MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES comes across more as a TV play than a TV movie. Thankfully, a strong script full of clever twists keeps it ticking... and how!
Robert Day does a splendid job of directing, Jack Swain's cinematography rates competent - nothing to write home about, but good nevertheless - and Levinson and Link can take pride in their unusually powerful TV script.
Hal Holbrook pulls an excellent performance as the cuckolded mentalist, beautiful Katharine Ross performs credibly as the ruthless cheating wife (far more shocking in 1979 than today), and Barry Bostwick certainly enjoys his finest hour on film.
Worth noting the highly advanced gimmicks in this flick, announcing items that are now very much in use, like medical tests and results over the phone, and what looks like a plasma TV set, when even VHS cassettes had only been around since late 1977.
Recommended viewing.
Robert Day does a splendid job of directing, Jack Swain's cinematography rates competent - nothing to write home about, but good nevertheless - and Levinson and Link can take pride in their unusually powerful TV script.
Hal Holbrook pulls an excellent performance as the cuckolded mentalist, beautiful Katharine Ross performs credibly as the ruthless cheating wife (far more shocking in 1979 than today), and Barry Bostwick certainly enjoys his finest hour on film.
Worth noting the highly advanced gimmicks in this flick, announcing items that are now very much in use, like medical tests and results over the phone, and what looks like a plasma TV set, when even VHS cassettes had only been around since late 1977.
Recommended viewing.