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[The Australian Panther]

Prof, who are the people in the photograph?
I don't recognize either of them. 

I've become very obsessed with inspirations lately, like when one movie is based on another one, or a movie inspires a TV series.   

You need to go right back to the Sllents and for those you need to go to plays and what was shown on stage before the movies.
One thing that annoys me about IMDB, is they don't outline what work directors and actors have done on stage. Doesn't give you an accurate picture of their careers. 
Also, books, fairy tales, pulps and from the 30's on, Radio serials.   
For books ERB, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Conan Doyle - all PD. Disney, who guard their own properties like hawks, fairy tales - no royalties.       

[profh0011]

Prof, who are the people in the photograph?  I don't recognize either of them. 

I believe that's Dennis Morgan & Joanna Barnes.

I don't know who they are, either-- but they're 2 of the stars of the show!

It flips me out that this was unseen for 63 YEARS.  Also, that after doing research, thinking about it and planning it for about a year, that at the very time I started buying the inspirations for M:I, I suddenly found out this was put out just 3 MONTHS ago.  What amazing timing!


You need to go right back to the Sllents and for those you need to go to plays and what was shown on stage before the movies.

A valid point.  Right now, though, I'm mainly concerned with some specific films that inspired TV shows (or, in the case of Roger Corman's POE films, which specific NON-Poe films inspired THOSE! --heehee)

When I got the idea a year or so back to do a "chronological" movie marathon-- without any restrictions on genres-- it allowed me to have one really wild experience.  A lot of people refuse to even consider ever watching silents. (Some refuse to watch anything not in COLOR!) But some of my favorite versions of some stories that have been filmed multiple times are the silents-- like THE MARK OF ZORRO and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

When movies evolved to sound, it was a slow process. Many very early sound movies still look and feel like silents. A lot of films from, say, 1929-32 FEEL very strange, like you're watching an almost entirely-different art form.  But here's the kicker-- you watch enough of them back-to-back, and they start to feel "normal"!

I'm trying to watch everything in my collection, and also add a lot of new ones I never had before.  So it's not all strictly chronological, as some things I've gotten out of sequence, and a few I've forgotten.  Perfect example, I'm up to 1949, but updating my list last night, I suddenly found a 1945 film I'd overlooked.  That will be this afternoon:  THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY.  It's on the back of a tape, and I have to fast-forward over another (later) movie to get to it.  It's also one I never actually liked. I saw it and taped it off TCM about 20 years ago, but I never felt inspired to watch it again.  But, as part of a humongous marathon... yeah, I can watch it NOW.



One thing that annoys me about IMDB, is they don't outline what work directors and actors have done on stage. Doesn't give you an accurate picture of their careers. 
Also, books, fairy tales, pulps and from the 30's on, Radio serials.   
For books ERB, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Conan Doyle - all PD. Disney, who guard their own properties like hawks, fairy tales - no royalties.

Yep.

I wanted to mention, it's amazing how many movies around 1930 or so were based on stage play versions of stories, NOT the earlier novels.  This includes DRACULA (Bela Lugosi), FRANKENSTEIN (Boris Karloff) and THE SPECKLED BAND (Raymond Massey as Sherlock Holmes-- BOY, do I wish to God somebody could unearth a COMPLETE, INTACT print of that one--  I really love Massey in the role).

Come to think of it, the 1914 HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is also based on a stage play version.  That thing has even less to do with the book than the 1959 Hammer version (which looks GREAT, but isn't half the story it should have been), but, it's one REALLY FUN flick. My favorite bit is when the bad guy impersonates Holmes; Holmes reads about it in the paper, then decided to go have a look at this "Sherlock Holmes" character.  Later, he turns up at the mansion disguised AS the murderer! It's hilarious.

People who refuse to watch silents don't know what they're missing.

[profh0011]

Here's the Thrilling Detective page on 21 BEACON STREET.

https://thrillingdetective.com/2021/08/11/dennis-chase-21-beacon-street/

[The Australian Panther]

Apparently there is  a DVD box set of 21 Beacon Street.
Unboxing 21 BEACON STREET: THE COMPLETE SERIES from ClassicFlix!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phrQikI_J5E

It always annoys me that those guys who do these kinds of videos think we want to stare at their faces for half an hour. This one is particularly annoying because he doesn't understand that he needs to look into the camera. 
It's visually quite irritating.

21 Beacon Street - Ep. 1, Opening Scene Clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B57-ei8DgcA

Doesn't look too bad.

Of course it's impossible not to wonder if the creators of 21 Jump Street chose the name as a homage.
For mine, a bit too much of a co-incidence.   

cheers!     

[profh0011]

Apparently there is  a DVD box set of 21 Beacon Street.

I'm not sure where I first heard of the show, but sometime early this year (or late last year) I read the THRILLING DETECTIVE page, and added the show to my "wanted" list... just in case it ever came out.

Then, to my shock & surprise-- it DID-- after being out of circulation for 63 YEARS!

I got my copy on 10-6-23.  Been watching it at a rate of one episode a week.  Enjoying it immensely!

I posted a comment about the DVD box on the THRILLING DETECTIVE page.  A day or so later, the guy who runs the site added links about the set so people can go buy it.  (Of course, I got mine thru Ebay, not Amazon... and the seller trhere was Classicflix, the manufacturer!)

I just ordered the new restoration of I, THE JURY (1953), the first time there has ever been an "official" release of this film.  And, whatta ya know, it's also from Classicflix.  However, in this case, I ordered a copy from my favorite Ebay seller-- and wound up getting it for about $6 LESS than if I'd gotten it straight from Classicflix themselves.

