[The Australian Panther]

Pat Hingle was in Clint Eastwood's 'Sudden Impact' ,' The Gauntlet' and 'Hang em' high'  
He was also Commissioner Gordon in the Michael Keaton Batman movie. And also in 'Batman and Robin'
And guested in just about every series you have posted about, Prof.
He got around.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0385757/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_6_nm_2_in_0_q_Pat%2520Hingle%2520

cheers!   

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Action!
The Viet Nam Atrocity Caper   (6 of 10)

An Iron Curtain movie director has made a film which falsely shows the US Army murdering innocent civilians in Viet Nam. The team's job is to prevent his being able to use it to further his own political ambitions. For the only time in the series, Cinnamon Carter receives the mission and plans it out. Posing as an ambitious actress, she sneaks into the director's office, in order to show him an "audition" film. But really, she's mapping out his office so Barney & Willy can sabotage the existing film, forcing him at short notice to re-shoot the faked footage, while a member of their team, hiding in the rafters, can photograph the fake filming in progress!

Apparently, Steven Hill, who already had a troublesome clause in his contract allowing him to leave early on Fridays for religious observance, was bucking to get out of his contract, as he caused so much trouble during the making of this episode that all his scenes had to be re-shot, leading to his being FIRED off the show and replaced the following year.

Tom Troupe (KELLY'S HEROES) is "David Day", an IMF member who fills in for Dan by climbing the rafters in the film studio to make a film of his own, showing how the murders of innocent civilians caught on camera was being faked in the film studio.

J. D. Cannon (McCLOUD) is "Miklos Klarr", the arrogant, ambitious director who winds up taking a liking to Cinnamon, unaware of what she's really doing in his studio and in his office. Cannon has been one of my favorite actors since I first saw him as "Chief Clifford" during the summer reruns of McCLOUD in 1971. Personally, while it was often fun watching Clifford go into apoplective fits due to the erratic behavior of "Sam McCloud" (Dennis Weaver), I usually preferred when he would be the voice of reason in dealing with an officer who just refused to play things "by the book".

This episode was directed by Leonard J. Horn, who among his many credits were THE OUTER LIMITS: The Zanti Misfits, LOST IN SPACE: Invaders From The Fifth Dimension, 2 episodes of THE SNOOP SISTERS and the pilot for the Linda Carter WONDER WOMAN series!  He passed away soon after that at the age of only 48, obviously a great loss.

Looking back at this episode decades later, there is great irony, as, a year later, it became clear to the whole world that the US Army was in fact responsible for the mass-murder of innocent civilians in Viet Nam. Had Klarr waited a year, he wouldn't have had to fake that footage. This wouldn't be the only time a Desilu show tackled such a controversial topic.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Train
The Sinister (Would-Be) Prime Minister   (7 of 10)

A dying Prime Minister who fought for freedom in his country has named his successor, not realizing the man he views as his son fully intends to crack down on freedom, have mass executions of dissidants and turn the country into a dictatorship. Dan's mission is to prevent this from happening. To accomplish this, the IMF pulls off one of their most complex con games to date. This involves a heart doctor allegedly finding the possibility of a cure, and FAKING a train trip across the mountains to a nearby country.

Rhys Williams (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE) is "Prime Minister Ferenc Larya", a good man who cannot believe his "best friend" has such evil, murderous intentions.

William Windom (MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT) is "Deputy Premier Milos Pavel", who is waiting out until his boss kicks the bucket, so he can "empty" the prisons, but not in the way he's promised.

Booth Colman (MY GUN IS QUICK) is "Dr. Huss", the Prime Minister's personal physician, who unknowingly becomes part of the IMF's team when he agrees with fake x-ray results.

William Schallert (THE PATTY DUKE SHOW) is "Dr. Harrison Selby", the heart doctor recruited by the IMF who gives the PM hope for recovery, knowing it's a lie, but for a good cause.

