Sunday, April 3, 2011

Helen Hayes & Myrna Loy in Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1971)

Obscurity factor: 9

Four bored Pasadena matrons (Hayes, Loy, Sylvia Sidney & Mildred Natwick) decide to amuse themselves by creating a fictitious woman on the rolls of a computer dating service. Their dalliance in the world of computer dating turns up three responses, a dull accountant, a smart-alec and a stalker. Mal Weston (Vince Edwards in a particularly creepy performance with a constant internal running dialog) becomes obsessed with their avatar Rebeca Mead and won't take no for an answer after he stakes out their home and scams their phone number out of an operator. He insists on meeting her at a cocktail lounge and the ladies go along to spy on him. They see him leave with a girl he thinks is Rebeca and the next day see her photo in the paper after she has been murdered. They (led by Hayes) decide to investigate! This made-for-TV movie resulted in a series of mystery movies of the week in rotation with the likes of McMillin & Wife called The Snoop Sisters starring Hayes and Natwick.

While The Snoop Sisters have made it to DVD, this film has yet to. It is, however available in full on YouTube, thanks to an upload by CDeanWatcher.

Obscurity factor: 9 (not on DVD, available on YouTube, largely forgotten)

6 comments:

  1. I remember when this was first shown on TV, "TV Guide" had a feature article that showed photos of the four ladies at the time along with photos of them 30 or 40 years earlier. However, I never have seen the movie. I will check it out on YouTube. I just looked for "The Snoop Sisters" on Netflix, but did not find it. It was released just a couple weeks ago, and maybe they will add it soon.

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  2. It would be fun to see that TV Guide article now...

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  3. Another favorite! The husband and I particularly love Vince's performance, especially "Maybe I'll make some soup! No, no soup! Gotta think!"

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  4. Yeah, the internal dialog is really bizarre. Adds a whole other level to the show...

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  5. Hayes. Helen Hayes, please. Love your blog. Thanks.

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  6. Thank you! I'll fix that right now.

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