Le piace la musica, le piace ballare

I have read with great enjoyment all of Mary Higgins Clark's novels, but when it comes to this movie (I use this term lightly), don't waste your time! The script was horrible and the acting (I use that term very lightly) even worse. My husband and I could not stop laughing and that was the only reason we did not turn it off after the first 3 minutes.

Darcy Scott ( Patsy Kensit ) works as a producer of a daytime reality show. As such, she sometimes clashes on story ideas with the Diva lady who hosts. Nevertheless, one idea pleases them both. Darcy's best friend Erin goes on multiple dates with beaux she meets on a dating website and then tells all. Unhappily, on date 7 Erin never comes back home. She has been murdered and her body dumped in a dead end alley. What is startling is her shoes when found. One foot has a snug boot and the other, a dancing shoe. Research shows this was a matching method to another beautiful lady killed seven years ago. Was it the same killer or a copycat? The police start investigating but won't listen when she tells them it was one of the Internet dates. So, Darcy, having Erin's file, decides to go meet all the same men and nab the killer herself. BAD IDEA. Clark is one of my favorite authors and this title one of her best. If you love thrillers, go find the book. However, this adaptation is not awful and has some good moments. Kensit looks beautiful and performs well in the leading role. The story has been truncated while still retaining the most vital elements. By all means, view it if you love mysteries or the incomparable MHC!

"Loves Music, Loves to Dance" is another Sonny Grosso-produced TV movie based on a Mary Higgins Clark novel. This film was made in 2001 and has some familiar Canadian actors - Cynthia Preston, Dean McDermott and Alan Hall, to name three, and stars Patsy Kensit.

Kensit is Darcy Scott, the producer of a trash-talk TV show, whose friend Erin (Preston) is doing a story for her on Internet dating. When she is murdered, Darcy is convinced the murder is committed by one of the men she dated and sets out to find the killer.

These Clark TV movies are like accidents - you can't help but look. I watch all of them, even though they're not very good. This one, while full of holes (especially the first scene when a woman is murdered a few feet away from a big party and didn't scream her guts out), moves a little faster than some of the past adaptations. Kensit does a good job, and Preston, who played Faith Roscoe on General Hospital, is lively. Justin Louis plays the police detective assigned to the case.

Mary Higgins Clark's agent, I'm assuming, could have sold these books to anyone. Why the Grosso-Jacobsen group was chosen is beyond me.

I was honestly surprised someone said Loves Music Loves to Dance was one of Clarke's weaker novels. I thought it was one of her best. The who done it cliffhanger was executed to perfection, there are plenty enough curveballs thrown to keep you guessing. The characters are much more believable and compelling.

However, this movie was far inferior. Key characters who made the plot much more interesting were left out, most notably a couple of men who could have easily been the killer themselves, along with the man who it actually turns out to be. Its not nearly as obvious who the killer is in the book. Even many of the characters who were included were changed from the novel, sometimes in unappealing ways. Even the villain himself is far more compelling and far more dangerous in the novel.

I won't go into all the differences between the novel and the movie, there is no room or time. But don't let this third rate film discourage you from reading the book if you haven't. Its much better. Pass the film up.

All of Clarke's books with the possible exception of While My Pretty One Sleeps were done poorly on the screen. Its ashame because I feel all of them could have been good box office films in competent hands, including Loves Music Loves To Dance. I would like to see them redone someday by more competent directors and screenwriters. Doubt it though.

Missed reading this Mary Higgins Clark book and decided to view the TV film and was very disappointed with the entire film from beginning to end. Patsy Kensit,(Darcy Scott) gave a great performance in trying to locate her very close friend who all of a sudden went missing. However, this close friend was doing an assignment for Darcy's TV program which involved going out with guys she connected with on the Internet. You see the apparent murderer dancing around his apartment with a gal who is limp in his arms and having a mixed pair of shoes on her feet. This was a very poorly produced film and you will almost know immediately who the killer is going to turn out to be. I am sure reading the book would have been a better choice.