Richard Bull (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN and 27 episodes of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) is "Oliver Donovan", who clearly fills in for Dan's role in most of the story, over seeing the "Hollywood"-style antics that went on in that warehouse with the train car.  It's a wonder that HE didn't replace Steven Hill in the 2nd season!  (I could never figure how they never bothered to give his character a name on VOYAGE.)

Although they both had long & varied careers, I'd bet most fans remember Windom & Schallert for their episodes of STAR TREK the following season: "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Trouble With Tribbles".

Perhaps it's ironic that the IMF raised the bar on their activities in this story, at a point when their team leader was absent after the briefing.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Shock
The Imposters   (7 of 10)

An important US ambassador trying to improve relations with the country he's stationed in, is kidnapped and replaced with an imposter. Dan's mission is to find and rescue the real ambassador, and foil whatever plot the baddies have in mind.

James Daly (MEDICAL CENTER, STAR TREK: Requiem For Methuselah) got to play 3 different roles in this episode! He's "Carl Wilson", the ambassador who's kidnapped; he's "Josef Gort", an actor-turned spy & assassin who under make-up is impersonating Wilson; AND, he's Dan Briggs, who, also under make-up, is impersonating Josef Gort! I bet he had a blast doing this episode.

Sorrell Booke (FAIL SAFE, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD) is "Peter Kiri", undercover Russian spy and Gort's boss, always watching carefully, never trusting his own man, and who gets nervous when Wilson's "niece" (Cinnamon) suddenly shows up without warning, as part of the plan to snatch the imposter and replace him with one of their own (Dan).

Stanley Waxman (ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE) is "Jonathan Davis", the local ambassador, who turns out to be the target of a murder plot. Rollin manages to set things up so it looks like he gets shot dead in front of a room full of witnesses, without his actually being hurt.

Jean-Michel Michenaud (THE TIME TUNNEL: Rendezvous With Yesterday) is "Fydor", one of a pair of boys who inadvertently stumble onto the abandoned warehouse the IMF has turned into a fake mental hospital.

Vic Perrin ("The Control Voice" on THE OUTER LIMITS) is "Dr. Ira Drake", whose specialty involves electric shock treatment on mental patients. He walks the IMF team thru how to disorient the assassin and get him to tell what he knows about his mission, before it's too late.

Although no MI episode ever had an on-screen story title, I'm guessing this one's "official" title was "Shock" because of the electro-shock therapy, and possibly, a reference to the 1964 movie SHOCK TREATMENT, which involved someone going undercover at a mental hospital to get an insane criminal to talk.

At the climax, Dan (in disguise as the hit man) makes a public statement about the US "helping" other countries when what they really want is to secretly TAKE OVER those countries. Given the previous episode about faked Viet Nam war crimes, this is the 2nd episode in a ROW where the show wound up dealing with things that, in later years, were revealed to be THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. I wonder if someone in D. C. might have really wanted to get Desilu as a studio out of the way for dealing with such "subversive" topics?

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  A Cube Of Sugar
The psychedelic drugs and mcirochips caper   (8 of 10)

An agent trying to sneak a microchip out of an Eastern European country is caught, drugged and interrogated. Dan's mission is to get him and the microchip out. In the previous episode, Dan & his team created a fake mental hospital as part of their scam. This time, the man they want to rescue is being held in a padded cell. As usual, the method is so complicated, you have to think Dan Briggs' mind just does not operate like normal people.

Francis Lederer (THE LONE WOLF IN PARIS) is "Senko Brobin", a smiling, smooth-talking SOCIOPATH with no concern for humanity whatsoever. He's the sort of villain who, when you watch him, you can't help but want the worst fate possible to befall him. In real life, Lederer was possibly one of the coolest people to ever work in Hollywood, and on reading his bio, I wish I'd have had a chance to meet him. My mother admired him, I think, because he was born in Czechoslovakia, as were her own parents (although, he was Czech while she was Slovak-- heh).

