''The Devil's Daughter'' is a 1973 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

starring

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...

, Belinda Montgomery and Robert Foxworth. It originally aired as the ''

ABC Movie of the Week The ''ABC Movie of the Week'' is an American weekly television anthology series featuring Television film, made-for-TV movies that aired on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network in various permutations from 1969 in television, 1969 t ...

'' on January 9, 1973. It was an early screenwriting credit for

Colin Higgins Colin Higgins (28 July 1941 – 5 August 1988) was an Australian-American screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. He was best known for writing the screenplay for the 1971 film '' Harold and Maude'', and for directing the films '' Foul Play ...

Plot

Diane Shaw is a young woman who attends the funeral of her mother Alice Shaw. One of Alice's old friends, a wealthy woman named Lilith Malone, introduces her to a Satanic cult that Alice was part of before leaving it while Diane was a baby. The cult members have been keeping track of Diane (unbeknownst to her) throughout her childhood and teenage years, and believe her to be their "princess of darkness," insisting she take that role, which Diane rejects, horrified. Several strange things happen to Diane and her friends as the cult tries to take control over her. Diane eventually meets Steve Stone, a charming young man, and as she falls in love with him, feels she can defy the cult and live her own life. On her wedding day, Diane learns, to her shock and horror, that there are sinister conditions for the marriage, making her destiny unavoidable when she finds out that Steve is really the demon prince the cult had arranged her to marry.

Cast

as Lilith Malone * Belinda Montgomery as Diane Shaw * Robert Foxworth as Steve Stone * Jonathan Frid as Mr. Howard * Martha Scott as Mrs. Stone * Joseph Cotten as Judge Weatherby * Barbara Sammeth as Susan Sanford * Diane Ladd as Alice Shaw * Lucille Benson as Janet Poole * Thelma Carpenter as Margaret Poole * Abe Vigoda as Alikhine *

Ian Wolfe Ian Marcus Wolfe (November 4, 1896 – January 23, 1992) was an American character actor with around 400 film and television credits. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre. That year, he appeared in his first film role and later television, as ...

as Father MacHugh * Robert Cornthwaite as Pastor Dixon * Rozelle Gayle as Fedora * Lillian Bronson as Landlady

Production

The movie was filmed in Pacific Grove, California and

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' said it "had about as much suspense as the Nixon-McGovern race." ''The'' ''New York Times'' called it "one of the better made for TV movies."

Legacy

later described the script as "just a job". However producers Edward K. Milkis and Thomas L. Miller enjoyed working with Higgins and commissioned him to write an

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

style thriller. This became '' Silver Streak''.The Producers: A Varied Bunch Kilday, Gregg. Los Angeles Times 20 Apr 1977: e8.

References

External links

* * 1973 television films 1973 films 1973 horror films American horror television films Films directed by Jeannot Szwarc Films with screenplays by Colin Higgins ABC Movie of the Week Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal 1970s American films Psycho-biddy films {{US-tv-horror-film-stub