Dying Room Only (1973/Warner Archive DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Telefilm: C+
Richard
Matheson is one of the masters of storytelling suspense, from his landmark
novel I Am Legend to his work on the
original Twilight Zone, to helping
put Spielberg on the map with Duel
and his scripts for the first two Night
Stalker TV movies with Darren McGavin among his many great works. One of the less seen is another TV movie of
note that Warner Bros. is finally releasing from its Lorimar holdings through
their on-line-only Warner Archive site (see note below) for the first time.
Cloris
Leachman (at the peak of her commercial and critical success in a very long and
enduring career) and Dabney Coleman (just before his long character actor
career led to a star career) are a married couple driving around in the desert
when they decide to stop for a bite to eat at a dilapidated diner run by an
unfriendly bartender (the great Ross Martin) with only a suspicious customer
(Ned Beatty in one of his darkest roles) who seems to be a regular. The service is bad, but the husband
eventually snaps at the men and gets what they want. Then he leaves the room and disappears,
leaving his wife to wonder where he is.
Have they nabbed him? Killed
him? Is she imagining things or is she
correct in her suspicions?
Formatted
to take advantage of commercial breaks to pump up suspense, this is not a bad
telefilm, but it has dated in odd ways (she does not have a cell phone, but
service could have been dead out there anyways) and Leachman has to carry the
film which lasts only 74 minutes (a typical length for TV movies at the time;
they rarely make them now or very well) leaving some details, developments and
other possibilities short. However, it
is worth a look, but I can see why only some of this stayed with me from the
original broadcasts and reruns.
British
journeyman Director Philip Leacock was well-known for begin able to deliver
fine, solid genre work and does a good job here, though with a cast and script
like this, it is hard to mess up. This
was the first Matheson-penned telefilm since Night Stalker and Night
Strangler set record ratings that held for over a decade, so this is why
all this top talent agreed to the project.
Those who like thrillers will want to catch it again, especially in such
a good copy. Dana Elcar, Louise Latham
and Ron Feinberg also star.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot in 35mm film and is a brand-new transfer with fine color,
detail and even depth considering the age of the program. Warner and Lorimar stored the original
materials well and now you can see once again how good older telefilms can
look. Director of Photography John M.
Stephens (Billy Jack, Blacula, The Fantastic Plastic Machine) boldly shoots the night scenes like
night in a feature film and that is one of the reasons this holds up so well
and does not date as much as it might otherwise have, making this the first
time most will see just how good his cinematography is here. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also very clean
and clear for its age, even when it shows its sonic limits. Charles Fox (Bug, reviewed elsewhere on this site) is known for his comedy and
even musical work, plus hit records (Killing
Me Softly With His Song, I Got A Name)
and many classic TV theme songs, but this is one of his rare dark scores and he
was just as great at them as his usual work.
There are no extras.
You can
order this and other Warner Archive releases at this link:
www.warnerarchive.com.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
