Della

If you're expecting a movie from the late period of Joan Crawford's career, you will soon realize "Della" is made for TV. In fact, it was a pilot for what seems to have been intended as a series about a lawyer and his clients, a sort of "Burke's Law" with a legal theme. In fact, by superficial coincidence, the star is James Burke.

Partly artistic (some of the blocking is obviously designed with geometric patterns in mind), partly hack (high lit, artificial environments, antiseptic props) part fashion show (every time we see Crawford she's wearing another exquisitely tailored ensemble), part generically boring (dull narration over dull opening montage, albeit with a fine, lush underscoring by Fred Steiner of "Perry Mason" theme-tune fame; dull men saying dull things in dull environments – featureless boardroom, picnic spot in nondescript city park with bland participants in spotless boring clothes, except for craggy, wild-haired, slightly rumpled Charles Bickford), part intriguing (references to pagan gods, stars and planets woven into a strong mother-daughter conflict with deep, mysterious roots). It's kind of like a rough sketch for a Eugene O'Neill play that never went beyond an outline and instead became a vehicle for Joan Crawford, who makes her usual post-"Baby Jane" style of star entrance, this time descending a staircase. Regal, defiant, tough; upswept silver-streaked hair, shoulders thrown back, menacing eyebrows. Trim and graceful in long shots, soft-focus in close-ups, she plays the title character, a wealthy recluse who, with her daughter (the attractive but undistinguished Diane Baker), has confined herself to her Downton Abbey-like property for several years except for occasional nighttime drives. What is she hiding? Vampirism? (If only.) Adjacent to her palatial domicile is a private garden festooned with statues of pagan gods that look like backyard kitsch from Walmart. The "moon goddess" wobbles when Baker leans against it; the sun god" ("mother and I made it out of clay when I was little") looks like a replica of a gape-mouthed Aztec temple carving and she feeds it flowers for reasons that are never explained. Baker spends a great deal of time gazing at the heavens in her private mini-planetarium which resembles a "Star Trek" set piece.

Into this weird world steps James Burke (a run-of-the-mill actor like Richard Basehart or Dana Andrews: not bad to look at, histrionically competent, but lacking electricity or charisma—in other words, the perfect complement to Diane Baker). Of course Crawford, with the help of the script and the direction, blows them off the screen, and not subtly either. But back to Burke. He plays a lawyer whose father, Bickford, is on the city council and both would like to convince Crawford to sell her property so that a large aerospace company can relocate its headquarters there and do wonders for the local economy. She agrees by phone to meet Burke to discuss the matter – at her place at 2am. Hmmm. While trying to persuade her to sell, he meets and becomes attracted to Baker (also awake and dressed to the nines in the middle of the night) and begins to wonder what is behind this reclusive nocturnal lifestyle. Pop (Bickford) happens to know the answer but he ain't talking'. Otherwise the movie would end at the 30-minute point.

In its time "Della" was probably dismissed as a hopeless clunker, the kind of thing that would have gone straight to video decades later. But through the prism of half a century, certain aspects of it become fascinating if you look at it clinically the way a car mechanic might look under the hood of an Edsel. But if you're expecting a well-conceived and emotionally involving dramatic experience, skip it.

The scenic coastal city of "Royal Bay" invites a potentially lucrative deal from land developers. Unfortunately, bachelor attorney Paul Burke (as Bernard "Barney" Stafford) and his city councilman father Charles Bickford (as Hugh Stafford) are unable to proceed. Much of the city is owned by attractively graying Joan Crawford (as Della), who refuses to sell the land in question. The wealthy and reclusive Ms. Crawford has been secluded in her mansion for 15 years, due to an unfortunate incident we will learn about nearer the story's end. Receiving an invitation to visit Crawford, Mr. Burke meets her beautiful daughter Diane Baker (as Jenny Chappell) and the two are mutually attracted. Working out a land development deal grows secondary as Burke becomes more concerned with why Ms. Baker feels imprisoned, on the sprawling estate, by her mysterious mother...

This project began as a "Peyton Place" swipe entitled "Royal Bay" – but it was not picked up by the TV networks. This is not a surprise. The expense of producing a nighttime 1964 serial, in color, with possible appearances by Joan Crawford must have had executives scratching their heads. If she wasn't contacted to regularly appear, the series provides little else of interest. It would have starred Burke and Mr. Bickford, a Hollywood veteran who does get a notable scene with Crawford. Independent of Crawford, they are uninteresting. Other regulars Richard Carlson (as David Stafford) and Robert Sampson (as Joel Stafford) look promising and obviously had story lines, but nothing is revealed about them. In the end, this does not work as a proposed TV series. However, it does work as a Joan Crawford showcase; she would have excelled as a nighttime soap opera matriarch.

***** Royal Bay/ Della (8/8/64) Robert Gist ~ Joan Crawford, Paul Burke, Diane Baker, Charles Bickford

This was produced after Crawford's camp Whatever Happened to Baby Jane comeback. 1965? It appears it was on the shelf for at least a year and a half.

As a Crawford vehicle, this is pretty dull. For the most part, Joan Crawford films after 1950 were pure camp. This one is not so unintentionally funny unless you count all these scenes with Vaseline on the lens, her overly dramatic poses or her 1963 Oscars hair. I kept waiting for a Pepsi bottle to appear.

The bright spot is Diane Baker. This was made during her studio contract years where she was properly groomed and given parts commensurate with her looks and talent. Well, except this part. She would go on to one more good film, Mirage, before being kicked to the TV movie curb.

I remember watching "Della" on late-night TV when I was a teenager. I did not realize it, in fact, WAS made for the small screen. Perhaps I found this film fascinating because my Mom's name was Della (and not such a common name).

There's just something about Joan Crawford that has always intrigued me. In this movie she carries herself regally throughout. She is simply beautiful, and her presence is impeccable. She plays a rather long-suffering, yet tough-as-nails mother to Diane Baker (who lives with a dark secret in a dark house).

Paul Burke does his best to challenge Miss Crawford, but her portrayal of Della is a superb, late entry for her talent. I wish more women would grow into their looks graciously the way Joan Crawford did. She's about 60 in this role, but she doesn't try to look 35...kudos to her choice wardrobe. I rather wish this 70-minute film would have indeed been made into a TV series as originally intended.

Even though later years would cast a pall on Joan's mothering skills (which to this day I doubt), in "Della" she is brazen at times and no-nonsense with her daughter Jenny, yet she conveys an extremely emotional, believable side to her love for her only child. I wonder if her tears in this movie are a mirror of her real life at that time.

It was only 11 years after the release of this film that I wrote to Joan and received an autographed book of hers (from her home in New York City). Even though Crawford had, to put it mildly, many more important and well-known movies, "Della" sticks with me as almost a final glimpse into the star quality and Hollywood glamour that in 1964 was nearly on the way out. I don't believe Joan Crawford fans would regret watching this and seeing a trooper of the studios put a professional spin on a mysterious, almost-surreal story.

I wish it was a little longer, something is missing. Anyway, the beautiful Diane Baker is excellent embodying a mentally unbalanced young woman. Joan Crawford, a top expert on the characters of very strong women, here she manages to make you shiver only with the force of her steel eyes. Paul Burke and Charles Bickford, as son and father, are good. Worth seeing!