This will be my 2nd upgrade of the film.  I first taped it off a cable channel, in the middle of the morning, with commercial breaks.  Worse, they started it early-- so the tape was missing the first 8 minutes.  (GRRR.)

Later, I got a bootleg DVD-R which was uncut.  HUGE improvement.  But, it was "fullscreen", something that was only really noticable when watching the opening credits (as part of the text on one side was cut off).

I'm not sure how wide the widescreen is on the film, but, I'll be finding out soon!   

[profh0011]

THE RETURN OF THE MAN FROM UNCLE:  The Fifteen-Years-Later Affair
The Nuclear Affair   (5 of 10)

THRUSH is back in business, and one of their top men is broken out of prison after 15 years, heading up a scheme wherein a nuclear device is stolen from a downed military jet. A huge ransom is demanded or the device will destroy part of the USA, and the agency demands the ransom be delivered by former UNCLE agent Napoleon Solo-- who must be recruited back to do the job-- and he has to recruit his former partner Ilya Kuryakin, who quit years earlier over a mission that went bad. Solo know his old enemy well enough to believe the man will detonate the device EVEN AFTER he's been paid, and so plans a two-pronged assault to find and deactivate the bomb on one hand, and find and take down the new THRUSH HQ on the other.

It all sounds a lot better than it actually is-- TRUST me!

In the late 70s, "reunion" films became a new fad in the wake of RESCUE FROM GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. Tragically, too many of them were apallingly-bad, like THE WILD WILD WEST REVISITED, THE RETURN OF MAXWELL SMART, and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. This one didn't happen until several years later (1983). Compared to those 3 examples... it's not that bad. But that's not what I'd call a glowing reccomendation. TV adventure shows were demasculated in the late 70s by heavy censorship, and in the early 80s, network TV was still trying to figure out how to do exciting action shows again. (Having to watch bad guys climb out of just-crashed cars BEFORE they explode, so nobody actually gets killed onscreen, gets extremely annoying after the first time you've seen it.)

I first saw this (and taped it!) when it was first-run. At the time, I'd actually seen very little of UNCLE. But watching it on DVD now, it has the huge disadvantage of my having just watched EVERY single episode of UNCLE in sequence (even the "GIRL" episodes). Season 1 was revolutionary for TV at the time, and as close to perfect as a show from that era could be. Seasons 2 & 3 (and yes, "GIRL" as well) had a lot of really fun episodes, but far too many just got SILLY-- and STUPID. Season 4 was a revelation; I've NEVER seen a show turn around like that one did. Until the unintended series finale (which was painfully padded-out to 2 episodes), there had NOT been a single bad episode in there. So going from THAT-- to THIS-- was one of the most painful TV-viewing experiences I've had this year. Let me put it this way: I'd rather re-watch Season 3.

I feel the source of the entire problem can be summed up in one person: MICHAEL SLOAN. When he took over as Producer on McCLOUD in its 7th season, the quality of the writing went through the floor. I know he got better as he went (see KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES). But I fear he hadn't made it there yet when he did this. It just feels amateurish, like it was done by some enthusiastic fan who thinks he knows the show, but really doesn't. And I have to wonder what happened with director Ray Austin. EVERY episode of THE AVENGERS he did in the 60s and 70s was better-done than this! Nearly every actor in this gives a STIFF, lifeless performance, as if they're all reading from cue cards during a rehearsal. The incessant attempts at humor are NOT funny, and annoying. The only exception to this is during the really lame car-chase in Vegas when several cars crash, and George Lazenby looks straight at the camera and says, "Shaken-- but not stirred!" THAT I found funny.

Details... with 105 episodes of THE MAN FROM UNCLE at their disposal, do they mean to tell me they couldn't find ONE villain actor from that show to come back for "revenge"-- and they had to make up several new ones? Anthony Zerbe (THE OMEGA MAN), Keenan Wynn (DR. STRANGELOVE) and Geoffrey Lewis (HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER) all seem wasted in this. Gayle Hunnicutt (SHERLOCK HOLMES: "A Scandal In Bohemia") arguably gives the single worst acting performance in the entire film. Carolyn Seymour, an excellent actress (RETURN OF THE SAINT: "The Arrangement") is barely even visible in her one brief cameo. At least Simon Williams (DOCTOR WHO: "Remembrance of the Daleks"), Lois De Banzie (SUDDEN IMPACT), Dick Durock (SWAMP THING), John Harkins (DARK SHADOWS), and Randi Brooks (MIKE HAMMER: "Dead Pigeon") had memorable moments.

On the other hand, Tom Mason's "Benjamin Kowalski" was the MOST annoying character in the entire film. THIS guy is supposed to represent a modern UNCLE agent? He's even more insufferable here than he was when he played "Archie Goodwin" opposite Thayer David in the 1977 unsold NERO WOLFE pilot.

When Vaughn & McCallum are onscreen, it's not bad, but you get really tired of being reminded every few minutes that they're older, out-of-shape and out-of-place. And Patrick Macnee, one of my all-time favorite actors, seemes even more out-of-place as "Sir John Raleigh", supposedly stepping into the top slot but somehow knowing less about UNCLE than 2 former agents do. The organization has clearly gone to pot.

Even the high-speed camera-pan scene-change visuals got on my nerves here-- as did the music. Those never did on the original show.

I think the thing that puts the final kibosh on it is having Zerbe's main villain ESCAPE at the end. WHAT were they thinking? "He'll come back in the sequel"? Well, there WASN'T one, and looking back now, I can really tell why.

