A truly Unique format!!!

[mrsl]

I don't know if I mentioned this show before, because I know I saw it back when I first realized I was getting the Hallmark Channel - A very different episode of Murder She Wrote.

Martha Scott's husband has been framed for murder and spent 30 years in prison. Finally when he gets out, Martha asks Jessica to look into the case. The unique part is, there are flashbacks to the original movie in B&W. I don't know who played the part of the husband, but Harry Morgan is the detective who arrests him as prime suspect, and Patrick Wayne is the son of the murdered man. It's interesting to see these actors as they were in their prime and again 30 years later, with their grey hair, and thick glasses. It was a cool method to use.

Anne

[Ollie]

I haven't watched a lot of these episodes when they came out, but enjoyed them when I did.

What an interesting idea for flashbacks, though.

[jdb1]

Actually, friends, I'm sure it's been done before. I'd have to do a little research about that, but I seriously doubt that Murder, She Wrote was the first program to use old footage of its stars as flashback material. TV is much too cheap, unimaginative and corner-cutting in its production values not to have used that gimmick before, especially if the studio that produced the TV show also produced the old film, or if said film is in the public domain. What makes it rare is the concept of the actors being willing to be seen "then" and "now" in the same show. In years past it wasn't likely many actors would have been willing to stand up to the comparison.

[Dewey1960]

Hi Judith -
I could be mistaken, but I believe this technique was used in an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE called "The 16mm Shrine" starring Ida Lupino as a fading movie star. I'd have to go back and check it out to make absolutely certain, but I seem to recall it that way.
Here's a short clip from that episode, which unfortaunately does not utilize the technique, but might jog some memories about it.
[youtube][/youtube]

[jdb1]

That's at least one, Dewey. I'm having fuzzy memories of something that involved William Shatner (or someone like Shatner) "then and now"; and something else involving another male star - - - - can't put my finger on it, but it will probably pop into my head two days from now, at 4 AM, as such things tend to do with me.

(And what about the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Tribbles" flashback episode? Was that before, or after, or contemporaneous with, Murder, She Wrote?)

By the bye - New York Magazine used to have contests for readers where you were invited to submit funny entries on various subjects. One contest involved the re-naming of popular movies, TV shows or books, but the change should be only a slight one. One entry was "Murder, She Word-Processed." I can't think of that show any more without re-titling it.

[movieman1957]

Can you imagine some 12 year old looking at the opening credits and asking what that thing is? (What's a typewriter?)

Think of all the things we never had that our kids couldn't imagine their lives without. (Wimps.)

[Ayres]

You'll sometimes see this with photographs, too. Isn't there a sequence in On Golden Pond in which Jane Fonda (or someone) is viewing old photos of her parents in the movie, and you see a young Kate Hepburn and a young Hank Fonda together, thanks to photo retouching (no Photoshop, then!).

I know that in The Pleasure of His Company, Fred Astaire's character is looking at a wall of photos of his daughter Debbie Reynolds, from whom he has been estranged for years. A couple of the pictures, shown in longshot, are pictures of Astaire with his actual daughter.

[mrsl]

If the technique was used before, it was on a show I didn't watch. The Star Trek tribbles episode was Star Trek on Star Trek, so I wouldn't count that. What surprised me about the Murder She Wrote show was that approximately half of the hour show was the movie sequences. It wasn't just a flashback, it actually used scenes from the movie as what happened leading up to the the 30 year old murder. In other words they were early scenes in the program, in fact, the first 10 minutes was in B&W, went to color, back to B&W, went to color, etc.

It just seemed different to me, not flashbacks, but part of the show.

Anne

[melwalton]

Hi, Dewey.
I liked the clip of Lupino; thank you.
Is that the one where she went into a movie she was watching? A la 'Purple Rose of Cairo" If so, she'd be in her mid forties at that time, and still a knockout. Always nice to see Lupino. .... mel

[Dewey1960]

Hi Mel - Yes, I believe that was the gist of that episode; it's been years since I've seen it. And yes, she was definitely still a knock-out in her 40s.

[Mr. Arkadin]

She was also a guest villian on the Batman TV show. Here's a link where she makes her preferences pretty plain: