Don Murray ("Advise and Consent") starred in this pilot produced by David Gerber ("Police Story"). Don played a TV journalist/producer. Beautiful Laraine Stephens ("Bracken's World") was his network superior. The concept was somewhat similar to "Savage", a pilot from a year earlier that starred Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. "Savage" was based on a "Name of the Game" episode written by Mark Rodgers. Mark Rodgers also wrote this fascinating film.
Don is trying to find out what happened to a movie star who hasn't worked for fifteen years. Brilliant Gloria Grahame had the title role of "The Girl on the Late, Late Show". Grahame's films included "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Crossfire", "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Big Heat", "Odds Against Tomorrow" and "Oklahoma". A stunning body of work. It would be a treat to see any of those films on "The Late, Late Show".
But Gloria Grahame's best film was "In a Lonely Place" with Humphrey Bogart. That film was directed by the great Nicholas Ray ("Rebel Without A Cause"), and "In a Lonely Place" was also Ray's best film. Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahamae were man and wife when that film was made, but split soon thereafter. Gloria Grahame eventually married her stepson with Nicholas Ray. Gloria's glory days in films were pretty much over by 1960.
Don Murray looks at scenes of Gloria Grahame with Bogart in "In a Lonely Place" as he tries to get a fix on this beautiful, sexy, talented, troubled woman. You understand how Don becomes obsessed with Gloria and with finding her, and yet you know the woman he is falling in love with no longer exists. In the last scene Don locates the faded, perhaps insane Gloria who is sitting all alone watching "In a Lonely Place" on television. Don walks away, leaving Gloria to commune with a younger version of herself.
Hiring Gloria Grahame to almost play herself and using actual scenes of "In a Lonely Place" were stunning conceptions for any movie, much less one made for television. "The Girl on the Late, Late Show" tries to be a "Sunset Boulevard" for the actors of the 40's and 50's, rather than the silents. This TV movie is not anywhere near the class of "Sunset Boulevard", but it is still a one of kind effort.
The rest of the carefully chosen cast includes Sherry Jackson as a stripper, Ralph Meeker as a cop, John Ireland as a bad guy and Cameron Mitchell as a film director who worked with Grahame in the old days. Walter Pidgeon and Van Johnson, who were fellow MGM contract players with Grahame in the 40's, are also aboard.(Don Murray and Walter Pidgeon had starred 14 years earlier in the superb "Advise and Consent"). As you watched the movie, you couldn't help but think about these actors' careers, and how they were currently being treated by Hollywood (and the public). These aging actors were like old friends. You worried about them and were glad to see they were still around, still basically the same.
Don is trying to find out what happened to a movie star who hasn't worked for fifteen years. Brilliant Gloria Grahame had the title role of "The Girl on the Late, Late Show". Grahame's films included "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Crossfire", "It's a Wonderful Life", "The Big Heat", "Odds Against Tomorrow" and "Oklahoma". A stunning body of work. It would be a treat to see any of those films on "The Late, Late Show".
But Gloria Grahame's best film was "In a Lonely Place" with Humphrey Bogart. That film was directed by the great Nicholas Ray ("Rebel Without A Cause"), and "In a Lonely Place" was also Ray's best film. Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahamae were man and wife when that film was made, but split soon thereafter. Gloria Grahame eventually married her stepson with Nicholas Ray. Gloria's glory days in films were pretty much over by 1960.
Don Murray looks at scenes of Gloria Grahame with Bogart in "In a Lonely Place" as he tries to get a fix on this beautiful, sexy, talented, troubled woman. You understand how Don becomes obsessed with Gloria and with finding her, and yet you know the woman he is falling in love with no longer exists. In the last scene Don locates the faded, perhaps insane Gloria who is sitting all alone watching "In a Lonely Place" on television. Don walks away, leaving Gloria to commune with a younger version of herself.
Hiring Gloria Grahame to almost play herself and using actual scenes of "In a Lonely Place" were stunning conceptions for any movie, much less one made for television. "The Girl on the Late, Late Show" tries to be a "Sunset Boulevard" for the actors of the 40's and 50's, rather than the silents. This TV movie is not anywhere near the class of "Sunset Boulevard", but it is still a one of kind effort.
The rest of the carefully chosen cast includes Sherry Jackson as a stripper, Ralph Meeker as a cop, John Ireland as a bad guy and Cameron Mitchell as a film director who worked with Grahame in the old days. Walter Pidgeon and Van Johnson, who were fellow MGM contract players with Grahame in the 40's, are also aboard.(Don Murray and Walter Pidgeon had starred 14 years earlier in the superb "Advise and Consent"). As you watched the movie, you couldn't help but think about these actors' careers, and how they were currently being treated by Hollywood (and the public). These aging actors were like old friends. You worried about them and were glad to see they were still around, still basically the same.