As a parting shot, I'd like to reccomend what I consider the BEST reunion movie I ever saw: GET SMART AGAIN (1989). That one ignored the previous reunion (pretended it never happened, basically), and was a loving tribute to the original show in many ways that this thing simply WASN'T. But, I shouldn't be surprised. I ALWAYS liked GET SMART more than THE MAN FROM UNCLE anyway.

[profh0011]

THE MAN FROM UNCLE:  The Vulcan Affair
The Emerging African Nation Affair   (6 of 10)

4 Thrush assassins manage to break into UNCLE HQ in NYC, attempting to kill the #1 man, Alexander Waverly. Top agent Napoleon Solo shoots him 3 times-- very dead. It seems they've intercepted a transmission indicating that when the Premier of a newly-formed African nation is visiting an industrial plant owned by a known Thrush agent, someone is to be assassinated. The only way to get close to the man in charge, insanely enough, is to recruit an innocent married woman with 2 kids... who used to be the guy's girlfriend in college. As is to be expected in situations like this, things don't quite go as planned!

Producer Norman Felton had an idea to do a show that for legal reasons, they couldn't refer to as "James Bond On Television"-- especially after consulting with Ian Fleming, who contributed 2 character names: "Napoleon Solo" and "April Dancer". Fleming withdrew when EON Productions threatened a lawsuit, so writer Sam Rolfe "developed" the show, initially named SOLO but then (also for legal reasons) renamed the much-cooler THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

Robert Vaughn (THE MAGNIFICENT 7, THE LIEUTENANT) was cast as "Solo" because they wanted someone who looked "normal" who also could look really good in a tuxedo. When it comes to 60s spies, I find him infinitely more-likable than James Bond ever was! (Come to think of it, he's a lot closer to Fleming's version of Bond from the novels to that sexual predator Sean Connery helped co-create for the Bond movies.)

Leo G. Carroll (Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actor-- see REBECCA, SPELLBOUND, and most notably, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) is "Alexander Waverly", a guy so cool, so laid-back, at times he can seem cold-blooded when he sends his men out on dangerous missions. ("I sometimes wonder which side Mr. Waverly is really working for.", one of the heroes said in a later story.) He was apparently cast at a very late stage of the game, because Will Kuluva's "Mr. Allison", who was in the unaired pilot (and, crazy enough, the expanded theatrical movie version) was replaced due to a happy mix-up. (Kuluva would eventually play baddies in 2 much-later episodes.) Oddly enough, these days I find Waverly reminds me an awful lot of one of John Steed's bosses on THE AVENGERS, "One-Ten" (Douglas Muir), a cultured older gent who still has a thing for much-younger ladies. He was on that show 2 YEARS before UNCLE debuted!

In fact, similar to NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), Steed also had recruited a total innocent to help him, lounge singer "Venus Smith" (Julie Stevens), but unlike Solo, Steed didn't bother to tell Venus what was going on. THE CAD! (Again, 2 years before UNCLE debuted.)

David McCallum (THE OUTER LIMITS: "The Forms Of Things Unknown") has a tiny part as Russian UNCLE agent Ilya Kuryakin. Some network exec wanted him gone (even as some other network exec initially wanted "Mr. Spock" gone from STAR TREK!) but he survived and soon had such a building fan base that he became HALF of the show (even as Spock did on ST).

Guest-stars this ep include Patricia Crowley (THE LIEUTENANT, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES), Fritz Weaver (CREEPSHOW: "The Crate"), William Marshall (TARZAN, STAR TREK, BLACULA, ROSETTI & RYAN), Ivan Dixon (HOGAN'S HEROES), Rupert Crosse (THE MONKEES, THE PARTNERS), with Roy Jenson (STAR TREK) and Richard Kiel (THE WILD WILD WEST, THE MONKEES, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) as an assassin and a security guard.

There are actually 3 distinct edits of this one story! Just last week, for the first time, I saw the original UNAIRED pilot, "SOLO", which was filmed IN COLOR. What struck me as bizarre is that it clocks in at 1:09:58. That's 19 MINUTES longer than when it was broadcast as the official 1st episode, "The Vulcan Affair". I know that the STAR TREK pilot ("The Cage") was also much longer than the then-common 51-minute slot. What was going on there? Did someone already have it in mind to expand it to feature length, just in case it wasn't sold as a series? Eventually, it was expanded to 1 hour 32 minutes and run in theatres as TO TRAP A SPY, with the additional 22 minutes of that coming from "The Four-Steps Affair", at least part of which must have been filmed in COLOR to facilitate this.

Re-watching "The Vulcan Affair" today, I noted multiple scenes being cut all over the place to get it down to 50:52. Among them, the bit where Elaine asks Solo if he wouldn't mind getting out of her bedroom. This stood out, as in THE NEW AVENGERS episode "House Of Cards", Purdey (Joanna Lumley) says to Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), "Would you mind getting out of my bedroom?" (Of course, on that show, Gambit WAS always hoping to get closer to Purdey. Here, Napoleon is being much more of a gentleman.)

