Cbs Tuesday Night Movie Search for Grace

 ((Tues. (17), 9-11 p.m., CBS))

By TONY SCOTT

Filmed in Wilmington, N.C., by CBS Entertainment Prods. Executive producer, Cynthia Whitcomb; producer, Vanessa Greene; co-producer, Susan Jeter; director, Sam Pillsbury; writer, Alex Ayres.
 
Cast: Lisa Hartman Black, Ken Wahl, Richard Masur, Don Michael Paul, Suzanne Douglas, Lori Lindberg, Evan Wood, Ann Donnell, Delbert C. Taylor, Winston Hemingway, Charles McLawlorn, Mark Miller, Stephanie Wood, D.L. Anderson, Alex Van, Lynn Schrichte.
 

Touted as "inspired by an actual case history," teleplay by Alex Ayres tries telling how a woman dead since 1927 warns a woman living today how to keep from being murdered. It'd be interesting to know how the producers connect the words "inspire,""actual" and "case history" to this frailty.

Ivy (Lisa Hartman Black) can't bring herself to marry dependable, loving Dave (Don Michael Paul) because something about a soul mate keeps tugging at her. Meeting flashy John (a hefty Ken Wahl), Ivy begins an affair with him even though she's starting to have warning flashbacks about roaring waters, red shoes , choking, someone named Sarah and whatever.

Ayres draws a parallel case from the '20s in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, with the trio from yesteryear played by the same trio of actors in period costumes but with just as little finesse. Splitting from Dave and taking up with strong, not-so-silent John, who wallops her, Ivy finds an irresponsible, insensitive psychologist (Richard Masur). He unhesitatingly takes her hypnotically into the life of the dead woman (played as obviously by Hartman Black as she plays the shallow Ivy).

Reincarnation, psychic fringes and no indication that Ivy knows how to use her noodle dot the meller. Sam Pillsbury's direction doesn't much help the foolishness; attempts to drench the work with a feeling of foreboding fall dismally short.

There's not much suspense or mystery in the obvious tale. Instead of falling back on case histories, vid writers should create drama out of the real thing -- their imagination.

Tech credits are satisfactory.

Camera, Eric Van Haren Noman; editor, Pam Malouf-Cundy; sound, Peter Bentley; music, Michael Hoenig; production designer, Michael Corenblith.