By Lee Pfeiffer
Cinema Retro readers know that columnist Tom Lisanti wrote a piece for issue #17 about the little-seen 1969 thriller Once You Kiss a Stranger that included comments from the film's star Carol Lynley. At the time, the film was unavailable on DVD, but lo and behold, yet another cult movie we've written about has now been released to home video. We're starting to think we have a crystal ball that influences studio executives. In any event, the movie is a minor trifle, but a fun one, that is primarily distinguished by Lynley playing against type as an outwardly charming and seductive young woman who is, in fact, a mentally unstable person with a penchant for violence. Curiously, the movie is a loose remake of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, as both films were inspired by Patricia Highsmith's source novel.
Lynley plays Diana, a consistently perky type who hides her emotional turmoils within her. Distraught by the possibility that her aged aunt and psychiatrist might re-commit her to a mental asylum, she concocts a scenario for the perfect crime. She seduces a married, famous golf pro (Paul Burke) and in playful pillow talk, tells him she will kill his main rival on the golf circuit, thus ensuring he will become a champion. In return, Burke is expected to kill the psychiatrist before he can have her committed to the asylum. Burke jokingly plays along, unaware the bedroom chatter is being secretly videotaped. (This is probably one of the earliest uses of a home video camera to figure into a motion picture storyline). When Burke discovers Lynley has actually carried out the murder, he is blackmailed by her. He faces a Hobson's Choice: either kill the psychiatrist or face the gas chamber for his role in the killing of the golfer.