Other cut scenes include revealing that all 4 Thrush assassins had taken poison before the break-in, and all DIED before they could be interrogated; "Margaret Oberon" (the girl with the gun on the airplane who later turns up at Vulcan's party) is really working for UNCLE; Vulcan taking Elaine for a protracted tour of his plant (and Solo hid in the trunk of his car); the explanation that the plant manufactures PLASTICS; the scene where Vulcan angrily tries to SLAP Elaine in the face, only to be knocked down by Napoleon (in the broadcast version, you can see Solo rubbing his hand after just punching the guy in the face); the bit where Solo & Elaine are hanging from that pipe, where she says, "Will you please STOP doing that?" and he replies, "I'm trying to break this pipe loose."; and finally, the bit on the plane where Solo offers Elaine tickets to a fancy reception at the UN Building, so her family can see her in that gorgeous dress, but she turns him down. (I've probably missed some.)

Oddly enough, after Solo's car crashes, there's a clip of him walking into Elaine's hotel room BEFORE she sees him, that wasn't in the longer version. In that one, she's walking around her room, thinking, when she suddenly looks over and there he is standing in the doorway.

I've seen the theatrical version TO TRAP A SPY more times than the other two, but frankly, the story makes more sense without the footage from the other episode (no matter how hot Luciana Paluzzi looks in there). Having now seen SOLO, I'd say the unaired COLOR pilot is the best version of the 3. I'm sure glad when I decided to go after UNCLE, I sprung for the "Complete Series" box. It's got 5 boxes in it, one for each season, and a fifth consisting entirely of "extras"!

Until recently, I'd never actually seen the bulk of this series. Now that I have seen it from beginning to end, I really wish they'd stuck with the format they had in Season 1. On multiple occasions, I kept comparing it to THE TWILIGHT ZONE, in that nearly every actor who appeared on it that year got one of the BEST scripts of their entire career. I can't say that for Seasons 2 & 3. (Although Season 4 blew my mind. I've never seen a show recover and improve THAT drastically.)

[profh0011]

DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE OR MUTILATE   (1971)
The Dangers of Dishonest Computer-Dating   (6 of 10)

4 little old ladies with too much time on their hands and a habit for crazy fun ideas to avoid boredom, decide to sign up with a computer-dating agency by creating a fictional 23-year-old blonde applicant... and then see what happens. Rather amusing until one of the potential suitors turns out to be dangerously mentally-unstable. When they suddenly realize the MURDERED girl in the newspaper may be the one they saw at a singles bar the night before, they set out to determine if the man they saw with her might actually be the killer... and somehow wind up ahead of the cops investigating the crime.

Not a mystery so much as a comedy-thriller, this ABC Movie of the Week (an anthology series I really loved back in the early 70s) starred a quartet of adorable characters. There's Helen Hayes (AIRPORT), Myrna Loy (THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, THE THIN MAN), Mildred Natwick (McMILLAN & WIFE), and Sylvia Sidney (DEAD END, WKRP, BEETLEJUICE, MARS ATTACKS!), plus, almost unrecognizable, Vince Edwards (BEN CASEY, STAR RAIDERS). In supporting roles are John Beradino (GENERAL HOSPITAL), Larry D. Mann (POLICE SURGEON) and, also almost unrecognizable, John Mitchum (DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, THE ENFORCER). Paul Smith (who I've only ever seen on an episode of BATMAN) plays a man the police insist is NOT a "prime suspect", especially when it turns out he's a regular customer for the murdered woman (who turned out to be a cut-rate hooker).

The film was based on the novel by Doris Miles Disney, while the director was Ted Post. I have a really hard time connecting that this wonderfully-goofy bit of fluff was done by the same guy who did HANG 'EM HIGH, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, MAGNUM FORCE and GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK! I guess people shouldn't be judged via type-casting. Jerry Goldsmith did the music, and the "theme song" (or whatever it was) is just one of the WEIRDEST things I've ever heard from him. And he scored PLANET OF THE APES!

A year later on a different network, thanks to Leonard Stern (GET SMART, McMILLAN & WIFE), Hayes & Natwick were reunited in the pilot film THE SNOOP SISTERS, which, the following season, led to the short-run series as part of the NBC Mystery Movies. Previously available as a DVD-R from MOD Cinema, it has recently been added as an extra to the newer 2020 VEI box of THE SNOOP SISTERS: The Complete Series. The color on the print is a bit faded, and there's some HISS on the sountrack, but the picture is clear, and exceedingly-watchable.

What nobody else has mentioned is that, with 4 older ladies as this film has, it's very much like THE GOLDEN GIRLS-- 14 years early!

Ever since 1973, Helen Hayes has really cracked me up. I wish I'd had an aunt like her when I was growing up.
   (12-11-2023)

[profh0011]

TOMORROW AT SEVEN (1933)

A mysterious killer predicts he will murder someone at a specific time-- then, pulls it off! What kind of mystery is it where on the surface, there appears to be NO suspects? I had the sneaky feeling the initial premise of this was used in the 1st "Joker" story in BATMAN #1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLK3C7fbhc

[profh0011]

THE MAN FROM UNCLE:  The Double Affair
The Project Earthsave Affair   (3 of 10)

Solo is kidnapped and replaced by a surgically-created double whose mission is to transport the secret combination lock of a high-security vault in Austria, that protects a powerful energy source designed to fight back against a potential alien invasion from outer space.

SAY WHAT???

UNCLE season 1 generally features the best writing, directing and acting in the entire run of the series. NOT THIS ONE, though.

The plot involving a Thrush doctor (Harold Gould, who's got more charisma than any other guest-actor in this episode) creating a fake Solo (too bad Robert Vaughn didn't get paid double for playing 2 parts, heh), the fake exhibiting virtually NO personality whatsoever (shouldn't anyone have noticed this, especially Waverly, his boss, and Ilya, who was good friends withy him in seasons 1 & 4), is problematic enough.

