The Stranger Within

On a rainy summer day it was nice to stay inside and watch an old made for TV movie called The Stranger Within (1974) starring  Barbara Eden, George Grizzard and Joyce Van Patten.  Ann and David are the happily married couple until Ann discovers she is pregnant even though David had previously had a vasectomy.  That fact and the escalating strangeness of Ann's behavior soon cause a rocky marriage.  Ann starts craving way too much salt and black coffee and keeps the house cold and a mess.  She also starts speed reading through every book she can get her hands on.  We soon discover that her unborn baby is causing her to do these things.  What the baby turns out to be you'll have to watch to see.

I always like watching Barbara Eden in movies and she did a fine job acting at times crazed, erratic, and bizarre in this movie.  The setting in the sunny California hills contrasts with the shadow cast over their marriage and the coolness that permeates the film.  This is not the best Barbara Eden film from that period (see 'A Howling in the Woods') but it is an enjoyable escape on a rainy afternoon.