Candleshoe ( 1977 )

Michael Innes, who is best known for his novels featuring detective Sir John Appleby, was a prolific author for over fifty years ( 1930s-1980s ). In 1953, he penned a little book entitled "Christmas at Candleshoe" which Walt Disney Studios subsequently produced as a family motion picture in 1977. Like many book-to-film adaptations, the film barely resembles its source; but, judging from Goodreads reader's comments about the original book, this is to its credit. 

Candleshoe is the name of a beautiful Elizabethan estate in England. Its owner, Lady St. Edmund ( Helen Hayes ), has been searching for her long-lost granddaughter Margaret for many years and has had a number of imposters come forward claiming to be this girl, the heir to Candleshoe. 

Con-artist Harry Bundage ( Leo McKern ) discovers Casey ( Jodie Foster ), a tough-talking wayward teenager in Los Angeles who has all of Margaret's birthmarks in their proper places and sees in her his ticket to a fortune. Unlike other cons, his primary intention is not to collect any reward for "finding" Margaret, but rather to use Casey as an agent inside Candleshoe to hunt for the real treasure - Captain Joshua St. Edmund's buried pirate treasure. 

Candleshoe is a fun family film that combines a Disney-esque Jolly Ol' England charm with Hollywood's fascination for a good treasure yarn. Helen Hayes is delightful as the prim and proper Lady St. Edmund...one almost forgets that she is an American playing an Englishwoman. Yet, it is Sir David Niven who is given the juiciest role, that of Priory, the faithful butler. He has known for many years of Candleshoe's thread-bare financial situation and, being the loyal sort that he is, decides to keep this information from Lady St. Edmund and takes over all of the duties of the house singlehandedly. Using multiple disguises, he becomes the chauffeur, cook, gardener, and Lady St. Edmund's dear friend "the major" as well. 

Director Norman Tokar ( Leave it to Beaver ) had thirteen other Disney feature films under his belt by the time he made Candleshoe. He was excellent working with children and brought out great performances from Jodie Foster and the other child actors ( Veronica Quilligan, Ian Sharrock, Sarah Tamakuni, David Samuels ). The character of Casey was tomboyish and thoroughly selfish, and yet Jodie Foster still managed to make her quite likable. Through her experience at Candleshoe, Casey learns that by being self-reliant and skeptical of others during her youth, she missed out on the nurturing environment of a stable home life. She sees in Lady St. Edmund a surrogate grandmother and, in a tear-inducing finale, confesses that having others to love and care for is indeed better than looking out solely for oneself. 

Candleshoe was filmed on location in England in the beautiful town of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire where two personal favorites, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( 1968 ) and Murder Is Easy ( 1981 ) were also filmed. It is such a charming village and its proximity to Pinewood studios - where many Disney films were shot - made it ideal for location filming. 

Also in the cast is Vivian Pickles, John Alderson, Michael Balfour, and Sydney Bromley. 

A Caribbean Mystery ( 1983 )

"Mrs. Kendell had a knife??"

Why was Mrs. Kendell walking around with a knife? Mrs. Kendell herself certainly could not say. Indeed, the poor woman did not even realize that during one of her recent blackout spells a body had been discovered stabbed to death. This is just one of several murders that occur at the Golden Palm, a small resort in the West Indies that Miss Jane Marple checks into for a holiday.

Sunshine, fresh air, and plenty of rest are just what the doctor ordered for Miss Marple, and so she headed to the Caribbean only to discover mystery, mayhem, and murder awaiting her!

It all began with Major Palgrave.....

"Want to see a picture of a murderer?" he asks. While working on his memoirs, the Major offers to show an incriminating photograph to Miss Marple but then he suddenly recognizes one of the people at the resort as the face in the photo and quickly tucks it away. Shortly thereafter he dies of a "heart attack". Coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and the spinster from St. Mary Mead has solved enough crimes to recognize the signs of foul play. 

Among the many suspects are: Mr. and Mrs. Kendell, the proprietors of the resort ( Jameson Parker and Season Hubley ); "Lucky" and her husband ( Cassie Yates and Stephen Macht ), Mr. and Mrs. Hillingdon ( Beth Howland and George Innes ), Dr. Graham ( Brock Peters ), and that old tycoon Mr. Rafiel ( Barnard Hughes ). 