It's the "McGuffin" part of the plot that makes this fall right thru the floor. Every step-by-step as they go dealing with the security for the code, the attache case, the airplane, the entrance to the base, the descent into the vault area, the techs in charge, the EXPLANATION of what the vault is keeping secure, what it's for, how it "works", what it does if you accidentally aren't wearing protective glasses... it's all INSANE. It is the single WORST writing, directing & acting in the whole of season 1. (I don't even want to compare it to seasons 2, 3 & 3B, they had an entirely-different kind of problem.)

I looked up Clyde Ware. This was one of his earliest scripts, it was his ONLY episode of UNCLE, and the one thing he did the most of was 17 episodes of GUNSMOKE. I'd say he was completely out of his depth here. I also looked up John Newland. AHA. His main claim to fame was the series ONE STEP BEYOND. I wasn't surprised. The whole "Project Earthsave" plot did NOT fit on this show, it felt like it was a rejected VOYAGE script, or a script leftover from the 2nd season of THE OUTER LIMITS. This gives me the impression that Newland was more responsible for the content of this story than the writer was.

I also get the feeling this may have been filmed earlier than it was broadcast, since Ilya has so little to do with the story, it may have been written before they began to expand David McCallum's part on the show.

I've read that this was filmed IN COLOR in order to expand it into a Euro feature film (THE SPY WITH MY FACE). One very odd thing, watching it on DVD, is that somehow, the entire soundtrack sounded like it had been BADLY dubbed onto the episode. The sound quality was so "harsh", I couldn't escape the feeling that something strange had gone on technically behind-the-scenes before it was aired. (I wonder if it was like this back in 1964?)

[profh0011]

THE MAN FROM UNCLE:  The Project Strigas Affair
The Non-existent Nerve-gas Affair    (10 of 10)

A Russian diplomat is stirring up tensions between East & West, and Mr. Waverly wants him taken out-- in a way that will not make him a hero. When Solo asks his boss if he has any ideas how to do this, Waverly replies, "Oh, I'm sure you can come up with something." (If this were a McCLOUD, the hero would have replied, "'preciate yer confidence, Chief!") They decide to recruit the owner of a struggling exterminator company to pose as a government scientist who's invented a new form of gas that will all but eliminate regular warfare-- and the diplomat, though suspicious as he could be, can't help but eventually want to get his hands on it.

This episode is arguably one of the BEST in the entire series. It's so good, SO well-written, well-directed, well-acted, it hurt to watch it, knowing how the show began to drop off in quality in its 2nd season. And, it didn't depend on car chases or fight scenes! Writer Henry Misrock had a shockingly-short career, and this was his only UNCLE-- a CRIME! This was director Joseph Sargent's 1st of 11 UNCLE episodes, which ranged from deadly-serious to hilarious farce. There is so much style in this one, and it's played so straight, it's the incessant twists of plot & character that make parts of it funny as hell. This is how I wish more of the series had been-- and all of the '66 BATMAN as well. I was also blown away by the moody piano score of Walter Scharf, his 1st of 10 for UNCLEs, all in the 1st season. Scharf's long resume also includes THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939), several Jerry Lewis films, 5 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLEs, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and JACQUES COUSTEAU specials.

William Shatner (STAR TREK) is "Michael Donfield", the reluctant recruit who soon dives in full-throttle with so much enthusiasm you'd think he did this before. It's one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen from him, which happened with quite a few guest-actors during UNCLE's 1st season. Werner Klemperer (HOGAN'S HEROES) is "Laslo Kurosov", the trouble-making diplomat who is the target of Solo's con game. Woodrow Parfrey (who I've seen in countless movies & tv shows) is a Russian agent who's conned by Waverly into switching sides. Leonard Nimoy (also STAR TREK, heh) is "Vladeck", Kurosov's henchman who Kurosov never passes up an opportunity to insult, leading Vladeck to try that much harder-- with surprising results.

One of the best scenes is when Vladeck supplies evidence that the Russian spy Ilya is posing as in disguise, is not who he claims to be, and right then, Ilya takes cyanide and KILLS himself. Instead of grabbing Donfield, they tell him to get rid of the body or they'll pass on evidence to the cops that Donfield murdered him. At that point, Donfield is terrified, until Ilya reveals that, NO, he didn't REALLY kill himself. But they fear their plan has gone astray... until those devious wheels in Solo's head start spinning. "Unless..." This episode really should be a course in how to play a story DEADLY serious, while still being hilarious.

The finale, when Solo, Ilya and Donfield are all standing there at the airport as Kurosov is being escorted back to Russia to face charges of embezzling one million dollars (!) is the sort of "twisting the knife" that Jim Phelps on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE always avoided doing... until the late 80s, when he got much older and meaner (heh). When Donfield's wife says to Solo, "That's DIABOLICAL!", he smiles and replies, "We try."

[profh0011]

MAD DOG COLL  (1961)
History vs. Hollywood-- BRUTAL GANGSTER style!   (7 of 10)

2 years after THE UNTOUCHABLES did an episode about "Mad Dog" Vincent Coll, came this gripping low-budget thriller. Sure, they got pretty much ALL the details wrong. Sure, 95% of the people in front of the cameras and in back of them had incredibly-SHORT careers. But on the other hand, aside from headliner John Davis Chandler, you also had terrific spotlights for Telly Savalas (the tough cop who gave Coll too MANY chances), Vincent Gardenia (who makes Dutch Schultz seem more civilized than he probably was), and a very young Jerry Orbach (who tortures over whether to stick with his lifelong "friend", OR, help the cops PUT HIM DOWN. There's even a wordless cameo by Gene Hackman in his screen debut, as a uniformed cop.

