LAST OF SHEILA: Blu-ray (Warner Bros. 1973) Warner Archive

Trying just a wee too hard to be the unassailable ‘locked room’ egg-headed thriller that would have made Dame Agatha Christie blush, director, Herbert Ross’ The Last of Sheila (1973) kicks off with a mystery, creates generous and mounting suspense when one of the suspects aboard a luxury yacht turns up dead, but then suddenly, and rather inexplicably falls back on an interminable series of wordy vignettes in which much of its all-star cast suffer from Sherlock-Holmesian bouts of verbal diarrhea as they attempt to piece together the remaining clues, to solve the crime and save their skins before the body count rises any further. The inspiration here came from Ross who, upon attending one of many New York scavenger hunt parties given by cowriters, Stephen Sondheim and actor, Anthony ‘Psycho’ Perkins, suggested the boys write an actual movie where the pieces of their whodunit puzzle fit as intricately, but with more than a handful of hairpin turns to both inform, yet deflect suspicions from the real killer. Sondheim and Perkins eventually shaped this tale, loosely based on two murder games devised much earlier. In the original ‘game’, Sondheim instructed each participant to concoct an ingeniously secretive method to murder another participant in attendance, handing each an envelope at the start of the party, with only one containing an ‘X’ – the necessary clue for them to carry out their dastardly plan while the others basically banned together to avoid being murdered. The uber-cleverness of this film’s plot actually won Sondheim and Perkins the 1974 Edgar for Best Motion Picture Screenplay from the Mystery Writers of America. Interestingly, Sondheim, better known as a composer, herein passed those duties along to composer, Billy Goldenberg, with the song ‘Friends’ – sung by Bette Midler over the end titles, actually written by Buzzy Linhart and Mark ‘Moogy’ Klingman. Ross, who cast The Last of Sheila from good ole showbiz folk he so admired, insisted the picture was about civilization and barbarism, the devolution of man’s courtly restraints when pressed into an impossible situation to exercise his/her basic Darwinian survival instincts.

Sondheim and Perkins based the character of Christine on legendary talent agent, Sue Mengers who, depending on the source consulted, was either first offered the role, but declined on the pretext too many of her clients were out of work, or, was never offered the part, but helped to pitch it to her client, Dyan Cannon. However, it came about, Cannon, at first, resisted, believing the part was a grotesque caricature of Mengers with no redeemable features. At Mengers’ behest, Cannon agreed to partake, but insisted the role be deepened to apply at least a modicum of humanity. Sondheim and Perkins ruthless wit also had its way with Philip Dexter (James Mason) a has-been director loosely composited from their impressions of Orson Welles. Mason was circumspect about his approach to the part, suggesting he was doing a parody of what audiences in 1973 thought of him. But Mason did not get on with co-star, Raquel Welch who, as the superficial starlet – Alice Wood, fed into every cliché of the sex bomb with relish, flanked by Ian McShane playing her manager/hubby, Anthony (roles Welch claimed were based on Ann-Margaret and her husband, Roger Smith but Sondheim later clarified were actually culled from his impressions of Welch and her one-time mate, Patrick Curtis). Meanwhile, Perkins cast Richard Benjamin as himself – rechristened ‘Tom Parkman’ in the movie. Shot mostly on location in Nice, The Last of Sheila encountered several delays after producers reasoned the impossible logistics of actually photographing scenes in the confined quarters of a real yacht belonging to producer, Sam Spiegel, but presumably ‘owned’ in the movie by producer, Clinton Greene (James Coburn).

There was much drama on the set. The yacht sank, the first cameraman was canned after only a few days’ work, tempers among the cast flared, and, Raquel Welsh sued Ross for assault and battery, relating to ‘an incident’ in her dressing room. Welsh, who fled to London, returned to Nice to shoot her final scenes, but was flanked by a bodyguard for the remainder of her time spent on the set. Warner Bros. sided with Ross on the matter, a decision backed by Mason’s claim Welch had been “the most selfish, ill-mannered, inconsiderate actress” with whom he had had the misfortune to work. On dry land, for the café scene, cast and crew were as alarmed when the anti-Semitic terrorist group - Black September – announced it had planted a bomb nearby, to be detonated unless everyone cleared the set immediately. This appears to have been a colossally stupid hoax as officials discovered no such device anywhere and actors/crew returned to complete their work without any further incident. But the monastery scene, photographed at night, proved its own nightmare for Raquel Welch as gale force winds and a fast-advancing storm off the sea threatened to drench everyone.

The Last of Sheila is a very odd duck indeed, the movie’s plot involving a deadly game of wits that veers wildly out of control. Sondheim and Perkins establish Philip as the smartest of the ensemble, quick to unearth and piece together the clues, almost to his own detriment. Our story kicks off on the first anniversary of the hit-and-run death of the eponymous Sheila Greene (Yvonne Romaine), late wife of movie producer, Clinton Greene who now gathers together 6 showbiz chums – all present on the night of Sheila’s demise, whom he suspects had something to do with his wife’s murder. Clinton entertains aboard his fashionable yacht in the south of France. The presumed guilty include, screenwriter, Tom Parkman, his fragile wife, Lee (Joan Hackett), washed-up director, Philip Dexter, power-broker/agent, Christine and international sexpot, Alice Wood, accompanied by her high-profile hubby, Anthony.  Clinton launches into a rather gruesome homage to his late wife, forcing his ‘friends’ to play The Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game, in which everyone is assigned ‘pretend’ pieces of chin wag they must keep secret from one another, while everyone else is trying to do the same. Each night the yacht anchors ashore, a clue is revealed to entice the guests to seek out the truth. The wrinkle: the ‘gossip’ clues are real and meant to out someone publicly as the first card infers, YOU are a HOMOSEXUAL.

