Della (film)
4.8 /10 1 Votes
Director Robert Gist Music director Fred Steiner Duration Country United States | 4.6/10 IMDb Genre Drama Screenplay Richard Alan Simmons Writer Richard Alan Simmons Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date August 8, 1964 Cast Joan Crawford (Della Chappell), Diane Baker (Jenny Chappell), Charles Bickford (Hugh Stafford), Paul Burke (Barney Stafford), Richard Carlson (David Stafford), Robert Sampson (Joel Stafford)Similar movies Joan Crawford appears in Della and Mildred Pierce | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Della is a 1964 American made-for-television film pilot starring Joan Crawford, Paul Burke and Diane Baker. The pilot was originally intended for a proposed NBC television series named Royal Bay which was to star Paul Burke as a lawyer and Charles Bickford as his cantankerous, righteous father. The pilot aired in first-run syndication on August 8, 1964.
Following the successful film-to-television progressions of movie stars such as Lucille Ball and Barbara Stanwyck, Crawford attempted the same maneuver with Royal Bay, a soap opera in a fictional seaside town where she was the wealthy matriarch and daughter of the town's founder. However, the pilot centered on the two characters that would most likely not reprise their role for the series, mother and daughter Della and Jenny Chappell. This may have been one of the reasons the pilot was released as a stand-alone feature instead of the start of a series.
Plot
Della Chappell (Joan Crawford) is a reclusive wealthy woman, consumed by power and dedicated to protecting the future of her daughter Jenny (Diane Baker). Her father founded the town of Royal Bay and she still owns most of it. An outside company wants to buy parts of the town for development but Della refuses to consider the option. Barney Stafford (Paul Burke), a lawyer representing the developers' interests, butts heads with Della frequently.
She invites him to her home for a meeting at 2:00AM. Barney, eager to settle the matter, heads over to Della's estate and instead he meets Jenny. Barney notices strange happenings at the house, such as everyone sleeping during the day and all business is conducted in the middle of the night. He comes to learn that Jenny has a skin condition that prevents her from being in the light and keeps her inside the home at all times. At a particularly tense meeting, Della attempts to employ Barney in a veiled attempt to buy his company for Jenny.
Instead, Jenny leaves the house at the urging of Barney and ultimately crashes her car because she is disoriented and is killed.
References
Della (film) WikipediaDella (film) IMDb Della (film) themoviedb.org