There's also the loud, powerful, in-your-face score from Stu Phillips, whose work I know from countless things, including McCLOUD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Its nice to know some people made it out of this piece of obscurity and had long, successful careers.

Hey, I gotta hand it to the people who made this film for the simple fact that THEY MADE THIS FILM. And, it's watchable! That in itself is quite an accomplishment, no matter how you look at it.

For comparison, try watching this and the 1959 UNTOUCHABLES episode with Clu Gulager as Coll and Lawrence Dobkin as Shultz. Or, check out the 1981 mini-series, THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES, that had David Wilson as Coll and Jonathan Banks as Schultz (my personal favorite). My Dad always said that show had the MOST-authentic casting he'd ever seen for all the real-life characters involved. I always remember in that version of events, Coll & Schultz were the only 2 gang leaders who refused to sign the Atlantic City 'peace treaty' between all the major gangs-- and Coll got rubbed out soon after.

A quick Google search reveals there's also several other film versions of Coll's story. Hey, why not watch 'em all and compare?

[profh0011]

MADIGAN:  The Manhattan Beat
The Cop and the Sociology Major   (7 of 10)

A pair of ex-con punk brothers are mugging people and terrorizing others to keep them quiet, which make it hard for the police to charge them. This doesn't stop tough, old, grizzled Detective Dan Madigan from rousting them on petty misdemeanors to try and keep them off the streets at least for a night here and there, even if it does come under the heading of "police harrasassment". While this is going on, he's saddled with a new partner, fresh out of college with a degree is Sociology, who thinks "new-fangled" methods like communication and "encounter groups" may be able to help at least one of the brothers.

MADIGAN had to be the most "different" of all the NBC Mystery Movies series. Filmed entirely on location (at the insistence of lead actor Richard Widmark), it's like a tougher, grittier version of McCLOUD with nearly all of the humor surgically removed. I came in a bit late, but for most of the 1972-73 season, it became one of my favorite shows, despite how deadly-serious it often was. Re-watching this episode, it feels like it stepped out of a time warp. On the one hand, the attitude of his partner screams of the era it was made more than anything on any other Mystery Movie series, while the look and style seems at least 20 years ahead of its time. A shame that like too many of the series that came after the initial 3, it didn't last. In an interview in TV GUIDE at the time, when asked what he thought the show's chances were, Widmark replied, "All I know is, whenever I like a show, it only lasts one season." He called that one right.

What a cast! Richard Widmark (KISS OF DEATH, THE ALAMO, JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS) is "Dan Madigan", a cop who claims to hate his job, but keeps doing it because it's the only thing he knows, and, he's so good at it. I always remember being shocked when I got around to seeing the 1968 feature film MADIGAN, and found he was married in it, and, more, got KILLED at the end. This episode mentions he's divorced, and, as for the other thing, I guess he "got better". The nerve of whoever was responsible for taking a DEAD character and reviving him for a TV series.

Ronnie Cox (ROBOCOP) is "Norman Fields", the all-too-sensitive college boy with the way-too-long hair who isn't sure he's made the right career choice, tries to reach the younger mugger (and his sister), and oddly lies to his parents about what his older partner does on his time off.

Murray Hamilton (JAWS) is "Charlie Kane", Dan's ex-parter who's moved up to a desk job, and understands him better than anyone else. Hamilton replaced James Whitmore from the 1968 film, and while I know they only made 3 episodes set in New York City, it's very odd that Hamilton didn't come back for the other 2.

William Prince (THE GAUNTLET) is "Mr. Fields", Norman's father who asks Dan to "watch over" his son.

Tony Lo Bianco (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) is Joe Lakka, a scum if there ever was one, who mugs and terrorizes old people, but also brutalizes his own brother to keep him in line. Suffice to say, things don't end well, but he really had it coming.

James Sloyan (BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY) is Tommy Lakka, the annoying younger brother who does whatever his older sibling tells him to, no matter how much trouble it means.

Earle Hyman has a brief part as "Detective Clark", who we see at the grimy precinct house. He later appeared in 40 episodes of THE COSBY SHOW!

Ann Wedgeworth is "Angie", the waitress Dan is friendly with. She later appeared in 99 episodes of EVENING SHADE!

I strongly suspect the location used for the police precinct was the SAME one that appeared in both the 1968 MADIGAN film and the 1968 COOGAN'S BLUFF. I found it interesting at the time that MADIGAN and THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO debuted the same month, and both featured grizzled old detectives partnered with young college boys (on the other show it was Karl Malden & Michael Douglas). STREETS ran 120 weekly episodes; MADIGAN, a mere 6 tv-movies. So it goes.

At the moment, the series is available as bootlegs from OnesMediaFilms. The prints, taken from French copies (with the important credits altered to read in English) are a bit too dark and grainy, but at least they're watchable. I really wanted to upgrade from my own videotapes recorded off The CBS Late Movie in the early 80s, when they skipped my favorite episode, "The London Beat". But I would really love it if Visual Entertainment Incorporated (VEI), who put out the boxes of McCLOUD, McMILLAN & WIFE, and THE SNOOP SISTERS, would get around to doing MADIGAN, HEC RAMSEY, COOL MILLION, and the other later NBC Mystery Movie series.

[The Australian Panther]

There are 6 episodes of MADIGAN ON YouTube.