Cinnamon pretends to be the concerned wife of the man being held prisoner and interrogated, and "fingers" Rollin as his contact man, so that Rollin will also be arrested, imprisoned, and DRUGGED when he refuses to talk. But what Brobin doesn't know is, both Cinnamon & Rollin have taken drugs before going on the mission that will make them IMMUNE to the drugs Brobin likes to use on prisoners! This allows both of them to act with perfectly-clear minds. Posing as an embassy lawyer, Dan sneaks a tiny tool kit into the padded cell, with which Rollin is able to use to break out of his cell, and drug the other prisoner to make it look like he's DEAD. That is, once Rollin gets himself out of a STRAIT-JACKET.

While this is going on, Barney & Willy are breaking through 2 separate walls to get inside a CREMATORIUM, to prevent the "dead" man from being burned to ashes, in order to prevent an autopsy from revealing he's been drugged up for days. Some of the plots on this show are downright INSANE!

A bizarre highlight is Don Ellis filling in for Lalo Schifrin on the score. As it happens, I have one of his CDs right here, "Electric Bath", from 1967, and was looking at it just before watching this episode, not knowing he did the score. What a wild coincidence! After, I popped the disc in, and have played it multiple times following the episode. This is REALLY "out there", "experimental" jazz stuff, and some of it, I'd swear, sounds like some of the more "over-the-top" stuff I've heard on THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Traitor
The Foreign Embassy Caper   (8 of 10)

A US defector has gone to the Russian embassy in D. C. with a coded document that has yet to be decoded. Dan's mission is to not only retrieve the document, but to get the defector away from the Russians while making him look completely unreliable. Dan never does anything the easy way! His plan involves sidelining the man who can decode the document and have Rollin replace him, have himself & Cinnamon pose as criminals trying to buy the document from the defector, and have a female contortionist sneak thru the building's air conditioning ducts to wreak all sorts of assorted havoc! What fun.

Eartha Kitt (BATMAN's 3rd season) is "Tina Mara", who does the bulk of the work this time, when Willy, posing as an AC repairman, sneaks her into the building. She has to crawl thru the ductwork (all much skinnier than it ever was on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA), tamper with a bed so it looks like the traitor has somehow snuck out of the building (when in fact he's hidden inside an inflated mattress), and break into an impregnable vault to replace the document with another one. It's surprising this show didn't have more "guest" team members than it did.

Malachi Throne (STAR TREK: The Menagerie) is "Ambassador Brazneck", who doesn't trust the defector, the decoding man, or his own security guards. He gets really nasty when it looks like things are going wrong, and panicky when it looks like things are going bad FOR HIMSELF in particular.

Lonny Chapman (3 McCLOUDs and a BANACEK among countless other things) is "Edward Hughes", the defector who finds bad things happening all around to him, and eventually panics and decides to make a run for it.

Frank Marth (MADIGAN) is "Koler", Brazneck's sidekick, cold, hard, tough, and loyal, and completely clueless when strange things start happening on his watch.

I wound up giving this a higher rating than usual because, especially in the 2nd half, they kept tossing more and more twists into the plot. It really got ramped up when the man Rollin is impersonating is accused, via telegram, of being a possible double-agent, and he announces he's NOT that man at all, but an NVD security man out to check up on Brazneck! I kept wondering, WHO sent that telegram-- the Russians-- or Dan? I still can't tell.

It was a nice change when a story involving Russians (un-named) actually took place in a Russian embassy, instead of somewhere in Eastern Europe.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE;  The Widow
The Heroin Caper   (8 of 10)

A German businessman has joined forces with an American gangster to corner the market on heroin, and intends to sell his huge stock to a variety of criminal organizations at a price HE alone will set. Jim Phelps' job, should he decide to accept it, is to prevent the sale and put the German businessman PERMANENTLY out of business. Since this is the IMF (Impossible Missions Force), nothing will be done as simple as it might seem it should be... heh.

William Windom (MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT, ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES) is "Alex Cresnic", who has managed to get his hands on one million dollars of 100% pure heroin, and arrogantly swaggers around as he tells the buyers they will meet HIS price or not be in business at all.

