Death Takes a Holiday (1971)
#1805
Viewing Date: 2-22-2006
Posting Date: 7-22-2006
Directed by Robert Butler
Featuring Yvette Mimieux, Monte Markham, Myrna Loy
Death (under the name David Smith) falls in love with the daughter of a Senator.
At the time of this writing, this TV-movie version of the Fredric March classic is sitting with the exact same rating as the original version on IMDB; there's no doubt that it has its strong admirers. I suppose it deserves them, as this remake is not a disgrace; it has an honest interest in the issues of life, death, and they way we human beings deal with them. It's worst problem is that in its attempt to be timely (references to Vietnam, talk about the ecology), it ends up dating itself even more than the one from four decades earlier. Nevertheless, I will always prefer the earlier version, simply because I will by my very nature prefer the moody tension of that movie to the sweet blandness of this one, a quality that is probably due simply to its being a TV-Movie, a form that rarely works well with me. Nor do I care much for the fact that this movie seems filtered through a LOVE STORY sensibility, and for those who prefer it that way. they're welcome to this one. Me, I'm just glad that I don't have problems with movies that are in black and white.
#1805
Viewing Date: 2-22-2006
Posting Date: 7-22-2006
Directed by Robert Butler
Featuring Yvette Mimieux, Monte Markham, Myrna Loy
Death (under the name David Smith) falls in love with the daughter of a Senator.
At the time of this writing, this TV-movie version of the Fredric March classic is sitting with the exact same rating as the original version on IMDB; there's no doubt that it has its strong admirers. I suppose it deserves them, as this remake is not a disgrace; it has an honest interest in the issues of life, death, and they way we human beings deal with them. It's worst problem is that in its attempt to be timely (references to Vietnam, talk about the ecology), it ends up dating itself even more than the one from four decades earlier. Nevertheless, I will always prefer the earlier version, simply because I will by my very nature prefer the moody tension of that movie to the sweet blandness of this one, a quality that is probably due simply to its being a TV-Movie, a form that rarely works well with me. Nor do I care much for the fact that this movie seems filtered through a LOVE STORY sensibility, and for those who prefer it that way. they're welcome to this one. Me, I'm just glad that I don't have problems with movies that are in black and white.
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"A maniac with a lot of knowledge is a threat!"
"A maniac with a lot of knowledge is a threat!"