A Caribbean Mystery was a made-for-television production that aired on CBS on October 23, 1983. It was one of several Agatha Christie TV movies made by The Stan Margulies Company. It took Margulies three years to acquire the rights to convert Christie's novels into television features, and, once having obtained them, he was anxious to focus on the Miss Marple stories. After the success of the first Christie production Murder is Easy ( based on her 1939 mystery of the same name ), Margulies set to work on producing an adaptation of her 1964 novel "A Caribbean Mystery", which previously had not been filmed. 

Helen Hayes, the first lady of the American Theatre, took on the character of Miss Marple with her usual sweet command. She had a brief role in Murder is Easy but this was the first time she was cast as the famous senior sleuth. In spite of her spunky Americanization of the part, Agatha Christie fans adored her and she returned to the role two years later in Murder with Mirrors. 

Miss Marple is an elderly granny-type, who enjoys knitting and listening to bits of gossip when she can overhear it. Nobody suspects that she has a shrewd intellect and, therefore, she can go about her detecting unnoticed. Unlike Joan Hickson or Geraldine McEwan's interpretations of the character, Helen Hayes brilliantly nails this unsuspecting nature of Miss Marple. 

Christie's "A Caribbean Mystery" was praised when it was first published with crime-writer and reviewer Anthony Berkeley Cox exclaiming that the writer was back in her old form after a series of disappointing novels. "In 'A Caribbean Mystery' she tells the reader explicitly what is going to happen; and yet when it does, nine out of ten will be taken completely by surprise – as I was. How does she do it?"

Well, this television adaptation of the story receives praises among Agatha Christie fans too, and justly so. It stays true to her novel, meandering along at a gentle pace unraveling new layers of delightful puzzles as it progresses. The cast, while not particularly well known outside of their television work, are perfect in each part. Barnard Hughes is especially entertaining as the wheel-chair bound grouch Mr. Rafiel. The film added a hint of romance between him and Miss Marple which is another pleasant touch. 

For a respite from the approaching rainy autumn weather, sit back and enjoy the winning combination of sunshine and murder to be found in A Caribbean Mystery. 

This post is our contribution to the Agatha Christie Blogathon being hosted by Christina Wehner and Little Bits of Classics. Be sure to head on over to their sites to check out more posts about the famous mystery writer, her books, and the film adaptations of her work. 

Murder is Easy ( 1982 )

" The person in question is just the last person anyone would suspect. And so long as no one suspects you...murder is easy "

Who would dream that an English respite could lead to danger and romance? That is exactly what happened for Luke Williams in the television adaption of Agatha's Christies' 1939 novel, "Murder is Easy". Onboard a train en route to London, the visiting American computer analyst meets a little old lady who confesses to him her suspicions of a murderer in her village, along with the name of the next victim. "I feel certain Dr. Humbleby will be next!"  Soon after, she finds herself applied to the pavement in a most unladylike manner and, donning his deerskin hat, Luke sets off for Wychwood to warn Humbleby of his impending doom and unmask the culprit. 

Murder is Easy was originally released on January 2, 1982 on CBS. The television movie was one of several Agatha Christie productions ( A Caribbean Mystery, Sparkling Cyanide ), that producer Stan Margulies released in the 1980s. Negotiations for the rights to convert Christies' novels into TV features took three years and, once approved, Margulies immediately set to work in bringing the stories up to date to appeal to American audiences. 

Murder is Easy is headed by a stellar cast, featuring Bill Bixby in the lead role along with a slew of British stalwarts such as: Helen Hayes as Miss Fullerton, the little old lady; Lesley Anne Down as Bridget, the requisite love interest; Timothy West as Lord Easterfield, a man who is certain that God is pronouncing vengeance on his enemies; Jonathan Pryce as Ellsworthy, an antique dealer who deals in more than antiques; Olivia DeHavilland as Miss Waynflete, the clever neighborhood spinster; and Shane Briant, as the young needle-jabbing Dr. Thomas. A host of familiar English actors also have brief parts, notably Patrick Allen, Freddie Jones, Leigh Lawson and Anthony Valentine. Now what is the probability of finding a mystery with such a great cast?

