The Sweet Scent of Death: screencaps

[michael_gothard]

A sinister figure prowls Ann Denver (Shirley Knight)’s new home, as she arrives with her husband Greg (Dean Stockwell).




Ann is disconcerted to find that flowers have been delivered for her, though no one should have been expecting her arrival. A stranger (Michael Gothard) appears on the stairs.



He claims to be the local florist, “Flowers for all occasions. Weddings, engagements, funerals. I do a lot of funerals.”



He knows Ann’s name, and introduces himself as Terry Marvin. Ann thinks she recognises him, but as she can’t recall where they have met before. Marvin says that perhaps there’s nothing to remember.



Left alone all day, Ann is unsettled, and thinks there is someone hanging around in the grounds. She now realises that the florist, Terry Marvin, is a man whose girlfriend’s murderer she successfully defended in court. She suspects Marvin of being the lurker, and goes to see him.



Marvin says he thought she hadn’t remembered what happened all those years ago, and that he himself is trying to forget.



When further suspicious happenings upset Ann, and the police refuse to move against Marvin, Greg confronts him in his potting shed, and attacks him.



The police arrive, and break up the fight, just as Marvin is defending himself with a pitchfork.



Plaintively, Marvin asks what he is supposed to have done.



During a party at the Denver’s home, the sinister figure is again seen lurking outside. Meanwhile, Terry Marvin receives a call, and leaves at once for the Denvers’.



After the party, Ann finds Greg apparently injured. Then Marvin appears.



Ann immediately suspects him, and grabs a gun. Marvin tries to calm her down.



As they struggle over the weapon, Marvin shoots himself in the foot.



They both lie, dazed and injured, on the floor.



Then someone dressed just like Terry Marvin appears: Greg Denver’s secretary Suzy Kendrick (Carmen du Sautoy).



The evil pair’s plan, to kill Ann Denver, and blame Terry Marvin for the murder, is almost complete.



Marvin launches himself at Greg Denver, saving Ann’s life just as the police, Detective Sergeant Wells (Robert Lang) and Detective Constable Gray (Struan Rodger), arrive, having already found evidence of the frame-up.



As he is taken away on a stretcher, Terry Marvin tells Ann Denver that “you get over it – in time.”