Joe Maross ("General Custer" on THE TIME TUNNEL) is "Mark Walters", who is sidelined abruptly when what appears to be the crash of an elevator KILLS him. But what Cresnic doesn't know, is his partner is alive, drugged up to believe he's temporarily lost his sight, and being held in a fake hospital by a real Doctor in the employ of the IMF.

George Tyne (THE LONE WOLF AND HIS LADY, SANDS OF IWO JIMA) is "Dr. Premel", the latest part-time IMF recruit.

Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain) poses as MRS. Walters, who Cresnic never knew existed (no surprise, she doesn't), who claims she has the authority to take over her husband's business, and is also personally interested in Cresnic as well.

Rollin Hand (Martin Landau, in his first episode where he's listed as a regular in the opening credits) poses as a rival drug lord, who's using a chemist to hide his shipments by disguising them as "bath powder", an idea which Cresnic likes so much, he decides to use it himself, after he raids his rival's warehouse and kidnaps his "chemist". In this episode, not only does Rollin effect one accent for his gangster character, he also does an amazing impersonation of Cresnic's voice, whle speaking to the blinded (and blind-folded) Walters in the hospital room, where he apparently gives him some very important instructions we don't hear-- but do get to see enacted at the climax.

Barney Collier (Greg Morris) is seen doing a variety of things in this episode that leave you wondering what's going on-- UNTIL you see the results of his work. This involves creating a FAKE elevator crash, and cutting a door thru a floor into a safe in order to steal its contents.

John Orchard (I always remember him from a GET SMART episode where he was doing a parody of "John Steed") is "Maharis", one of the buyers who's VERY impatient about getting his hands on the expensive and illegal merchandise. He also gets very nasty when it looks like Cresnic is trying to rob him.

Peter Graves (STALAG 17) is "Jim Phelps", who, without any explanation whatsoever, replaces Dan Briggs (Steven Hill, who was FIRED at the end of the 1st season), and instantly manages to make the show EVEN BETTER than it was before. Unlike a number of my favorite shows from the 60s (LOST IN SPACE, GET SMART, BATMAN, 8TH MAN, ASTRO BOY, STAR TREK, THE MONKEES), I have NO memory of what my 1st episode of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE was. All I'm sure of is, I came in and got hooked instantly during the 2nd season, when it was on Saturday nights at 10 PM, one of the only nights I could stay up that late as a kid. For decades, until I got and read the book about the show, I had NO IDEA he was a replacement actor and character! To me, Jim Phelps was ALWAYS the center and driving force of the series, one of the smartest and "coolest" characters ever seen on TV. Generally (until the 80s revival), the villains would NEVER have a clue what happened to them at the end, or who was responsible. His debut story felt like one of the best I'd seen so far. And I KNOW even better ones are coming! It's gonna be very interesting as I continue watching the Blu-Ray set, to see if and when I reach a point where I might remember, "So THIS is where I came in!"

I'm sure most MI fans would agree: the "CLASSIC ERA" of the show has begun!

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: Trek
The National Treasures Caper (8 of 10)

A gang of thieves steal the national treasures of a small Central American country. All are killed except their leader, who is captured and tortured to reveal where the stolen items are hidden. But the man interrogating him only wants the treasures for himself, and has made a deal with an international fence to sell them for personal profit. Jim's mission, is to not only recover the treasures, but expose the traitor as well. He starts out by posing as the middle-man sent by the fence, who the traitor has never met. He then stages a jail-break, with the traitor as a "hostage", hoping the thief will lead both of them to the treasure. Throughout the entire scam, Jim Phelps is conning BOTH men in different ways at the same time! (This guy makes Dan Briggs look like an amateur.)

Along the way, Barney & temporary team member "Bob Field" (Jack Donner) set up a net on the side of a cliff, which kept me wondering for some time, WHAT exactly are they up to? And meanwhile, Rollin plays a man who's robbed of his horses and (allegedly!) murdered; while Cinnamon, made up to look half-dead, pretends to be the wife of a prospector who accidentally found the stolen treasures.

