Review: Diagnosis: Murder

Psychiatrist Christopher Lee is accused of murder when his wife goes missing, with accusatory (and anonymous) letters showing up at the police station. Jon Finch is the shabby police detective in charge of the investigation, Judy Geeson is Lee’s secretary and mistress, and Jane Merrow is an unhappily married woman Finch is having an affair with.

 

No, this is not the Dick Van Dyke medical mystery series, though this film was originally intended for TV. IMDb on one hand says it was meant to be a TV movie, but another bit of trivia says it was part of an intended anthology series. Either way, here it is as a theatrically released film in some quarters of the globe. One of the more obscure films in Christopher Lee’s filmography despite a pretty prominent cast, this 1974 film from director Sidney Hayers (“Circus of Horrors” and a plethora of TV work) has just enough flaws to hold it back from a recommendation.

 

Every intrusion with Jane Merrow and her miserable husband is unwelcome, unnecessary, and not well integrated into the plot. At least not in any way that totally makes sense in the final product. Don’t get me wrong, Merrow is jolly good and all but did we need her here at all? Well, eventually it does all tie together but very late in the hour, very tenuously to the main plot, and not especially satisfying for what is now a closed-off feature film. And that’s the big problem we have with this film, it’s unsatisfying in its current film. Whether you believe it to be a TV movie or the pilot to a TV series that never eventuated (the latter seems far more plausible to me), it just doesn’t quite come off as a feature film in its current state. To say more would be to provide spoilers, so suffice to say you’ll see what I’m vaguely referring to when you watch the film and you’ll likely be as frustrated as I was. I also have to say the very 70s TV show music score by Laurie Johnson (“Dr. Strangelove”, “And Soon the Darkness”, TV’s “The Avengers”) is quite regrettable and not to my liking at all.

 

There’s enough of interest here to make it even more frustrating that it isn’t better, to be honest. The plan at work here is if not foolproof, certainly compellingly diabolical and the cast is pretty enjoyable. Jon Finch is always good at these sorts of shabby, not very likeable protagonist roles and is indeed really good here. Christopher Lee probably enjoyed the break from horror here and is also very fine, but I think Finch and Judy Geeson actually outshine him.

 

Worth seeking out if you’re a Lee completist like me I suppose, but it’s one of the more difficult to track down and not an especially memorable experience. It’s just OK and you’ll be bummed out in the end. The screenplay is by Ivan Goff (“White Heat”, co-creator of TV’s “Charlie’s Angels”) and Ben Roberts (ditto) from a story by Philip Levene (another alum of TV’s “The Avengers”).

 

Rating: C+

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