AFRICA SERVES as the dramatic, exotic background for "Face to Face," a romantic adventure starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth. The "Hallmark Hall of Fame" :special airs Wednesday Night at 9 on CBS.
Montgomery ("Bewitched") plays Diana Firestone, a paleontologist, who. travels to Africa-in search of the oldest human fossil. Foxworth ("Falcon Crest") is a miner exploring the same territory for meerschaum, a special clay used to make smoking pipes.
Sparks fly as the strong-willed people each claim digging rights in Kenya's high country, and romance blooms as their hostility gradually changes to reluctant respect.
"Face to Face" marks the first time in 15 years that Montgomery and Foxworth - who have had a romance of their own for almost that long have acted together.
"It's not the usual kind of romance you see on television," said Foxworth. "It's a mature love story, with two very interesting and very independent characters whose relationship changes from mutual animosity to mutual respect."
"Face to Face" was filmed on location in remote northern Kenya, on the banks of the Engare Odare River. When additional laborers were needed on the set, 10 Masai warriors were hired.
Interviewed around a campfire near her tent (her home for the three weeks of filming), Montgomery talked about Africa. "The innocence, the beauty, the harshness," she said, "it's all here. This is life of another dimension."
When Montgomery was first reading the "Face to Face" script, she says she was reminded of when a person is young, "and you'd be reading something and it was so good you couldn't bear to turn the page because you were afraid the next page would disappoint you. Well, that's the kind of feeling had when I read this... I kept thinking, 'I hope it stays this good.'"