Patricia "Pete" Peterson (Baxter Birney) and Michael Lewis (Hylands) fall in love and decide to get married after Pete gets pregnant. Oh, they're in love to be sure but since a baby is on the way they figure they had better get the wedding out of the way. Michael takes her to his home in Vancouver to meet his parents, Marian and Howard Lewis (Celeste Holm and Robert Lansing), and get married. They don't have time to meet her parents before the wedding which turns out to be quite the mistake.
When Pete's parents, Claire and Ben Peterson (Lana Turner and Robert Alda), return home from Europe, Claire quickly pieces together just who exactly this Michael is: the son of Howard Lewis, the father of Pete! Years before, Howard and Claire had a fling resulting in the birth of Pete. Howard then married Marian and had Michael. Pete and Michael are half-siblings and expecting a child. Claire panics about who the baby will look like while everyone else in their life lets out a collective "eew." Will Pete and Michael be destroyed? Will they still have the baby? It's the stuff of soap operas, to be sure.
Lana Turner, by all accounts, never complained about the quality of scripts she got later in life and gave her all in each and every one. She has a few more emotional scenes than she's used to in this one, and soldiers through them like a champ, but otherwise, the movie belongs to Baxter Birney and Hylands.
Meredith Baxter Birney spent most of the early seventies getting one-off roles on episodic television before receiving the starring role in Bittersweet Love and ensemble job on the hit show Family. Though she's early into her career here, and doesn't have a lot to work with, you can see the talent and skill that would lead to a long and successful career. She works well with Hylands, also good, and easily holds her own with screen legends Turner, Celeste Holm, and Robert Alda.
The director, David Miller, isn't a name most people are familiar with but his career of directing shorts in the 1930s and '40 led to a couple of Oscars and recognition for anyone watching Turner Classic Movies. There's a good chance if you've seen even a few of the shorts run by Turner Classic Movies in between movies, you've seen the work of Miller. After that, he directed a lot of television before retiring in the early 1980s.
Bittersweet Love is the kind of movie made for everyone who missed the cinematic soaps of the fifties. No, it doesn't come close to the masterful work of Douglas Sirk, but that's like saying a hot dog isn't the same quality as a filet mignon. It's not but so what? As far as food you can eat in a bun goes, they're pretty good. And as far as soaps you can watch with Lana Turner, Bittersweet Love isn't half bad.
Director: David Miller Screenplay: Adrian Morrall, D.A. Kellogg Producers: Joel B. Michaels, Gene Slott, Joseph Zappala Music: Kenneth Wannberg Cinematography: Stephen M. Katz Film Editing: Bill Butler Art Direction: Vincent M. Cresciman Cast: Lana Turner (Claire), Robert Lansing (Howard), Celeste Holm (Marian), Robert Alda (Ben), Scott Hylands (Michael), Meredith Baxter-Birney (Patricia), Gail Strickland (Roz), Richard Masur (Alex), Denise DeMirjian (Nurse Morrison), John Friedrich (Josh), Amanda Gavin (Judy), Jerome Guardino (Psychiatrist)
By Greg Ferrara
