Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) Danse Diabolique (1992) User Reviews

Three Things of Which Jessica Would Never Get Enough-- No, Four

[WeatherViolet · 9/10 · 1 December 2009]

Geoffrey Presser (Daniel Pilon) headlines a very nice looking cast, as he produces his San Francisco, California, based Ballet company, starring elegant and graceful premiere ballerina Claudia Cameron (Marisa Berenson), who, together with Geoffrey, shares a strong professional rapport in spite of their past divorce.

Trouble for the ballet troupe comes in the form of snippy young Lily Roland (Nancy Valen), who pulls all the stops to attempt to usurp Claudia's star in Geoffrey's dance company, going as far as to fling insults right and left amid cast and crew to shine in a revival of a cursed ballet "Danse Diabolique," which has been performed in Moscow to the audience of a Czarina, and in Paris, to be documented on film, with either long-past presentation overshadowed by the mysterious death of its leading ballerina.

Barry Carroll (Stephen Nichols) shares a romantic past with Lily, who now shuns the advances of this stagehand for the fame of the limelight.

Damien Bolo (Robert Torti) prepares to co-star with Lily in the theatric presentation of "Danse Diabolique," he receiving eleven roses from a "secret admirer" beforehand, or perhaps a dozen with one missing, to be used as a potential murder weapon, by poisoning its thorns.

Edward Hale (Adrian Paul) prepares for his role in the ballet as the character of Death, who rehearses in costume, to enter the stage from the basement via elevator, while hoisting a skull, to fend against the lead ballerina.

It is to experience this well-choreographed but doomed revival that Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) arrives in San Francisco to attend, to experience with her dear friend Claudia Cameron, who finds herself exiting Jessica's company in the mezzanine section in advance of the curtain calling.

As the curtain opens, "Danse Diabolique" proceeds gracefully and without a hitch except, perhaps, for the murder which occurs on stage before a frightened audience.

Jessica, naturally, rushes to center stage as the curtain draws to a close, to begin her investigation along with SFPD Lieutenant Martin Kinicki (Ernie Lively) and Sergeant O'Connor (Mark Costello).

During the course of this resulting investigation, Jessica remarks to Lieutenant Kinicki, "There are three things which you cannot get enough of: friends, chocolate and the theatre."

Well, during the course of this series, Jessica seems to gravitate toward a fourth possibility: her seemingly evident passion for not being able to resist a murder investigation or two or three....

The cast is rounded out by Lindy Nisbet as Florist Shop Clerk, Jenna Elfman as Ballet Dancer in background, Anthony Gordon as Backer, and Joel Weiss as Delivery Boy.

This episode marks one of the last roles for Anthony Gordon, who has been acting since 1975.

Emotions run high - so does murder

[coltras35 · 9/10 · 3 June 2022]

Jessica Fletcher's suspicions are aroused when a prima ballerina dies during a performance of a Russian ballet rumoured to be cursed. This is an solidly intense episode full of the usual conflict and drama - Nancy Valen ( a hottie) plays an upcoming young ballerina who manipulates her way up to the lead role, leaving a lot of her fellow team disgruntled. Que: poison through her hand via a needle. How? Jessica figures it out.

The politics of the dance.

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 April 2018]

As this particular episode is based in San Francisco I'm surprised that Jessica Fletcher doesn't get her good friend insurance investigator and former cat burglar Dennis Stanton involved. Keith Michell really belongs in this story.

While Angela Lansbury is doing a book tour she runs into some old friends from the ballet. Adrian Paul's company will be performing the Danse Diabolique a ballet written for the Czar's mistress back in the day. Twice it has been performed and twice the lead ballerina was killed.

That makes no never mind to young ballerina Nancy Valen who schemes her way into the lead elbowing aside Paul's wife Marisa Berenson a popular but aging star. Then Valen is killed during the performance and of course it's Angela Lansbury who figures out both the how and the why. Not that there was any shortage of suspects among the ballet company.

A very good story, but Dennis Stanton should have been there.

A long way from "diabolique"

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 23 October 2017]

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Danse Diabolique" is not just a strong contender for the best episode of Season 8 but is also among my favourite ever 'Murder She Wrote' episodes. Have seen it quite a few times, and it never fails to be so much fun and with its fair share of suspense. It never fails to surprise either, sure the killer wasn't a huge shock to me on first viewing (though it isn't glaringly obvious, it just wasn't quite one of those left-floored ones) but this didn't matter because it was still a clever solution and the suspects list is a long one which always helps not making things obvious.

The mystery is incredibly compelling for all the above reasons, as well as the conflict revolving around one of the show's nastiest ever victims and one of the show's cleverest murders. Loved the incorporation of the ballet, which was beautifully choreographed and the music reminiscent of Tchaikovsky (like a re-do of the "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture") is outstanding, some of the show's best use of music.

Angela Lansbury can't be faulted and of a great supporting cast Nancy Valen, enjoying herself immensely, and Marisa Berenson, looking gorgeous, are especially excellent.

Production values are high in quality as to be expected, with slick photography and a great setting that has so much colour and fun but also an equal amount of character tension under the surface. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.

Writing is tight, thought-provoking and typically amiable and the characters and chemistry are good fun.

In summation, fantastic and a 'Murder She Wrote' high point. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Lots of style, with some substance.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 24 September 2023]

Jessica is on hand to order assistance to a ballet company, who bravely decide to perform the danse diabolique, a show that's only been performed twice before, in which both leading ballerinas died, could lightning strike for a third time?

A solid episode, for me this is one of the weaker episodes from series 8, but the standard is such that it's still a pretty good watch.

Nice staging, and good visuals, this one boasts a very attractive cast, and makes good use of them, it's a very appealing episode visually. I enjoyed the stage performances scenes, and with some clever camera work, they made it look convincing.

The issue I had, it was too easy to guess the killer and murder weapon, one you could spot a mile off.

Chocolate, friends and the theatre? Jessica has two out of three right, I'd argue with her third choice.

Why on Earth does Jessica put on an accent to the woman in the florists, it made absolutely no sense at all.

6/10.

Painfully obvious killer and victim and a shaky means of killing

[FlushingCaps · 2/10 · 18 March 2023]

We open with views of a 60+ year-old movie of a ballet where there are three figures-a man, a woman and a man in a costume to represent the devil who waves a skull around. It is a silent movie and there is a live narrator, it turns out, in a room with several people viewing. Our heroine Jessica is one of the viewers. We are hearing about this ballet which was only performed twice, including over a hundred years ago, and each of the two times, the female lead dancer died shortly after the performance.

Jessica asks about the lady in the film and is not surprised to hear she died from a heart attack because she observed her motions on the film where her left arm seemed to bother her-and one time she even grasped at it with the right hand. That suggested a heart attack to Jessica. I might have thought the lady had just gotten a mosquito bite on her shoulder-where she tried to grab, but...

Anyhow, Jessica is in San Francisco, once again, and the group is being told about this ballet by the head of a ballet company, struggling for funds, who wants to become the third group to perform this ballet and the head man's wife, a longtime ballet dancer has volunteered to play the lead role without fear that she will die.

Like most TV show/movie/play troupe Jessica encounters, there are the usual infidelities, scheming performers, financial woes, and double dealings going on in this group. I won't deeply detail all that went on-others have done so earlier.

I am putting in this review because I am stunned to see so many positive reviews. Here are the problems I have with this episode. First-it has us sit through too many ballet-dancing scenes that are too long.

Second-the person who became the victim was another totally obvious victim almost from the moment we me this person.

Third-the killer was the first one you would figure-either with or without having seen other episodes of this series. The motive was probably the most common one used in all murder mysteries.

Fourth-the means of the murder, once we learn how the victim was actually killed, leaves virtually no doubt as to the identity of the murderer.

Fifth-without giving away the details, the victim could easily have not happened to do the single act that led to death. You might say it is akin to a setup where the victim walks across a carpet in a large room to get to a window and to be killed steps on a small button under the carpet causing an explosion. Understand that is not what happened here, but the likelihood of someone happening to place their foot on that small button in my scenario is much like the method in which this murder was committed in the show. It's a rather risky way to kill someone because they could easily have "missed" the mark.

Sixth-most of this episode takes place before the murder was committed-I think it was close to 35 minutes not counting commercials. By the time we had a murder, the show was nearly over.

Seventh-the whole notion that this dance is somehow "cursed" because one dancer died from a heart attack after doing it on film and one other decades earlier also happened to die after performing in this ballet is, of course, ludicrous. Three people dying for no apparent reason in a span of a few years would still not mean there's a curse, but at least you'd understand why some people would think so.

If I loved ballets I would only give this show one more star point than I do. That is the smallest of my complaints about this episode. There just wasn't much to enjoy for me primarily because the murder came way too late, the victim and killer seemed obvious, and the means of committing murder seemed to rely too much on the victim's bad luck. So I settle for a 2.

Not one of the stronger episodes.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 12 February 2023]

There are a few things about "Danse Diabolique" that did not appeal to me. First, the plot idea is pretty silly....that a ballet called 'Danse Diabolique' is supposedly cursed and folks who dance it, die! This is silly...but also makes you wonder why anyone would take this risk. Second, a LOT of the episode consisted of ballet...which some will love and some will hate. I'm certainly not a fan and wanted to see more of Jessica Fletcher.

The ballet in San Francisco is going to perform this cursed dance. But it's pretty clear that the lady doing the dance will soon die, as she's awful and uses people (subtle, she isn't). And so, when she dies on opening night, this isn't much of a surprise. Jessica and the local detective work the case together.

If you love ballet, you'll likely appreciate this more than I did. But even if you do, the idea of a toxic dance is hard to believe...and make for a weak episode.