Danielle Steels Vanished

 Posted on September 20, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  871 words  |  Larita Shotwell

Title of latest Danielle Steel telefilm suggests the scrivener's disappeared, but it's not true. She's definitely still here, this time with a contrived tale of a Mrs. de Winter-type heroine caught up in a see-through plot defying reality. Still, Steel has her loyalists and they're sure to be tickled silly with this one.

Title of latest Danielle Steel telefilm suggests the scrivener’s disappeared, but it’s not true. She’s definitely still here, this time with a contrived tale of a Mrs. de Winter-type heroine caught up in a see-through plot defying reality. Still, Steel has her loyalists and they’re sure to be tickled silly with this one.

Pretty Marielle lives happily in 1929 with hubby and small son until the boy accidentally drowns, for which Marielle’s husband blames her. After a divorce and breakdown, Marielle marries a commanding steel magnate whose chief ambition is to have a son. She accommodates him, and he starts acting quirky.

Marielle’s too simple to suspect anything, even when he brings in attractive, German-born Brigitte as his personal secretary. The son is kidnapped, and all heck trickles out; the FBI agent handling the case, spurred on by plotting needs , starts falling for Marielle. Kathleen Rowell’s teleplay, not helped by George Kaczender’s indifferent directing, skims over the hollow storyline, but it will satisfy less discerning viewers. Prop characters crystallize; others, as in the case of a nasty nanny, just trail off. It doesn’t make any difference, since they’re all cardboard.

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Lisa Rinna, suggesting a Gail Russell-like vulnerability, wrestles with the role of Marielle, but it’s an unfair bout. George Hamilton, playing her second, wealthy husband, rightfully delivers suavity and ruthlessness.

Robert Hays, acting concerned as the FBI agent, deserves better, and Maurice Godin works valiantly but in vain as the first husband. Daniela Akerblom plays the smashing Brigitte, while Sheena Larkin is the blatantly mean nanny.

Christopher Morgan’s production comes off as routine. Montreal, where the TV movie was filmed, looks OK for Paris and Switzerland but proves a poor stand-in for NYC. Tech credits are satisfactory, and Francois Dompierre’s comfy score supports the soapy goings-on.

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Danielle Steel’s Vanished

(Mon. (3), 9-11 p.m., NBC)

  • Production: Filmed in Montreal by the Cramer Co. and NBC Prods. Exec producer, Douglas S. Cramer; supervising producer, Dennis Hammer; producer, Christopher Morgan; director, George Kaczender; writer, Kathleen Rowell; based on the novel by Danielle Steel.
  • Crew: Camera, Pierre Mignot; editor, Debra Karen; production designer, Anne Pritchard; sound, Michel Charron; music, Francois Dompierre.
  • Cast: Cast: George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna, Robert Hays, Maurice Godin, Alex D. Linz, Daniela Akerblom, Albert Millaire, Sheena Larkin, Domini Blythe, Victor Knight, Lawrence Dane, Matt Holland, Kenneth Welsh, Ron Lea, Robert Higden, Sharman Sturges, Suzan Glover, Erwin Potitt, Eleanor Noble, Philip Pretten, Richard Zeman, Andree Cousineau, Richard Jutras, Ted Whittall, Dane Lawrence, Cary Lawrence, Charles Mignault, Jason Cavalier, Viasta Vrana, Zachary Carmel.

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