lrrap

Sounds crazy, no? With a bravura performance by Bette Davis and a typically great one by Claude Rains, who would notice Walter Abel (Cousin Georgie) enough to single him out for praise? But he really makes this lengthy, serio-comic epic MUCH more enjoyable, with his animated, boyish charm and beautifully eloquent delivery, "picking up" every scene he's in especially when the going gets rough, heavy and wallow-y between Davis and Rains. The film would have been much more dreary without him.

I thought the scene with the young, 10-year old Fanny and Claude Rains in the restaurant was perhaps the standout scene in the film; just beautiful (and the young actress, Sylvia Arslan, was superb) and, astoundingly, a worthy match for Claude Rains.

Everything else you would want to know about this film is covered by the other comments posted here.

Fascinating to realize how many of the actors in shows of this era knew each other and worked together in the past; that, in fact, is the way Peter Falk chose many of the people he preferred to work with in "Columbo".

Case in point: check out "The Untouchables" episode entitled "The Underworld Bank" (4/14/60) and watch the brutal beating of Peter Falk by Val Avery (Artie Jessup in "Friend in Deed"). Amazing to realize these guys were friends and colleagues in real life (Note: this Untouchables episode also features the great Thomas Mitchell..who you might know as Uncle Billy in "It's a Wonderful Life"; an actor of tremendous range, as you'll see).

The other comments here point out a number of plot inconsistencies in "Friend in Deed", to which I will add the following, which puzzled me as I watched: why would Police Commissioner Halperin, supposedly the paragon of law and order in town (and a married man) be philandering IN PUBLIC with a younger babe hanging on him as he gambled the night away? Not a very good way of instilling public trust in you as a law-enforcement official. Interesting also is the fact that Janice Caldwell's wake is held the next afternoon, less than a day after she was killed.

ALSO-- I'm also a bit puzzled by the many references to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train"; you'd almost think that one person floated the idea and others began to repeat it, since the connections are tenuous at best (to begin with, "Strangers" involves two guys who are supposed to "exchange" murders as a supposed deal, essentially doing a favor for one another. Far more eccentric and sinister than what goes on here.

Anyway, "Friend In Deed" is wonderful..Kiley is great, Val Avery is, as always, fun to watch, Gazzara's direction is excellent, and Falk is brilliant (although..it would have made more sense to have Columbo slip the landlord, say, $75 bucks to let him USE the apartment for a few days to trap Kiley, as opposed to taking out a LEASE on the dump..which seems unlikely). LR.