Dan O'Herlihy (HALLOWEEN III) is "Jack Cole" (no relation to the creator of PLASTIC MAN-- heh), a really nasty character who, during the faked jailbreak, tries to leave Jim behind, and throughout the rest of episode tries numerous times to kill Jim, his hostage, and anyone else who crosses his path.

Mark Lenard (in between his 2 STAR TREK appearances) is "Col. Luiz Cardoza", who is bent on getting the treasures for himself, and is not trusted by his own men or by those in charge of the country.

Michael Pate (the 1954 CASINO ROYALE) is "Gen. Diaz", who, while trailing the escaped prisoners with his men, gets unexpected help from Rollin, still alive after Cole saw Jim shoot him dead right off the edge of a cliff.

The prison compound had earlier been used in the STAR TREK episode "Arena", while I would swear the scene of the climax was used right after this in the STAR TREK episode "Friday's Child". Several of Gerald Fried's ST music cues can also be heard here.

I had the biggest smile on my face at the end, when Cardoza sees Jim escaping by helicopter, leaving him behind to face his own men. He NEVER SAW IT COMING!

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Survivors
The San Francisco Earthquake of 1967   (8 of 10)

2 American scientists (and their wives) are kidnapped by a team of foreign spies, who want to get their hands on the formula to create a super weapon, and need the 3rd scientist of the team to complete it. Jim's mission, is to prevent this from happening, and get the scientists and their wives out safely. This is complicated by the certainty that they will all be murdered if any rescue attempt is made, to ensure that if they can't get the weapon, NOBODY will.

Cinammon poses as the wife of the 3rd scientist (who's in hiding), and she and Rollin are kidnapped while leaving a much-publicised funeral. But the baddie is infuriated when he finds out that she left her husband, and the man they kidnapped is her boyfriend. At first, she claims the break-up was so acrimonious, her husband won't care what happens to her, but then she surprises the villain by proposing a deal, in which she will convince her husband to come out in the open, ONLY if she and her boyfriend are paid $25,000. The villain calls her "an interesting woman". COLD-BLOODED in the extreme is more like it! All this, of course, is really a way for Rollin to map out the basement rooms they're being kept prisoner in. When Jim poses as the scientist-husband, Cinammon & Rollin are paid off, let go... and then followed, to be murdered. At least, until Barney & Willy intercept the assassin!

And THEN it gets crazy, when Barney manages to FAKE an EARTHQUAKE, trapping spies and kidnap victims in the basement, while a fake radio report reveals all of San Francisco is in absolute chaos-- so a rescue attempt ISN'T coming!

Albert Paulsen (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) is "Eric Stavak", his 2nd of 5 different roles on the show, and boy is he one nasty character. He seems genuinely shocked & impressed when Cinammon offers to betray her estranged husband, but then orders her killed after paying her off. When Jim manages a seemingly-impossible (heh) escape, Stavak decides to leave his victims behind to die from a gas leak.

Peter Graves' team leader "Jim Phelps" proves to be on multiple levels perhaps the most BRILLIANT character on TV in the late 60s. It's not just his complex plans, but the knowledge on so many things he exhibits while in the field posing as various other people. Simply put, he makes "Dan Briggs" look like an AMATEUR by comparison. And as for Stavak, that guy had NO IDEA who he was dealing with!!

Until the end, at least. Myself, I prefer when the bad guys NEVER find out who they were up against. Having the team confront the villains wordlessly at the end, so as to say, "Yeah-- WE did this to you!" was something Jim and his team did in the revival, but I figure there, it was a case of Jim getting meaner and nastier in his old age.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Bank
The Neo-Nazi Safe Deposit Box   (9 of 10)

An East Berlin banker offers would-be refugees a way to escape, but the underground tunnel he sends them down leads them to their deaths. Having stolen their money, he's planning to finance a new NAZI movement. Jim's mission, as you might expect, is to put a stop to him. And, more than usual, his plan is so complex, it kept me guessing right up to the last couple minutes!

