An insurance agent is seduced by a woman. She convinces him to sell her a huge policy on her husband...and then help her kill him so she can collect and live happily ever after with the agent. However, this great plan doesn't play out exactly as they'd anticipated when the husband and agent begin wondering whether or not they can trust their new co-conspirator.
The idea of remaking the classic 1944 version of this film is pretty pointless. After all, why remake a film that is considered a classic?! Yet, oddly, this is exactly what happened over the years. Consider that they made a sequel to "Gone With the Wind" and remakes of "High Noon" and musical versions of "Lost Horizon" and "Goodbye Mr. Chips"--and all of them totally stank. Why, oh why?! Perhaps they were easy and cheap to make and even if they were bad they were guaranteed a certain audience...but it still seems wrong to have done this.
Richard Crenna plays the part originally played by Fred MacMurray. Samantha Egger plays the part originally played by Barbara Stanwyck. And, Lee J. Cobb plays the part originally played by Edward G. Robinson. All of these are reasonably good actors...but certainly not up to the quality of the originals. What's worse, however, is that the original director (Billy Wilder) was a genius...yet here the film is helmed by 'Jack Smight'?!? And, they sped up the film a bit as well. Why?! Now if there never had been an earlier version of this film, then it would have been a made for TV movie that would have been worth seeing--one you'd probably remember. It IS good for what it is--because the original story was very good...but it's also too close to the original and offers nothing new or interesting. Overall, it's like the saying goes "you can't go back".
The idea of remaking the classic 1944 version of this film is pretty pointless. After all, why remake a film that is considered a classic?! Yet, oddly, this is exactly what happened over the years. Consider that they made a sequel to "Gone With the Wind" and remakes of "High Noon" and musical versions of "Lost Horizon" and "Goodbye Mr. Chips"--and all of them totally stank. Why, oh why?! Perhaps they were easy and cheap to make and even if they were bad they were guaranteed a certain audience...but it still seems wrong to have done this.
Richard Crenna plays the part originally played by Fred MacMurray. Samantha Egger plays the part originally played by Barbara Stanwyck. And, Lee J. Cobb plays the part originally played by Edward G. Robinson. All of these are reasonably good actors...but certainly not up to the quality of the originals. What's worse, however, is that the original director (Billy Wilder) was a genius...yet here the film is helmed by 'Jack Smight'?!? And, they sped up the film a bit as well. Why?! Now if there never had been an earlier version of this film, then it would have been a made for TV movie that would have been worth seeing--one you'd probably remember. It IS good for what it is--because the original story was very good...but it's also too close to the original and offers nothing new or interesting. Overall, it's like the saying goes "you can't go back".