1969 was a grand year for the world of made-for-television movies. It marks the premiere of the ABC Movie of the Week, a hit anthology series that produced dozens of feature-length films for television for six glorious seasons. Its popularity led NBC and CBS to follow suit, and the telefilm of the 1970s became the stuff legends are made of.
At the time, ABC was garnering headline coverage in newspapers and in trade magazines because The Movie of the Week was considered the most expensive series produced to date. The airings of these small-screen feature films also catapulted the fledgling network into much fiercer contender status, and that’s where they remained throughout the decade.
However, while still young, made-for-TV movies weren’t a brand-new concept. They’d been airing since 1964 through a series of sporadic releases across the three major networks. Only a few dozen telefilms were produced between 1964-1969, but they looked quite different from what would become staples of the TV movie world of the seventies.
Those pre-ABC Movie of the Week titles often felt bigger, funkier, and more colorful. Though most were shot local to Los Angeles, they were sometimes given a globetrotting vibe. Telefilms like the clever spy flick How I Spent My Summer Vacation and 1968’s quirky comedy-thriller The Smugglers used LA and its surroundings to the best of their abilities as stand-ins for far more glamorous locations.
Subsequently, many of these earlier telefilms felt like little travelogs, transporting the viewer to faraway lands by way of their television screen. It was escapist fare that embraced fanciful premises, luxurious settings, gorgeous costumes, and, of course, intrigue.
So, it’s probably no surprise that one of ABC’s first Movie of the Weeks would follow suit. Honeymoon with a Stranger, which originally aired on December 23rd, 1969, fits in beautifully with the handful of telefilms that came before it. Although, unlike those California-based productions, the film was actually shot on location in Batres, Spain (with much of it taking place in and around Castillo de Batres). The telefilm also boasts an international cast, an American protagonist, played by Janet Leigh, and a delightful supporting cast featuring Italians Rossano Brazzi and Cesare Danova, the British Barbara Steele, and German-born Eric Braeden. The story itself is an adaptation of a popular French play by Robert Thomas titled Piège pour un homme seul (translation: Trap for a Lonely Man). However, it takes several liberties in telling the story, including moving the setting from a chalet in the French Alps to a villa in Spain.
Honeymoon with a Stranger is about a woman named Sandra Latham (Leigh) who recently married a very wealthy man named Ernesto (Joseph Lenzi). He whisks her away to one of his many glamorous estates, and after a night of wedded bliss, Ernesto ventures into town – never to return. Sandra enlists the help of a police detective named Captain Savilla (Brazzi), but the case closes almost as soon as it opens when Ernesto returns home. Only, it’s not Ernesto. It’s an imposter (Danova), although no one can seem to prove it. Ernesto had never visited the villa before, so no one in Spain can confirm or deny his identity. Even his sister (Steele) and lawyer (Braeden) swear this man is Ernesto. On her own in a foreign land without anyone to turn to, Sandra leans heavily on Savilla, but nothing is really as it seems.
While not an outright horror film, Honeymoon with a Stranger’s police procedural take on the twisty-turny story and its international and glamorous flavor aligns it quite nicely with the giallo films coming out theatrically around the same time. It may rest somewhat comfortably with films like The Bloodstained Butterfly or The Fifth Cord, both produced in 1971, making them great contemporary companions. Of course, Honeymoon with a Stranger is made for television, so it’s virtually bloodless, but it makes up for its lack of brutality with the gorgeous Castillo de Batres, and wonderful performances, especially from Brazzi, whose take on the lovelorn police captain is undeniably charming.
If you’re not familiar with the original play, the tight direction by episodic television stalwart John Peyser (Rat Patrol, Switch, etc.), and screenwriters Henry Slesar and David P. Harmon’s thoughtful take on the adaptation keeps the viewer on their toes. Leigh plays her character both ways: she is potentially both a villain and a victim, and while not always sympathetic, it’s hard to take your eyes off of her (or her wardrobe!). The tone oscillates between lighthearted and dark, and while the pace is relaxed, it is never boring.