On the second night out, Clinton’s body turns up, pointing an accusing finger at the remaining guests as suspects – each with a distinct motive to see him dead. Although everyone assumes Clinton died when a stone column from a nearby monastery was toppled during the violent thunder storm, Tom deduces Clinton was actually killed much earlier, his body dragged and planted by the killer to be discovered under the disheveled masonry. Tom reveals his ‘card’ in the game. It reads, YOU are a HIT-AND-RUN KILLER, and then, gets the others to share theirs, in which someone is exposed as an EX-CONVICT, INFORMANT and LITTLE CHILD MOLESTER. Believing the truth will out, Tom confesses he and Clinton were briefly lovers, thereby exposing himself as the recipient of the first card. Seemingly exonerated of the other charges, including the accusation he is Sheila’s killer, Tom now embarks on a dark and insidious investigation to get the others to admit to their ugly pasts. Eventually, Christine is revealed as the McCarthy-era informant, Alice – the shoplifter, Anthony - the ex-convict, and, Philip - the child molester. Lee confesses to accidentally running down Sheila while driving drunk, and, deliberately to have murdered Clinton after he confronted her about his wife’s murder. Shortly thereafter, Lee barricades herself in her room and is later discovered dead with her wrists slit.

On the final night of the cruise, while the others are off partying, Philip begins to piece together clues he believes point to an alternative theory of the crimes. He speculates Lee could not have killed Clinton, but was set-up to murder an already dead body.  Now, Philip realizes the six clues (Shoplifter, Homosexual, Ex-convict, etc.) spell out ‘SHEILA’, with individual pictures taken of each of them, standing under a letter from her name, except for the final ‘A’. This acronym also explains the redundant ‘LITTLE’ in Philip's exposure as the child molester. Phil deduces Alice (in an affair with Tom) confided to being the shoplifter. Tom, realizing the pattern in the clues, changed his own card to YOU are an ALCOHOLIC for the more condemning YOU are a HIT-AND-RUN KILLER, knowing both secrets applied to Lee, thus exposing her as Sheila's killer. Tom then murdered Clinton, impersonating him to get Lee riled enough to attack a corpse. Finally, Tom pretended to sleuth out the clues for the crime he committed, with all the evidence directed to Lee’s guilt. Knowing she would fall off the wagon, Tom spiked Lee’s bourbon with sleeping pills. After she fell unconscious, he slit her wrists to make it appear she had committed suicide. While Philip did attempt to murder Clinton with the boat’s propellers earlier in order to keep his ugly secret safe, it was only a superficial attempt at best. Clinton - now dead, and Tom - on the hook for it, Philip instead elects to bribe Tom into financing his Hollywood ‘comeback’, using the $5 million payout from Lee’s estate. An enraged Tom tries to murder Philip but is stopped when Christine and one of the ship’s crew suddenly appear, having just boarded the yacht. Philip spins the incident as a tale of jest, suggesting to Christine they have been rehearsing for his new movie, in which he intends to cast all of his ‘friends’ – thus, ensuring Tom has no hope but to finance the project. Tom quietly acquiesces to save his own skin.

The Last of Sheila starts off with an interesting premise and, for much of its run time, keeps the audience guessing. Regrettably, the red herrings and chronic misdirection from Sondheim and Perkins tends to get a little ‘long in the tooth’. Director, Ross maintains an air of taut deception, and Jerry Turpin’s cinematography manages a plush paradise from the sublime Riviera locale looking positively ravishing. The murder ‘game’ offers up a rather fascinating momentum. But this grinds to a screeching halt once Clinton’s body turns up, the story lumbering along as a ‘double’ whodunit that is, alas, half the fun. Action is eclipsed by lengthy scenes of conjecture as the surviving cast struggle to come to terms with what has just happened, and, their overriding individual concerns each will be framed for the crime. The cat and mouse quality of this latter-day stalking to get to the truth is modestly intriguing, augmented by Ross’ interminable flashbacks to gild the denouement. But in the end, what we have is a series of dialogue-driven moments, in and of themselves, not altogether engaging, as Philip puts the pieces of a much-too-intricate-to-be-believed and very fragmented puzzle back together, mostly to entertain and celebrate his own puffery as the cleverest of this motley brood. Of the cast, only Dyan Cannon, Richard Benjamin and James Mason really bring home the bacon. Coburn’s performance is pure camp, while Raquel Welch sleep-walks through this one, reading her lines as though the cue cards had been MacTac’ed to her forehead.

The Last of Sheila arrives on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive (WAC) in a smart, but not entirely successful 1080p transfer. Setting aside Turpin’s use of diffusion filters to add a flattering glow to close-ups of the female stars, the overall image quality here toggles between razor sharp crispness and a decidedly ‘fuzzy’ quality I am not entirely certain was part of the original visual design for this movie. Much of what is here looks marvelous. But there are lapses, and these sacrifice much fine detail.  Overall color saturation is solid with accurately produced flesh tones and pops and splashes of color to augment the lush surroundings. The DTS 2.0 mono is its own mystery. Dialogue is occasionally inaudible at normal levels, and grotesquely distorted if one chooses to merely increase the volume.  This is an awkward sound mix, likely indigenous to its source, but still a major letdown. We get Richard Benjamin and Dyan Cannon, sitting together to provide an audio commentary, augmented by Raquel Welch’s participation, edited in from an independent interview recorded later.  All 3 were recorded long ago for the DVD release. So, nothing new here. There’s also a badly worn theatrical trailer in HD.  Bottom line: The Last of Sheila is clever and nasty. But it’s not enough to hold our attention. The Blu-ray is adequate, but unremarkable. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

1