Helen Hayes is delightful, but has a much too brief role as Miss Fullerton, the intrepid old gal on her way to confess a crime to Scotland Yard. With the inclusion of this film in the Agatha Christie Miss Marple DVD collection, some fans have mistakenly believed Murder is Easy to be a Marple mystery and found themselves in for a disappointment. Fullerton and Miss Marple share a lot in common however : Fullerton may have appeared to be a dotty old spinster but she had a keen eye for human nature and quickly recognized "that look in the killer's eye before striking". You see, after three times one knows. Alas, Miss Fullerton did not realize that the killer knew what she knew and the poor dear quickly becomes victim number four. 

"This story is quite strange," explained director Claude Whatham in the original publicity notes, "There is no murder at the beginning, just a number of unexplained deaths, which as far as our computer expert is concerned defies the laws of probability. So we have an air of menace, but without anyone to solve a murder. What I'm trying to get is something which is ordinary, but which looks slightly threatening. As far as the visual looks go, I would say it has the brightness you get before a thunderstorm. Everything looks idyllic, but it has an unreal quality about it. For the actors, there are two interpretations for what they do - one is normal, the other is slightly suspect."

Indeed, Whatham did a stellar job in keeping all of the characters looking suspicious. Every one of them has a plausible motive for killing and the available means. Luke Williams finds himself as baffled as the audience and turns to his "bread and butter", his trusty computer, to see if it can uncover the identity of the killer for him....but he finds it takes more than ram power to crack open this case.

The filming of Murder is Easy went underway on July 15, 1981 with the tennis match being the first scene filmed. Lesley-Anne Down had not held a racket since her school days but managed to pull off looking like a respectably good player. Down also was new to driving. She obtained her driver's license only a week prior to filming and, for one scene, was given a $70,000 Aston Martin to drive in keeping with her role as the lady of the manor - the manor being Ashe Manor, which was really filmed at Binfield Manor in Berkshire. 

The picturesque village of Wychwood was in fact the tiny hamlet of Hamleden, an old Roman settlement, with a population of only 150 inhabitants. The town boasts a Norman church, a pub, general store and butcher's shop, and that's about what we get to see in the film. Hambleden also appeared briefly in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Candleshoe.

Bill Bixby was delighted to be in England for the first time and took off during an afternoon lunch break to visit the nearby village of Bix, hoping it might be his ancestral home. It turned out to be a Roman named village, with "B IX" standing for Plot B Nine. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see much else of England except for some location driving.

Olivia de Havilland, who stems from an illustrious English family, was also happy to be on British soil and playing the role of an English lady, which oddly enough she had not yet done. She was also delighted to be performing with Helen Hayes, whom she had met only once before.

Helen Hayes arrived in London in a Concorde, flying for the first time in one with her young god-daughter. She was excited to be in London for the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and decided to stay after filming wrapped, to stand with the other tourists outside St. Paul's cathedral and get a glimpse of the preparations. 

The acting of all of these members is far from award-winning. Some of the dialogue is delivered with exaggerated emphasis, but somehow that makes screenwriter Carmen Culver's lines all the more memorable because of it. Who can forget such remarks as "Amy, we're wanting tea!" or "I'm beginning to remember now why I don't get involved with people"?

Murder is Easy is a charming and absorbing whodunnit. It features lovely location filming, a grand cast, and a plot filled with twists and turns. Overall it is a perfect mid-summer mystery to be savored on a warm afternoon with your beloved Wonkey-Pooh and a cup of Earl Grey. 

This post is our contribution to the Agatha Christie Blogathon being hosted by Christina Wehner and Little Bits of Classics. It was published previously right here at Silver Scenes. Be sure to read more entries in the blogathon to learn about Dame Agatha Christie's life, her books, and the film adaptations of her books. Happy sleuthing!

TV/Movie Set : Herbie Rides Again ( 1974 ) - The Firehouse

Situated on a hilltop overlooking the city of San Francisco is the home of Mrs. Steinmetz. On the outside, it appears to be a vacant ramshackled tower, but on the inside it is a cozy home tastefully decorated and filled with happy memories.

Alonzo Hawk ( Keenan Wynn ) a ruthless real estate developer, wants to demolish this structure to plough the way for the foundation of his grandest building to date - Hawk Towers. He offers a generous buyout for Mrs. Steinmetz ( Helen Hayes ) but she will not sell her home to anyone, least of all to Hawk, who is simply intent on destroying it. Rallying around to support her is Nicole ( Stephanie Powers ) and Hawk's own nephew Willoughby ( Ken Barry ) but it is Herbie who saves the day when the firehouse becomes the target of Hawk's wrecking ball.

