Bittersweet Love

Though an interesting premise, Bittersweet Love is kind of a mess. Lana Turner was a very beautiful woman, and certainly in her younger years had an undeniable charm and lightness, as in "Slightly Dangerous." By 1976, that girl is gone.

Lana's name is used strictly as a gimmick to get people to watch - she doesn't do much except overact and wear that babushka she often wore with a fur coat. I can't remember if she wore sunglasses, but she usually did in that getup.

The story is intriguing if the stuff that soaps are made of. Without realizing it, a half-brother and sister fall in love, get married, and the woman (Meredith Baxter-Birney) becomes pregnant. It turns out that Birney was the product of a fling that Turner had with Scott Hylands' father.

Once this is revealed, some tough choices need to be made. Incest is very repulsive to females, so sayeth one of the pundits in the story; the baby's father, however, wants to have the baby and continue the relationship.

Celeste Holm and Robert Lansing are also in the cast, playing husband and wife. Bad mismatch. And, alas, not the only thing bad about "Bittersweet Love."