Midnight Lace (TV Movie 1981) Poster

(1981 TV Movie)

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5/10
Watch the Original 1960 with Doris Day
Rainey-Dawn29 July 2023
I recommend watching the original film - it's from 1960 starring Doris Day, Rex Harrison & Roddy McDowall. This remake is alright but lacks the thrills of the original film.

Here we have Mary Crosby in Doris Day's role. She is a television reporter and is being stalked by an obsessed man. The questions are: Why he is doing this? Is he wanting to kill her or drive her insane? Who is he? Is she going crazy? Is he a phantom/ghost?

This version is okay - worth watching on YouTube if you want something different for your viewing. Don't expect the quality of the Doris Day film but the film can still entertain to a degree.

4.5/10.
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6/10
Passable remake of a classic.
mark.waltz4 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I can't call this an unnecessary remake of the 1960 Doris Day/Rex Harrison movie, but it's not bad considering, and it's a nice change of pace to see where is your Mary Crosby as a heroin rather than the villaimess she played on "Dallas". As a troubled Heroes with memories of her late mother, she has constant phone calls from a woman she claims has her mother's voice. Obvious there's more to the story than just her imagination, with support from husband Gary Frank and wealthy aunt Celeste Holm. She's being stalked by several people, and each encounter and spooky phone call gets continuously worse. Crosby is accused of being responsible for a tragic accident and it becomes clear that she may indeed be in dsnger, from herself!

But with a lot of twists and turns coming along, it becomes pretty obvious especially if you're familiar with the original movie as to what's going on, and certain elements that occur between Frank and Holm. Carolyn Jones also figures into the plot as a clairvoyant, always commanding and scene stealing. This is a good thriller for TV that a few years later would be redone over and over with more erotic elements, and the absence of that makes this a lot classier. A perfect film to be remade before cable TV went into many homes as the lack of channels meant that most old movies were relegated to the late show. Still doesn't compare to the original, but there have been many worse remakes done. There are enough differences between this and the original to make it seem like its own film, and Crosby is just fine with Holm an absolute class act in a really well written part.
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mediocre gothic thriller
thomandybish16 April 2001
This run-of-the-mill TV thriller has Mary Crosby as a television reporter hounded by an obsessed stalker. Problem is, no one else witnesses the stalkings and believes Cosby. In fact, they have good reason not to, as Crosby's mother went crazy and threw herself off the cliffs into the ocean near the family home years before, veiled in a black lace shawl as she appears in a portrait hanging in the house(hence the title). Is there really a stalker or is Crosby falling victim to the insanity that drove her mother to an early end? Can anyone who has seen even one movie like this not predict the ending? Okay, with some creepy atmosphere, but hardly anything new.
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