Death
To Sister Mary
(ITC Movie title
"Murder Is A One Act Play")
Original UK transmission: 15th June 1974
Original US transmission: 21st May 1974
WRITTEN BY: Brian Clemens
DIRECTED BY: Robert D. Cardona
PRODUCED BY: John Sichel
MAIN CAST: Robert Powell (Rook), Jennie Linden (Sister
Mary/Penny Stacey), George Maharis (Mark Fields), Anthony
Newlands (Tony Barton), Joan Haythorne (Mother Superior), Derek
Fowlds (Dicky), Leigh Lawson (Larry Turner), Gerry Cowan (TV
Director), Windsor Davies (Detective Moore)
Teaser
Sequence
The camera pans across an
urban park and zooms in on the entrance to an underground parking
station. Inside, a man is walking briskly towards his car,
unaware that he is being watched by another person waiting
nearby. The unknown figure lunges at his victim, striking him
repeatedly over the head with a heavy torch; as he falls to the
ground, he hears the words "stay away from Sister
Mary!"
Plot
Summary
Penny Stacey plays one of the
resident nuns in the television soap opera Saints And Sinners,
and is flattered to find a young man outside her dressing room
one day talking of forming a fan club dedicated to the character
Sister Mary. Only too willing to bolster her own career, Penny
eagerly assists the peculiar Rook and even gives him her home
address. Shortly after however, a number of fatal or near fatal
accidents begin to befall the various cast members and the police
suspect it may be a viewer harbouring a grudge. Yet despite his
oddness, no one suspects the harmless looking Rook, who is in
fact living in a dangerous fantasy world where Sister Mary stands
at the centre of his obsessions.
Comments
Robert Powell returns in a role so different from that in Lady
Killer that it's difficult to believe they are played by one and
the same man. Powell plays Rook as an odd, almost bird-like man
who somehow manages to seem harmless despite his being completely
round the bend. Jenny Linden is also excellent as his
unsuspecting victim, who's eagerness for fame makes her blind to
the danger she is in. Interestingly enough, there had actually
been a soap opera in the late 'sixties set in a convent called Sanctuary,
starring Judith Dunham.
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Ambush |
"Sister Mary" |
Penny Stacey |
Lovers |
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Charles Rook |
Fan Club |
Healing Touch |
Disillusionment |
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Hit and Run |
Bereavement |
Flattery |
The Watcher |
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Attack |
Obsession |
Non-Standard Premises |
Unpleasant Surprises |
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Empty Chapel |
Saint Mary |
Helpless |
Desperation |
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