Film Flam

Thirty-five years ago, a famous director was working on a movie when he died. Now, recently, a copy of this unfinished movie has been discovered and the studio is planning on finishing it and releasing it. They anticipate they'll make many millions on this film. And, as you'd expect, Jessica Fletcher just happens to be there. And, as you'd ALSO expect, someone is killed. Can Jessica figure out this crime. And, what about the OTHER crime going on at the same time?

This is a generally good episode of "Murder, She Wrote". The ending, however, seemed weak, as the killer's identity seemed to come out of no where and they weren't a major character in the show. Worth seeing...but far from a great episode from the series.

A studio are busy restoring a movie, and planning to re release it, however, bootleggers are keen to get hold of it, and willing to pay handsomely for it. Murder strikes at The Studio, but Jessica is on hand.

The saying less is more seems appropriate here somehow, if only they'd stuck with the film thread, that worked, some of the sub plots just don't work.

Some really nice ideas here, some really cracking ideas, the trouble with them, is that they don't particularly gel with one another, it's just a little. It messy.

Not the most difficult one to solve, quite easy to work out who, the why follows later on.

It looks great, I loved the sets and various items of Hollywood memorabilia draped around the place. What did make me chuckle the whole way through, was that mobile phone, he could have had someone's eye out.

Great to see John Astin, what a lovely actor.

6/10.

John Astin makes his first "MSW" appearance as Hollywood studio staffer Ross Hayley in Season One, before appearing as Real Estate Agent Harry Pierce in three Cabot Cove episodes during Season Two. Some ten years later, he returns as Hollywood Director Fritz Randall in this episode.

Kim Darby makes her first series appearance also in Season One, and now returns as Joan Kemp, a former child star at Monolith Studio, who arrives on the lot for festivities surrounding a film premiere.

Mike Connors guest stars in the second of his three "MSW" roles, this time as Monolith Studio Producer Boyce Brown, who shows the ropes to his daughter, Elaine Brown (Stacy Edwards), aspiring to follow in her famous father's footsteps.

Kerrie Keane returns in her second "MSW" role, this as Audrey Young, Assistant Producer, who welcomes Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to Monolith Studio, in Hollywood, at which production of an adaptation of her latest Mystery is scheduled to begin filming, but delayed by production of a different perceived blockbuster, which encounters one difficulty after another.

James Caviezel, in an early career role, marks his one "MSW" appearance here, as striving actor Darryl Harding, who stows away onto a vacant set to reside beneath tables and live off of ketchup soup and whatever refreshments he is able to discover, in his hopes of carving a niche in acting.

Darryl eventually befriends Elaine Brown, who stands beside him even though he has a knack for disappearing suddenly, after witnessing evidence of film piracy on the set.

Carson Robbins (Richard Libertini), Hank Duncan (William O'Leary) and his steady, Barbie Lippin (Cali Timmins), Manheim (Howard French) and Lloyd Nader (Justin Lord) seem to form the center of the film piracy conspiracy, putting Darryl into danger from more than one source.

Scotty the Security Guard (Rick Dano) launches on the trail after Darryl, while Elaine and Jessica are convinced of his innocence.

But the plot thickens and takes various turns after a victim is poisoned, leading Lieutenant Gabriel Caceras (Gregory Sierra, in his third appearance in the role, and his sixth of six overall "MSW" episodes) and Jessica on the trail of homicide suspects and "Film Flam" artists.

This episode marks the television debut performance for Paulo Andrés, as Delivery Boy, and the last appearance to date for Howard French.

Homicide plagues the release of a restored movie, and Jessica investigates the current crime and the 1960 murder that prevented the original release. Another of those film-set murders, and this isn't a bad one. Just a little mediocre in places, but gets better towards the end.

The plot here was intriguing, but a bit too scattered. We have an unfinished film from 30 years before suddenly finished. It had remained unfinished because the director died while it was being made.

We have his surprise adopted daughter show up to claim ownership of the film.

We have a mysterious young man who seems to appear and disappear from nowhere.

We have the possibility of a movie bootlegging operation getting access to finished reels and dubbing to bootlegged VHS tapes. Yes, that was THAT far back. LOL

We have a former child star trying to make a comeback.

And then we have the expert on the murdered director suddenly murdered himself ... at the screening of the completed film.

This is simply too many subplots for an hour-long screenplay to properly support, and it doesn't. Nothing much is really made of the appearing and disappearing man (Jim Caviezel). The bootlegging operation is never really tied to the murder, though it would have been easy to do so.

However, I watched the episode because of Mike Conners, as I was a big Mannix fan. He never disappoints, and his scenes with Angela Lansbury are a delight.

And my tried-and-true method of determining the killer worked yet again. Find the big-name guest start with no other good reason for appearing in the episode. LOL.