Redgrave), in the leading actress role. He wants it to be a success if only for her sake, and the audience loves the play, but the newspaper critics consider it a bust. After the play, Monica says she wants to be alone for the night, but later calls Alex and tells him to come right over. When Alex arrives, the police are there, with Monica apparently having jumped to her death from an upper story window. The authorities rule the death a suicide.

A year passes and Alex returns to the theatre scene with a rough draft of a new play. He wants to do a reading and invites five people who were part of or close to his last production, the one that failed and starred his fiancée. It soon becomes clear that this play is about the death of his fiancée, but in this play Monica is murdered. Alex states that Monica was murdered, and that this reading will reveal the culprit. When this comes to light all five decide to leave, saying that Alex has become obsessed, but there is a cop in the theatre who says he advises that they stay if only to humor Alex and put to rest his theory. And plus suspicion will fall on anybody who does leave. Complications ensue.

Now just about everything I wrote in the second paragraph above is not true, but it appears to be. The denouement is actually quite clever and, like I said, there is a pay-off if you stay until the end. Otherwise, give up on it midway and you'll just feel like your time has been wasted with some rather hammy and ham-fisted plot devices. I'd say the first half is about a 6/10, carried on the strength of the performers and the second half is about an 8/10.