User Reviews

Intriguing mystery by Robert Dennis begins with a search for a girl left at an orphanage 20 years ago. Her mother, Angela Renshaw Fernaldi (Virginia Field, veteran of 3 "Mr. Moto" movies and a "Charlie Chan" picture or two) now wants to find her. It could be Maureen Thomas (Melinda Plowman) a stewardess about to marry into the Campion family (her fiancé Richard is played by Burt Metcalfe, who later produced the TV series "M*A*S*H*"!). She couldn't care less about the mother who abandoned her--until she discovers she would be getting a $200,000 trust fund. Her uncle Bert (Jesse White) is convinced Maureen is the missing girl...until he turns up dead and Maureen is the prime suspect. Perry goes into action, not only to prove Maureen is innocent, but is also the missing girl (not Maureen Franklin, played by Ellen Jansen).

There's some nice twists and turns in this one as well as a terrific twist ending. The only thing really holding back this one is the casting. Plowman is rather disagreeable as Maureen and frankly, I wouldn't have minded if Perry had lost this one. Metcalfe is also quite forgettable as the fiancé. I'm glad he found more success as a producer.

One interesting moment is the worry the couple has with Richard's parents: they're afraid his parents will not accept her because she's an orphan! How times have changed.

**SPOILERS** I gotta disagree with the other reviewers on this one. I LIKED Melinda Plowman's portrayal of a kid who had been dumped by her parents and raised in an orphanage. I'll be willing to bet my paycheck that a lot of kids that came out of state, private, foster, or Christian Homes were disenfranchised (I love that word), socially, and suspicious with more than a tinge of mistrust and anger with any establishment. And, yeah, I knew a couple.

Now - Renshaw (Jesse White), owner/proprietor of a camera shop in Hollywood has money troubles? Oh Yeah? I'll bet he's got problems with hay burners, too. His long suffering clerk-assistant-companion is the one I'da picked for the killer, but, I was wrong; not the first time, but well... Speaking of killers, this is one of those instances that demand some thought. Most times, Mason's dead guys deserve what they get, but this is one that could go either way. Sure, he was a deadbeat, chizeling rat, a creep that was gonna use what he had to filch as much money away from the child he abandoned as a baby, but...You know, I've changed my mind. He had it coming. Of course, the old bag that wasted him was pretty creepy, too. Who's to say that she didn't bump off the crazy bat she was looking after, too; just to get her blood stained hooks on the daughter's inheritance? Not me. I'm the one who suggests it.

One small point. A main part of the case relies on a stuffie "polka-dot pony". It just looks like it's in too good of shape to be in a box in an old storage shed for several years. It was never pointed out.

The ending is a lot like the silly "happy ending" drivel you've heard me snivel about before, if you've read any of my other reviews. One thing gives me hope, though. If her prospective Huz ever gets out of line, she slap him right back into reality; he'll have it coming. A 10.

This should be a heart-warming story. A recovered alcoholic mother is trying to find her daughter that was given to an orphanage some twenty years ago. The women Angela Renshaw Ferraldi (Virginia Fields) had finally gotten her life straight and married into money. It was her goal to find the child and given her the inheritance and name that she could have never given years ago. Instead we get an episode that is hopelessly miscast and an ending that has the viewer shaking their head in disbelief.

The story starts out simple enough with Ms Renshaw-Ferraldi trying to find her child. She hires an attorney firm to make inquires about the child at some local orphanages in the LA area. Burt Renshaw (Jesse White) is a family member that lives in the LA area and he gets wind of the attempt to find the child. He has some inside information and does some looking of his own.

The outcome is that Burt Renshaw, a camera shop owner, finds the child Maureen Thomas (Melinda Plowman) and the attorney firm finds another child Maureen Franklin (Eilene Janssen), both may be the child of Ms Ferraldi.

Burt Renshaw claims he has proof that Ms Thomas is the true child. And one evening calls Ms Thomas to his shop to give her positive proof. When she arrives Burt has been killed and she flees the store. But a picture is taken of her inside the store when she steps on a special mat that Burt placed in the store for his customers. (Of course the picture was at night in a dark store but comes out looking like it was taken in the best light conditions)

Anyway Maureen Thomas is charged with the murder of Burt. Perry must not only defend Ms Thomas for the murder but also try to prove that she is the daughter of Ms Ferraldi. A deed that at times looks fruitless as most of the evidence, including a polka dot pony, points to the daughter as being Ms Franklin.

Melinda Plowman that was casted as the main character, Ms Maureen Thomas, should have been someone that you felt remorse for after her ordeal in the orphanage. But she came across as a non-caring rough brat that only was interesting when dollar signs were presented. Her acting was more in line with a leader of a women's prison riot or a captain of a roller derby team but not an orphan trying to find her family.

Virginia Fields, which usually does a great job in her work, seemed odd from the very sxared. Perhaps she was told to play her character in the odd fashion. But the viewer knew something was up with her from the first time she was on the screen.

The ending, where the true facts are presented, is even hard for me to believe. One person is really not what they claim to be. How in the world was Perry the only person, except for the dead man, to know something was amiss. Did the person not have friends or family that would have known something was wrong? Anyway it was what is called TV magic and was presented to end the show in the alloted time.

This episode came across dull for me. The problem was not with the story but with the casting.