Is an Old Flame a Killer?
We’ve reached the third and final Diagnosis: Murder movie that aired before the series started. It’s interesting to see a few things changing toward the show we’d know and love, at least at the beginning of season one. And A Twist of the Knife was a pretty good mystery, too.
Again, I won’t waste a lot of time on discussion of how the movies are different from season one since I covered that when talking about the first movie. But I will say that Community General’s administrator and Dr. Sloan’s secretary are both absent. In that way, it felt more like the later half of the show’s run than the earlier seasons. While we aren’t told, one car did look to have a Colorado license plate, and the outside of the hospital used for establishing shots looked more familiar. It makes sense that they’d be making some changes toward the beginning of season one. This movie aired in February 1993, and the show would debut that fall.
This movie finds Dr. Rachel Walters (Suzanne Pleshette) visiting Community General. Decades ago, she was a resident under Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) and he had a major crush on her. She’s coming to demonstrate a procedure she’s perfected. However, the patient she performs the surgery on dies after his surgery. Mark thinks it might have been murder, and he thinks Rachel might be the guilty party. But can he figure out how she did it? And what might her motive be?
This movie actually has a couple of firsts for the series. This is the first time we are shown the killer plotting the murder and then watch as Mark has to solve it. It’s also the first time he thinks someone he knows committed the crime. It’s fun to watch, although I did have to wonder why Rachel didn’t start avoiding Mark a little more. One of those things I don’t think about in a 42-minute TV episode but seems stranger when watching a 90-minute movie. Overall, it felt a little drawn out. The stories getting tighter when the show went to series was definitely a good thing.
Still, the plot was strong with some good twists to keep us entertained. I also appreciated how things played out.
And yes, we get plenty of screen time for the supporting players, Dick’s real life son Barry as Detective Steve Sloan and, in their last appearances, Cynthia Gibb as Amanda Bently and Stephen Caffrey as Jack Parker. It really is interesting watching those two since they were recast (and Jack given a different last name) before the series started, but they are very much interacting the way the equivalent characters still do in the series.
Also interesting for fans of the series, Mark mentions at one point that he’s been a widower for three years, which makes it more recent than I’d always pictured in the series. He also says that Steve is his only child, something that was also true in the series…until it wasn’t when they introduced his estranged daughter, Carol (played by Dick’s real-life daughter) in a season four episode.
Suzanne Pleshette gets lots of screen time. I loved getting to watch her here. She was fantastic as the murderous doctor. (Again, that isn’t a spoiler since we see it early on.) The only other actor I recognized was Christina Pickles, and I really enjoyed seeing her here as well.
Again, I have a feeling these movies might be harder to find, but they are worth checking out. Yes, it is fun to see what the series might have looked like, but the mystery here is entertaining as well. Fans will definitely enjoy A Twist of the Knife.
You can find the movie in the Diagnosis: Murder Television Movie Collection DVD set.
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