Some years ago there was a Hollywood remake of Clouzot's LES DIABOLIQUES which, as so often happens, fell flat on its face. The story has been filmed at least three times since the 1955 French classic and there have been several uncredited ripoffs. Hitchcock himself had tried to buy the rights after the success of VERTIGO by the same authors. When it turned up as an ABC movie-of-the-week directed by John Badham (before he hit the big time with SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER) the portents were not particularly good. However, Badham does a fine job and is content to let the story speak for itself without trying to add to it - which was fatal to the later big screen remake. Where the film scores heavily is that it has the services of two terrific actresses - Joan Hackett and Tuesday Weld. Sam Waterston is effectively unpleasant. Television it may be but it is excellent.
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| Reflection of Murder |
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