Find them here
MADIGAN (1972 - 1973) Richard Widmark
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAkFwZCQjyWxlfUcwHHOfnzkHmHLzEKOW 

These are with French Titles but all the dialogue is in English.
I downloaded and watched them all last year.

Oh Yeah, there are also several episodes of
THE EDDIE CAPRA MYSTERIES
THE EDDIE CAPRA MYSTERIES - Ep. 1 "Nightmare at Pendragon Castle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8QtLp1uV-o
Huge Guest cast for episode #!

cheers!

[profh0011]

Probably the same source as the DVD-R box set!   

Marcello (who runs OnesMediaFilms) accidentally included a copy of the widescreen 1968 feature film, only blocked on the disc in "fullscreen", so it's got black bars on all 4 sides, PLUS, the English subtitles were left on, no way to turn them off.  He apologized for the error, and said as soon as he could get around to it, he'd try to get a better copy... but, personally, I'd just as soon rather buy the current BLU-RAY of the film.


I sent an e-mail to VEI today with my comments about hoping they'd get around to putting out the later Mystery Movie series.  They've done 3 so far (the McCLOUD box is what got me started on this, I'd been hoping for that for YEARS), while, oddly, 2 other outfits did BANACEK and COLUMBO.

I found it very odd that the 2nd season opener of COLUMBO had the modern "Universal" logo on the disc TWICE (before and after the menu), and, the "teaser" at the beginning, with NO gap between it and the start of the movie itself... but oddly, was MISSING the Universal logo at the END of the film.  The MADIGAN this week movie had that!  That little 9-note bit of music always serves as "the end", and it feels wrong when it's not there.

[profh0011]

PICASSO TRIGGER   (1988)
REVENGE is never a good business model   (5 of 10)

Drug lord Miguel Ortiz thanks his business partner Salazar for his help, but right after, Salazar is gunned down at an art gallery. Soon after, Ortiz has his men bumping off DEA agents, and plans to then murder civilians, all of whom were involved in the death of his brother. Luckily, 3 of the good guys targetted AREN'T killed, and one of them, cowboy "L. G.", gets in touch with his "Agency" friends and gathers them together for a massive assault to "arrest" (or, just plain KILL OFF) all the bad guys involved. Along the way, we have the usual helicopters, fast cars, speed boats, motorcycles, martial arts fights, high-powered guns, gimmicky exposives... oh yeah, and HOT NAKED BABES. All in beautiful, gorgeous, STUNNINGLY-photographed locations. Writer & director Andy Sidaris is on the loose again!

The 5th (yeah, 5th!) of Sidaris' sexy action flicks brings back several cast members from both HARD TICKET TO HAWAII (1987) and SEVEN (1979), the latter of which was apparently a victim of some legal rights problems for decades, and so never included in Sidaris sets or reissued on disc until 2018! But it's my FAVORITE of his films, so I was thrilled to see not only "Cowboy" / "L. G." (Guich Koock) and "The Professor" (Richard LePore) return from that film, but also the near-identical fight scene and method of killing used wherein a drug boss is shoved thru a high window out of a tall office building!

Returning from HARD TICKET are Dona Spier ("Donna"), the adorable Hope Marie Carlton ("Taryn"), Cynthis Brimhall ("Edy"), Patty Duffek ("Pattycakes"), Harold Diamond ("Jade"), Wolf Larson (golf pro "Jimmy-John Jackson"), and Andy Sidaris ("Whitey"). Several other actors return in different roles, including John Aprea (crime boss "Salazar", nick-named "Picasso Trigger"), Rodrigo Obregón (crime boss Miguel Ortiz), Nicholas Giorgiade (white slaver "Schiavo"), and John Brown (DEA agent "Juan", previously hired thug "Luke" in MALIBU EXPRESS). It's fun how Sidaris' films has a stock company of actors not unlike the Universal Rathbone Holmes films of the 1940s. New Playboy Playmate additions this time are Liv Lindeland ("Inga", the Professor's Swedish girlfriend), Kym Malin ("Kym", Pattykakes’ dancing partner), and the incredibly-beautiful Roberta Vasquez ("Pantera", who says she was once in love with the film's hero Travis).

Steve Bond is "Travis Abilene", and like Cody and Rowdy, CAN'T hit a moving target! The joke has gotten old and tired by here. Bond is all grown up since his appearance in TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY (1966, released in 1968), and of all the guys in this film, I thought he was the only one who was, frankly, as hot-looking as the girls were. But his acting wasn't half as good as his 2 predecessors. I kept wishing Sidaris had brought back William Smith.

I was somewhat surprised that neither Hope or Roberta ever showed their breasts in this film. Sidaris once hilariously said, comparing his films to the 007 series, "Our girls are prettier, and they show their stuff." But I guess Donna & Cynthia made up for it.

I've repeatedly read this film's plot was "hard to follow". MAYBE. By halfway in, I was actually reminded of The Monkees' film HEAD (1968), in that both seemed to have a "stream-of-consciousness" feel about the way events played out. You MAY not know for sure what's going on at any given moment, but, keep watching, and it WILL all make sense as it goes.

[The Australian Panther]

What with ELLERY QUEEN up in the current Reading Group post, I have come across several MYSTERY Series PILOTS.
The Pilots are sometimes more interesting that the rest of the series.
It seems that the technique was to do the aired Pilot as a 1 hour 30 minute movie with half a dozen guest stars, which meant that the series that followed could be a let-down.
Here are three.

