Not only is the firm in bad shape, the once wealthy Jarvis is broke. When he asks his boss, Malcolm Jarvis (Richard Gaines), for a raise, he’s shocked to learn he’s being fired after 12 years. Sam Wilson (played by Jeffrey Lynn) is a loving father and husband who is having trouble making ends meet in his job as an assistant bookkeeper. In fact, the plot borders on being so ludicrous – a despondent man will pay an employee to make his suicide look like a murder – that it almost overshadows the fact that the film is a solid mystery yarn. “Strange Bargain” certainly lives up to its title. Still, I recommend seeing “Strange Bargain” simply because it’s an easy to watch film and you’ll be more invested in the Wilson family, the main protagonists. Original film clips and new black and white footage told the original story in flashbacks and did it so well that you don’t need to watch the movie to understand the episode. Jeffrey Lynn, left, Martha Scott and Harry Morgan in the film “Strange Bargain.”įrom there, a few characters were added or had their storylines extended to provide more details for Jessica. The film had a tidy conclusion that would have to be ignored so Jessica would have a mystery to solve, but everything else was there including the three main stars – Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn and Harry Morgan. It was a time-consuming task that would take nearly a year until Fischer found “Strange Bargain.” He needed a mystery that Jessica Fletcher could solve plus living cast members from the film who would be willing to reprise their roles year later. “If only I could find an old movie where everyone was still around, then we could solve the case 30 years later,” he said in the article.įischer started by sifting through hundreds of films. Those two factors – new storytelling and classic Hollywood – combined to give Fischer an idea. The show had also gained a reputation for its notable collection of guest stars from the classic film era, thanks to their relationships with star Angela Lansbury. Let’s break it down into three important parts: how the idea came to be, the film and how it all came together on “Murder, She Wrote.”Īlthough “Murder, She Wrote” was only in its third season at the time, the producers were already looking for “a new way to tell a story,” according to a 1987 interview with Executive Producer Peter Fischer in the Los Angeles Times. That ingenious idea of basing an episode off a classic film makes “The Days Dwindle Down” worthy to be in the 7 th annual “Favourite TV Episode” blogathon hosted by Terence Towles Canote from his blog, “A Shroud of Thoughts.”
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