This is the plot to Herbie Rides Again, the 1974 Walt Disney sequel to its smash hit, The Love Bug. Unlike most sequels, the principal characters do not return in this film and so a new story had to be written around its one and only returning star - Herbie. Gordon Buford and Bill Walsh teamed up to weave this plot which made the Victorian firehouse the focal point of the film. 

It is in The Love Bug that we first see Engine House No. 3 as the garage where Herbie, the living Volkswagen, is kept and repaired on. Tennessee Steinmetz ( Buddy Hackett ) lives above this converted garage and, when he is not repairing on cars, he practices Buddhist spiritual enlightenment which contributed to his belief in the life of inanimate objects. 

Living with Tennessee is his friend Jim Douglas, a down-in-his-luck racer who later finds success on the track with the help of Herbie. To fulfill a long held dream of driving foreign race cars, Douglas eventually leaves San Francisco to tour Europe as a circuit racer. Tennessee journeyed off to Tibet to further his studies in Oriental philosophy but not before leaving his beloved Herbie and the engine house to his aunt, Mrs. Steinmetz. 

In its glory days during the late 1800s the firehouse was an operating branch of the San Francisco Fire Department. During the 1940s this Victorian painted lady was home to one of the city's finest firefighters - Captain Steinmetz. It was also at Engine House No. 3 that the Captain wed his beloved, Mrs. Steinmetz. 

We can assume that later, when the firehouse is about to become abandoned, Captain Steinmetz buys the engine house for nostalgia and it eventually passes into Tennessee's hands. 

The kitchen & dining room

The engine house is a lovely Victorian stick design and it was situated in a thriving community until Alonzo Hawk bulldozed the neighboring buildings. Living with Mrs. Steinmetz in the engine house is Nicole, her displaced neighbor, and a collection of other living objects that Herbie befriended over the years. These include an orchestrion and Old No. 22, a retired trolley car. 

The open foyer

Walt Disney's resident art director, John B. Mansbridge, was put in charge of redesigning the interior of the engine house that he had designed six years earlier for the making of The Love Bug. With the help of legendary art director Walter H. Tyler, he created a simple and cheerfully bright interior suitable to a fire chief's widow. 

Light wood paneling is abundant in Mrs. Steinmetz's abode and the floor is covered in old bricks. The stalls which most likely originally stored a chemical wagon, and later a fire engine, remain intact and act as a partition between the dining room and the living area.

Nicole resides with Mrs. Steinmetz at the firehouse but we are not shown her bedroom, however a brief glimpse of Mrs. Steinmetz's upstairs bedroom is seen when she is giving advice to Nicole on how to fetch a man. Note the brass firepole....it's a good thing Mrs. Steinmetz doesn't walk in her sleep! 

Handling the set decoration is Hal Gausman who also had a prolific 19-year career at the Walt Disney Studios. The set decor is very similar to the Biddles' stable interior in The Happiest Millionaire ( 1967 ) but, oddly enough, that wasn't one of Gausman's projects. 

In reality, Victorian interiors were generally very dark and depressing, but the art directors and set decorators of the Walt Disney films always took these painted ladies and gave them a bright colorful tone. A bold psychedelic poster in the kitchen and a few crocheted oven-mits are about the only elements in Engine House No. 3 that date the interior from being designed in the 1970s. 

The next time you take a gander at Herbie Rides Again, be sure to not overlook the timeless design of this converted firehouse and all the charming details that Hal Gausman included. It will almost make you want to restore a Number 3 engine house yourself! 

Murder is Easy ( 1982 )

" The person in question is just the last person anyone would suspect. And so long as no one suspects you...murder is easy "

Who would dream that an English respite could lead to danger and romance? That is exactly what happened for Luke Williams in the television adaption of Agatha's Christies' 1939 novel, "Murder is Easy". Onboard a train en route to London, the visiting American computer analyst meets a little old lady who confesses to him her suspicions of a murderer in her village, along with the name of the next victim. "I feel certain Dr. Humbleby will be next!"  Soon after, she finds herself applied to the pavement in a most unladylike manner and, donning his deerskin hat, Luke sets off for Wychwood to warn Humbleby of his impending doom and unmask the culprit himself. 

Murder is Easy was originally released on January 2, 1982, on CBS. The television movie was one of several Agatha Christie productions ( A Caribbean Mystery, Sparkling Cyanide ), that producer Stan Margulies released in the 1980s. Negotiations for the rights to convert Christie's novels into TV features took three years and, once approved, Margulies immediately set to work in bringing the stories up to date to appeal to American audiences. 

Murder is Easy is headed by a stellar cast, featuring Bill Bixby in the lead role along with a slew of British stalwarts such as Helen Hayes as Miss Fullerton, the little old lady; Lesley Anne Down as Bridget, the requisite love interest; Timothy West as Lord Easterfield, a man who is certain that God is pronouncing vengeance on his enemies; Jonathan Pryce as Ellsworthy, an antique dealer who deals in more than antiques; Olivia DeHavilland as Miss Waynflete, the clever neighborhood spinster; and Shane Briant, as the young needle-jabbing Dr. Thomas. A host of familiar English actors also have brief parts, notably Patrick Allen, Freddie Jones, Leigh Lawson, and Anthony Valentine. Now what is the probability of finding a mystery with such a great cast?

Helen Hayes is delightful but has a much too brief role as Miss Fullerton, the intrepid old gal on her way to reveal her suspicions to Scotland Yard. With the inclusion of this film in the Agatha Christie Miss Marple DVD collection, some fans have mistakenly believed Murder is Easy to be a Marple mystery and found themselves in for a disappointment. Fullerton and Miss Marple share a lot in common however: Fullerton may have appeared to be a dotty old spinster but she had a keen eye for human nature and quickly recognized "that look in the killer's eye before striking". You see, after three times one knows. Alas, Miss Fullerton did not realize that the killer knew what she knew and the poor dear quickly becomes victim number four. 

"This story is quite strange," explained director Claude Whatham in the original publicity notes, "There is no murder at the beginning, just a number of unexplained deaths, which as far as our computer expert is concerned defies the laws of probability. So we have an air of menace, but without anyone to solve a murder. What I'm trying to get is something which is ordinary, but which looks slightly threatening. As far as the visual looks go, I would say it has the brightness you get before a thunderstorm. Everything looks idyllic, but it has an unreal quality about it. For the actors, there are two interpretations for what they do - one is normal, the other is slightly suspect."

Indeed, Whatham did a stellar job in keeping all of the characters looking suspicious. Every one of them has a plausible motive for killing and the available means. Luke Williams finds himself as baffled as the audience and turns to his "bread and butter", his trusty computer, to see if it can uncover the identity of the killer for him....but he finds it takes more than ram power to crack open this case.

The filming of Murder is Easy went underway on July 15, 1981, with the tennis match being the first scene filmed. Lesley-Anne Down had not held a racket since her school days but managed to pull off looking like a respectably good player. Down also was new to driving. She obtained her driver's license only a week prior to filming and, for one scene, was given a $70,000 Aston Martin to drive in keeping with her role as the lady of the manor - the manor being Ashe Manor, which was really filmed at Binfield Manor in Berkshire. 

The picturesque village of Wychwood was in fact the tiny hamlet of Hamleden, an old Roman settlement, with a population of only 150 inhabitants. The town boasts a Norman church, a pub, general store, and butcher's shop, and that's about what we get to see in the film. Hambleden also appeared briefly in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Candleshoe.

Bill Bixby was delighted to be in England for the first time and took off during an afternoon lunch break to visit the nearby village of Bix, hoping it might be his ancestral home. It turned out to be a Roman-named village, with "B IX" standing for Plot B Nine. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see much else of England except for some location driving.

Olivia de Havilland, who stems from an illustrious English family, was also happy to be on British soil and playing the role of an English lady, which oddly enough she had not yet done. She was also delighted to be performing with Helen Hayes, whom she had met only once before.

Helen Hayes arrived in London in a Concorde, flying for the first time in one with her young god-daughter. She was excited to be in London for the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and decided to stay after filming wrapped, to stand with the other tourists outside St. Paul's Cathedral and get a glimpse of the preparations. 

The acting of all of these members is far from award-winning. Some of the dialogue is delivered with exaggerated emphasis, but somehow that makes screenwriter Carmen Culver's lines all the more memorable because of it. Who can forget such remarks as "Amy, we're wanting tea!" or "I'm beginning to remember now why I don't get involved with people"?

Murder is Easy is a charming and absorbing whodunnit. It features lovely location filming, a grand cast, and a plot filled with twists and turns. Overall it is a perfect mid-summer mystery to be savored on a warm afternoon with your beloved Wonkey-Pooh and a cup of Earl Grey. 

