Della (film)

Della is a 1964 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Paul Burke, Charles Bickford and Diane Baker. Directed by Robert Gist, the film was originally produced by Four Star Television as a television pilot for a proposed NBC series named Royal Bay which was to star Burke as a lawyer and Bickford as his cantankerous, righteous father.

Della
Directed byRobert Gist
Produced byStanley M. Kallis
Joan Crawford (uncredited)
Written byRichard Alan Simmons
StarringJoan Crawford
Paul Burke
Charles Bickford
Diane Baker
Music byFred Steiner
CinematographyWilfrid Cline
Edited byBernard Burton
Production
company
Distributed byFour Star Distribution
Release date
  • August 8, 1964 (1964-08-08)
(United States)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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 standalone film instead of the start of a series.[1]

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 2:00 AM. 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.

After a discussion with his father, Barney goes to apologize to Della. After all is revealed (why Jenny must never leave) Barney leaves, presumably for good. Angry and upset, Jenny then leaves the house and ultimately crashes her car because she is disoriented and is killed.

Cast

Notes

Had the pilot been turned into a television series, Crawford would have most likely made an occasional guest appearance (she's listed as a "Guest Star" in the credits) but leave the primary responsibility to Paul Burke and younger cast members to keep the story moving along.[1]

Because the studio was disappointed in the final result of the pilot film, the plans for a TV series were scrapped and Royal Bay was renamed Della. The short film — just a little over 70 minutes — received a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 8, 1964.[1]

Joan Crawford and Diane Baker played mother and daughter for the second time in only a few months, following the horror classic, Strait-Jacket earlier that year.[1]

Home video releases

Following years of obscurity, the film was finally released on videocassette under the title Fatal Confinement by a company called International Film Forum in 1988.[2]

On January 31, 2012, Della was released as an exclusive manufacture-on-demand DVD-R through the TCM Shop.[3]

References
  1. "Della". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  2. Fatal Confinement (Della) videocassette at Amazon.
  3. Della DVD at TCM.
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