A Tattered Web

Gosh, Frank Converse was such a hunk. Wish I'd seen him do Streetcar Named Desire.

In A Tattered Web, he's 33, playing the cheating husband of Sallie Shockley and son-in-law of Lloyd Bridges in a tv movie directed by Paul Wendkos.

Bridges is Sergeant Ed Stagg who's been following Steve (Converse) to a girlfriend's (Anne Helm). Fiercely protective of his daughter to the point of obsession, Stagg confronts the woman, and during an altercation, accidentally kills her.

He can't have Steve accused, so he focuses on an old drunk (Broderick Crawford) who has already been arrested for murder and tries to convince him that he killed her.

The big problem here is that Stagg acts so guilty his colleagues become suspicious, especially when a sketch in the newspaper looks so much like Steve. He begins to unravel, remembering his drunken father and how he nearly killed him.

Steve, meanwhile, knows he's innocent and wants to come clean with his wife and the police. To Stagg, these are not admirable qualities.

Bridges unravels very well, and Converse is convincing. Broderick is excellent, very sympathetic. Shockley doesn't have much to do, but one certainly feels sorry for her going forward. Her dad's losing it.

The most entertaining aspect about "A Tattered Web", I think, is the short description on the back of the Dutch DVD-release. Here it says about Lloyd Bridges' character: "he's a mean person, but we understand him...". Excuse me? Speak for yourself, will you! Bridges depicts a dictatorial patriarch who murders a girl in her own apartment, and then abuses his power and authority as a life-long police detective to frame an elderly drunkard for his vicious crime. I, for one, have absolutely no respect or understanding for anything this man does.

That being said, "A Tattered Web" is an obscure and inconspicuous, but nevertheless solidly engaging made-for-television thriller from the early 70s, with a simple but effective plot and competent people in front as well as behind the cameras. TV-regular Paul Wendkos ("The Legend of Lizzie Borden", "Haunts of the very Rich") directs steadily, and the cast contains a handful of familiar faces, including Lloyd Bridges (yes, in a serious role), Frank Converse, Murray Hamilton and Broderick Crawford. There's a fair amount of suspense to enjoy, especially when the titular web closes around Sgt. Ed Stagg and he's running out of cover-up options.

Average TV movie concerning cranky cop (Bridges) whose son-in-law (Converse) is having an affair with local harlot (Helm) that threatens to de-rail his marriage to Bridges beloved daughter (Shockley). Bridges tries to convince both Converse and Helm (separately) to end the infidelity, but goes too far, resulting in the title woes.

Murray Hamilton is reliable as Bridges' loyal police buddy, concerned by his colleague's apparent carelessness in handling aspects of the murder case, while familiar faces Walter Brooke, James Hong, John Fiedler and Whit Bissell have small roles. Broderick Crawford has a key supporting role as a drunk fingered for the crime, but Hamilton's not convinced by the forced confession obtained by Bridges. In my opinion Shockley, as the almost child-like daughter of Bridges over-protectiveness, does an outstanding job, neglected by her two-timing husband, but knowing more than she appears to comprehend.

Small-scale thriller moves at an economical pace with solid performances and some moments of suspense. Experienced TV and movie director Wendkos knows how to fashion a taut thriller for 70 minutes, but where there was the promise of a tense climax on two occasions (in both the bedroom scene and cliff-edge confrontation with Converse), neither comes to fruition, instead, the conclusion is tepid and ultimately disappointing.

A police sergeant in California, still grieving over the loss of his wife years before, follows his untrustworthy son-in-law to a woman's apartment and rightly suspects the two of having an affair; not wanting his incredibly naïve daughter to be hurt, the cop takes matters into his own hands--with tragic results. TV-made melodrama with a good set-up diffused by meandering, awkward results. There's nobody here to sympathize with: not the tortured sergeant (Lloyd Bridges, getting upstaged by his thick crop of hair), nor his randy in-law, the apathetic tramp, the clinging daughter...not even the detective's partner on the police force (who seemingly can't wait to bring his friend down!). There's a clever bit involving a thumb-print on a drinking glass, and Broderick Crawford does excellent work as a drunkard wrongly implicated in a crime. However, the remainder of the second-string cast is lackluster (though Bridges does try hard) and Paul Wendkos' direction is balky.

Tattered Web, A (1971)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Silly but entertaining made-for-TV thriller has Lloyd Bridges playing Sgt. Ed Stagg. He learns that his son-in-law (Frank Converse) has been having an affair so he goes to the woman to make her put an end to the affair. Stagg accidentally kills her so he must protect himself but also try to keep the police from finding out who her boyfriend was. I've come to expect a certain amount of silliness when it comes to these made-for-TV flicks from the 70s. It really doesn't matter what they're about but the majority of them are entertaining but also very campy. That's pretty much the case here as we get a pretty good story but it's mixed in with some very dumb moments. One of the biggest killers of this type of film are how over dramatic they can be and this here usually happens right before we go to commercial as the music blares and we get a silly zoom shot towards the guilty person. We get quite a bit of that here but we also get some very silly moments including the scenes at the start when Bridges busts into the woman's house and just keeps insulting her and calling her a tramp. I couldn't help but laugh at this as well as some of the more sillier moments including a priceless sequence where Bridges is trying to protect his daughter yet he never realizes that he's just putting a burden on her. The entire "protecting the daughter" is driven into the ground here as we get countless dialogue scenes with Bridges expressing his love for his daughter, which is fine but at times they are way too cute and over the top. With that said, the story itself is a pretty interesting one and I thought it was also rather clever as we had Bridges trying to do two things at once. I think it goes against his character that he'd do so many wrong things to try and clear everything up. As for the actor, he's great fun to watch here as he really gives it his all and keeps the film moving from start to finish. We also get a great supporting cast that includes Murray Hamilton, Broderick Crawford, Val Avery, Whit Bissell, John Fielder and Anne Helm as the other woman. The daughter in the film has to be one of the dumbest characters in the history of film as you'd think you were watching a 2-year-old. She can never figure things out and is constantly coming off either stupid or just downright ignorant and one can't help but grow frustrated with her. If you're a fan of the genre then this here is pretty much a must-see.