The Snoop Sisters ( 1974 ) TV Series

During the early to mid-1970s, mystery programs were all the rage on prime-time television, or at least hoped to be. Between 1970 and 1978, roughly fourteen primetime mystery shows were launched and eight promptly failed ( notably the excellent Ellery Queen ). 

Nevertheless, the mild hullabaloo during the decade and the success of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie in 1971 ( which featured different mystery movies once a week ) prompted the studio to create another mystery rotation series, The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. 

This series was launched in the autumn of 1971 and featured three new shows, Cool Million ( James Farentino ), Madigan ( Richard Widmark ) and Banacek. The only one of the series that managed to achieve even mild success was Banacek starring George Peppard as a suave Polish-American insurance claim bounty hunter. For the next season, three new shows were added in the "wheel" : Faraday and Company, Tenafly, and The Snoop Sisters featuring Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick as sister sleuths. 

At the sprightly age of 72, Helen Hayes, the first lady of the American stage, was given her very own starring television series. Hayes was no stranger to the tiny tube however, from 1950 on she was a frequent guest star on theatrical shows such as Robert Montgomery Presents, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Omnibus, and Playhouse 90. In one television episode of the The Great Dow Hour of Mysteries she even played another mystery writer turned sleuth ( in Mary Rogers Rinehart's The Bat, 1960 ).

Teaming up with Helen Hayes was that other legend of the silver screen, Mildred Natwick, who had made some eighty film and television appearances, as well as numerous stage appearances. Natwick and Hayes had  previously played together in a 1971 TV movie entitled Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate and it is probably because of their great partnership in this film that producers Leonard Stern ( Get Smart ) and Tony Barrett ( Mod Squad ) saw the potential for a mystery series featuring the two indomitable ladies. Helen Hayes was also fresh off of her Oscar win for Airport and was justly rewarded this prime part. 

The pilot episode, A Female Instinct, aired on December 16, 1972 and introduced us to the basic premise of the series : Ernesta and Gwendolyn Snoop, two famous mystery writers, one a widow, the other a spinster, turn detective to hunt down the killer of a faded movie star. Aiding them in their investigation ( and keeping them out of trouble ) is Barney ( Art Carney ), their combination chauffeur and bodyguard, and their nephew, police lieutenant Ostrowski, played by Bert Convy. 

For an unknown reason, after this initial pilot episode, Lou Antonio replaced Art Carney as Barney. In between puzzling out the crimes they came across, they also worked on snatches of their mystery novel, with Ernesta often getting moments of creative inspiration directly at the crime scenes. 

Only four episodes were made but they were hailed by critics and fans alike as engrossing who-dunnits and the fact that it featured two mature film stars as authors/amateur detectives was years ahead of its time. Later, Angela Lansbury made this formula popular in her series Murder She Wrote. 

The Snoop Sisters boasted some great guest stars such as Paulette Goddard, Walter Pidgeon, Joan Blondell, Bill Dana, Alice Cooper, Jill Clayburgh, Bernie Casey, Kurt Kasznar, Victor Buono, Steve Allen, Roddy McDowall, George Maharis, Greg Morris, and Vincent Price ( in one of the best episodes of the series - Black Day for Bluebeard ). 

In spite of being nominated for three primetime Emmys ( Mildred Natwick won for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series ), the show was cancelled before completing its first season. Its lackluster storylines were disappointing considering the talented script writers involved. Had the series been made by that dynamic duo Levison & Link, it would have certainly been a smashing sleuthing success and would have earned its place as one of the best mystery television programs of the 1970s.

Episodes

Corpse and Robbers ( Dec.19, 1973 )

Ernesta is surprised to get phone calls from an old friend, especially since he has been dead for many years. 

Fear is a Free Throw ( Jan.29, 1974 )

After a basketball player is poisoned by an antacid tablet given to him by Gwendolyn Snoop, she is accused of attempted murder. 

The Devil Made Me Do It ( March 5, 1974 )

During a murder investigation, the sisters uncover a satanist cult. 

Black Day for Bluebeard ( March 19, 1974 )

A washed-up horror movie icon is suspected of murdering his wealthy wife for the inheritance. 

This post is our contribution to the Big Stars of the Small Screen blogathon hosted by Aurora of How Sweet It Was. Be sure to check out all the other great writings on the major stars who found a home in the television set.