Here is the Pilot of Jim Huttons Ellery Queen.
Ellery Queen - Pilot - "Too Many Suspects"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgpz2tW-REU
As was the custom, it's a 1 hour 38 minute movie with lots of 'Guest Stars'
[Ray Milland, John Hillerman, John Larch, Monte Markham]
This is worth watching for the opening sequence demonstrating the recording of a radio drama in 1947. A an absolute gem of a sequence. 

THE EDDIE CAPRA MYSTERIES - Ep. 1 "Nightmare at Pendragon Castle"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8QtLp1uV-o
Huge Guest cast for episode #!
Wendy Phillips, Ken Swofford, Michael Horton, Seven Ann McDonald. Guest Stars Michael Conrad, John Considine, George Hamilton, Robert Hogan, Janet Margolin, Lois Nettleton, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Stella Stevens, Robert Vaughn, Robert Walker, Jr.
Robert Vaughan is the Murder victim and also chief bad guy.  Does it well.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery S00E01 The Golden Spiders Pilot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1VkNZHviGE
No guest stars in this one. Not necessary. Superb show. 
     

[profh0011]

I believe Jim Hutton was the 10th actor to play Ellery Queen on film.  From what I know, he was THE BEST!  The pilot was run, I believe, durng the schedule of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movies (or was it Tuesday? heh).  The following season, it ran as a one-hour, and was tons of fun.  Sad it only ran one year.  I really loved that show.

Last year or so I saw the earlier pilot, DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU (1971), which may (or may not) have been intended for the Mystery Movie cycle that year, or the following year, but wasn't picked up... THANK GOD, it sucked beyond all believe on every possible level, with the exception of Harry Morgan as Inspector Queen, who was every bit as good as David Wayne.

A bit earlier, Jim Hutton had starred in an entirely-different pilot, THEY CALL IT MURDER (filmed in 1969-70, aired in 1971), starring as D.A. Doug Selby, based on Earl Stanley Gardner's 1939 novel "The D.A. Draws A Circle".  It was terminally dull beyond belief and I could see why it wasn't picked up.  I think I figured out something.  Gardner HATED what Warner Bros, did with their 6-film PERRY MASON series from 1934-37, which featured 3 different actors as Mason.  Most outstanding was Warren William in the first 4 films, who seemed to play Perry as a real "shyster".  (He was a dead ringer for "Ham" in the DOC SAVAGE stories. I wonder if one inspired the other?)  Doug Selby's nemesis was a sleazy defense attourney named A.B. Carr.  In the 1971 film, Carr was played by Lloyd Bochner-- virtually a DEAD RINGER for Warren William!  I think the Doug Selby / A.B. Carr novels were Gardner's way of striking back at the Warner Bros. / Warren William PERRY MASON films, since the 1st novel came out 2 years after the last WB MASON film.

[profh0011]

GUNS   (1990)
Big Guns and Big ‘Uns!   (5 of 10)

A mobster wants to ship high-tech Chinese weapons to South America-- thru Hawaii-- and so decides to kill several DEA agents there to lure them to Las Vegas, knowing one will come after him, because ten years earlier, he killed her father. What follows involves action, violence, nudity, and occasional comedy (but not really enough of the latter two).

Andy Sidaris is at it again! Dona Spier, Roberta Vasquez, Cynthia Brimhall, Kim Malin, Donna Spangler, Lisa London, Liv Lindeland, Devin DeVasquez... how many Playboy Playmates (and the like) can you squeeze into one film? There's also Erik Estrada as the main baddie, Danny Trejo as his sidekick, George Cheung as his weapons supplier, Bruce Penhall, Michael J. Shane, Chuck McCann, John Brown & William Bumiller as DEA agents (more than usual this time, though some of them get killed off before it's over). The lesson I got from this movie is, if you're a criminal, operate in quiet. If you go out of your way to target cops-- especially Feds-- you might as well just be painting a target on your chest. (Actually, I think that was Lucky Luciano's MO as well.)

"Taryn" (Hope Marie Carlton) left after 3 pictures (perhaps her character made off with so much money she decided it was better to separate herself from all these dangerous DEA missions?) and was replaced with "Nicole" (Roberta Vasquez, who's beautiful, but far more serious, maybe too much so, throwing off the balance the previous films had). "Shane Abilene" (Michael J. Shane) STILL can't hit a moving target, not even with a massive .44 Magnum, prompting Dona to yell at him, "Don't just DO something, STAND there!", before she blows up a mini-plane with a rocket launcher. DEA agent and stage magician "Abe" (Chuck McCann), interrogates 2 thugs and asks, "Do you know what's the difference between a magician and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist!" When confronted with a pair of sword-weilding ninjas, Donna just SHOOTS them-- the 3rd time such a thing happened in a Sidaris film!

"Edy Stark" (Cynthia Brimhall), who in earlier films ran a restaurant as her cover, moved over to singing in nightclubs, so "Rocky" (Lisa London) took over the restaurant-- an interesting bit of continuity in these things. Edy's role REALLY expanded in this one (and it looks like her breast size did as well, but that may just be her push-up bras). The film opens (and closes) with Edy singing onstage, in what I can only think it a tribute to the Dean Martin-Matt Helm film THE SILENCERS (1966). And it suddenly hits me, lead character "Donna Hamilton" almost has to be a tribute to author Donald Hamilton, creator of Matt Helm!

Looking back over posters for this film, I find the original was quite misleading. It said, "James never had this kind of help!", and pictures a smiling Erik Estrada with Dona Spier & Cynthia Brimhall, as if he were the hero of the picture-- but he's the MAIN BAD GUY!

I wonder why Andy Sidaris didn't have a cameo in this one? (Or did I miss him somehow?)