As mentioned, there are quite a few differences between Honeymoon with a Stranger and its source material, Piège pour un homme seul. For starters, in the original play, the protagonist is male. It also features a priest who helps the missing wife return home. What remains, though, is the solid mystery and engaging dialogue. Changing the gender of the protagonist was probably not a spur-of-the-moment decision either, as it plays directly into network television’s attempt to appeal to the 18-49-year-old female demographic, which was TV’s most desired audience. At the time, this demographic took a front seat for networks because women tended to be housewives and were, therefore, the largest consumer of household goods, leading advertisers to seek the promotion of their products on programs they knew women would be watching.
Honeymoon with a Stranger understands this audience. Despite her wrongdoings, as Sandra’s backstory is revealed, it becomes clear she has been through a trauma many women may relate to. As previously noted, she isn’t always sympathetic, but Leigh brings a relatability to the character, making the final confrontation all the more poignant.
It’s probably worth mentioning that director Peyser seldom ventured away from the small screen, but in 1974 he would direct the infamous theatrical proto-slasher The Centerfold Girls, which stars Andrew Prine. And, like Honeymoon with a Stranger, it plays around a little with convention. Despite its sleazier underpinnings, The Centerfold Girls features strong and dynamic female characters, which was more commonplace on television.
However, perhaps because women weren’t necessarily regarded as genre fans in this era, it did not play a big part in the history of these early made-for-TV productions. There are a few notable entries, such as the Ghost of Sierra de Cobre with Martin Landau, the Louis Jourdan-led pilot Fear No Evil, and its follow-up Ritual of Evil (also starring Jourda), all of which are outright horror. Therefore, films like Honeymoon with a Stranger and another 1969 ABC Movie of the Week titled Daughter of the Mind feel more indicative of the cross-pollination of genres that seemed more popular. In the case of Daughter of the Mind, the film is part ghost story and part espionage tale. For this telefilm, mystery intertwines with the police procedural to balance out where they may have had to excise the television taboos of sex and violence.
In these early days of the made-for-TV movie, it certainly felt as though networks were hesitant to dig too deeply into the genre, which was at the time seen mostly as B movie fare. Honeymoon with a Stranger is a good marker of this trepidation. In general, the first season of the ABC Movie of the Week is bereft of full-stop horror flicks. It wasn’t until the series’ second season in 1970 that the airings of the wildly popular TV movies Crowhaven Farm and the House that Would Not Die proved that (generally female-centric) telefilms steeped heavily in darker genres were not only approachable but also profitable.
Afterward, made-for-television horror movies became a mainstay, and millions upon millions would see movies like The Night Stalker. Genre in general was in, and network telefilms began churning out content such as creature feature flicks like Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, proto-slashers like Home for the Holidays, and strange and dark thrillers such as A Howling in the Woods. Honeymoon with a Stranger is a first step in the right direction.
Casting the star of Psycho probably didn’t hurt, either. Leigh even made the papers during production, with articles about how she brought her two daughters (Kelly and Jamie Lee Curtis) to Spain, as well as Leigh expressing her wonderment of the castle setting in letters she wrote to a popular syndicated gossip columnist named Dorothy Manners. After production wrapped, the jet-setting actress took off to Russia to attend the Moscow Film Festival. All of these clippings regarding Leigh only added to the glamor of the lush production.
Honeymoon with a Stranger proved popular enough that Robert Thomas’ play was adapted (much more faithfully) two more times for TV. Both adaptations returned to the male protagonist, as James Franciscus takes on the role of the beleaguered husband in One of My Wives is Missing, and Mike Farrell does similar duties exactly a decade later in Vanishing Act.
Both Vanishing Act and One of My Wives is Missing have enjoyed home video releases on VHS, which has helped to give them a little more solid footing along the cultural landscape. Unfortunately, Honeymoon with a Stranger has sadly lingered in that netherworld in which so many telefilms find themselves. Perhaps it was only meant to be seen on its original airing and maybe later through sporadic syndicated reruns, but it deserves so much more. Luxurious, charismatic, and captivating, this telefilm might be playing it safe like so many of these earlier made-for-TV thrillers of the 1960s, but it is also embracing all that was to come in the golden age of the made-for-TV genre movie of the 1970s.
