Verführung - Dreimal anders

Victoria Principal executive produces, where she plays 4 roles in 3 stories of love.

In Temptation aka Fallguy, she is Joan, a strawberry-blonde femme fatale in a 1950's potboiler, where she uses a fall guy to dispose of her gangster husband. In Sacrifice aka Sacrifice for Love, she is Lisa, a brunette Lee Krasner-type wife of a 1930's painter, whose efforts to make her husband a success, ironically result in her own death. And in Ecstasy aka The Two of Us, the only contemporary tale, she is both red-headed prim English-accented Patricia, and her imagined uninhibited twin sister Sylvia, who temps Patricia's husband, in a roleplay created to add spice to their sex life. In each tale Principal co-stars with John Terry.

Although the two period pieces are unflattering to her, Principal is particularly unconvincing suffering as Lisa, since she cannot supply the depth of emotion required. She is much better when she plays an agenda.

The teleplays by Barry Brown, Robert Glass and Steven Whitney are based on magazine stories by Henry Slesar and a radio show by Himan Brown, and have the kind of plot twists that are associated with anthology series like The Twilight Zone. The treatments are brief, if uninspired, with dialogue on the level of `I don't know if I'm coming or going. I know which one I prefer'.

Although promoted as erotic thrillers, director Michael Ray Rhodes doesn't expose Principal's body, with orange lighting for Temptation, and repeated use of the phallic symbolism of long-stemmed wine glasses in Ecstasy.

Victoria Principal and John Terry are the lead actors of three tales about seduction. The first (and the best) one is an amoral film noir, where Victoria Principal is a blonde fatal woman and John Terry is a fool in love with her. The second one (and worst), John Terry is a depressed painter and Victoria Principal is her mate, trying to promote his career. The last one, John Terry and Victoria Principal are husband and wife, playing some erotic games with her sister. These stories are reasonable and are a good entertainment. The first one is certainly the best, and hooks the attention of the viewers. My vote is six.