With voices that could recite the most boring of text and enthrall the listener, Dame Judith Anderson and Elizabeth Ashley command everything going on, even when they are lost among a ridiculous plot. One of the great directors of vintage TV, George Schaefer, who had directed Anderson in probably half a dozen TV classics, is defeated by a messy plotline involving the supposedly dead father of Ashley and second wife Anderson (cast as one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world), and an obvious string of Russian criminals (led by Helmet Dantine) which is being investigated by federal agent David McCallum, who is not from U. N. C. L. E. In this film.
It's indicated that Ashley and Anderson hate each other, but they must put any resentment aside when Ashley visits her at the huge mountaintop castle she lives in. As great as they are, they are never given enough character development in the relatively short running time to make sense of most of the goings on. Both characters were potentially fascinating, so it's a let-down. The book by Catherine Gaskin seems to have been greatly edited to fill a 90 minute time slot. However, I'd watch Anderson and Ashley in anything, so at least for me it was far from a waste of time.
It's indicated that Ashley and Anderson hate each other, but they must put any resentment aside when Ashley visits her at the huge mountaintop castle she lives in. As great as they are, they are never given enough character development in the relatively short running time to make sense of most of the goings on. Both characters were potentially fascinating, so it's a let-down. The book by Catherine Gaskin seems to have been greatly edited to fill a 90 minute time slot. However, I'd watch Anderson and Ashley in anything, so at least for me it was far from a waste of time.