James Daly (MEDICAL CENTER) is "Alfred Belzig". He cons people into depositing money in his bank, with the agreement that he'll do a bank transfer once they're safely in the West. But the underground passages he sends them down has many twists and turns, and the particular one he tells them to use has a hidden bottomless pit (shades of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON). A friend of mine the other day was passing along a quote he'd heard: there's bad, and then there's EVIL. East German politicians and police are one thing, but this guy crosses a line even THEY have no tolerance for.

Gene Dynarski (one of Vincent Price's henchmen on BATMAN) is "Kutler", Belzig's security chief. He mostly stands around and looks intimidating.

Pierre Jalbert (115 episodes of COMBAT!) is "Paul LeBarre", a former bank robber parolled after 7 years recruited by Jim who shows up at the bank and is accused-- BY JIM-- of casing the joint for a possible robbery. His actual police record is enough to convince the local police that Jim is in fact from the FEDERAL police, which allows Jim a free hand to do his thing. Barney, smoking a pipe and looking sophisticated, is made to look like Lebarre's partner, while Cinnamon, posing as another Fed, is installed as a temporary bank clerk.

As they're getting set up, we get to see the horror Belzig is pulling done to his latest innocent victim. Soon after, Rolin turns up posing as his NEXT victim, having taken the place of the man Belzig was SUPPOSED to be meeting, and having forged his signature on a letter as proof of his identity. But when Rollin goes down the tunnel, he stops, SCREAMS... and before long, emerges from the sewers on the other side of the Berlin Wall. So, Belzig WAS actually telling the truth about that maze of tunnels left over from some old monastery! But when Willy asks, "Do you think you can find your way back?", WHY is he carrying BRICKS down into the tunnels?

The last act was SO complicated, I kept waiting to see exactly WHAT Jim was planning and HOW he was going to pull it off. This is only the 3rd episode in the series I've given a 9 out of 10 rating to, and the LAST act was the reason! The amazing thing was, although Jim conned the local police into thinking he & Cinnamon were Feds, and that they "arrested" a pair of FAKE crooks, the REAL crooks wound up in the hands of the local cop, who, one can only imagine, the next day, was probably left baffled, wondering, "WHO WERE THOSE GUYS?"-- while, in classic "Inspector Lestrade" fashion, he no doubt took full credit for the arrest of the REAL baddies.

21 BEACON STREET (1959-60) had a great episode about the team trying to get into a bank's safe deposit box, but the plot of this one was otherwise completely-different, and FAR-more complicated. Halfway thru this story, I found myself thinking how Peter Graves had the easy ability to seem both far more friendly, but also more SINISTER than Steven Hill ever did. For anyone wanting to get a feel for The Cold War, divided Germany and The Berlin Wall, I highly reccomend FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1966) with Michael Caine, my pick for the best of the 3 "Harry Palmer" movies he did in the 60s.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Slave, Part 1
The Middle Eastern Slave Market   (8 of 10)

The King of a middle-eastern country is involved in a slave market, while denying it emphatically to UN investigators. Jim's mission is to put a STOP to it. He poses as a slave trader offering to supply a blonde singer on tour (Cinnamon) for a high price. At one point he's knocked unconscious so the baddies can check his identity, and find he's an ex-convict. They have no idea who they're really dealing with, of course.

While Willy poses as a man selling fine rugs, Rollin poses as both a UN investigator and a marketplace beggar, who, with Willy's help, attaches a harness under the car of one of the main baddies. But he's NOT the one who uses it!

Barney gets the really tough job this time. He poses as a religious pilgrim who's kidnapped to become a slave (the only decent one in the latest batch of captives) and tossed in a cell. I wondered, how on Earth did his captors NOT bother to search him, for all the equipment he had on him when they grabbed him? He's able to remove his shackles, take photos of the interior of the cell, change his clothes & appearance to pose as one of the guards, and walk out of the cell, then announce the prisoner in the cell has escaped, and aggressively take part in the search for-- himself! And then he makes his escape (with the photos) by hanging under the car that Rollin set up for him.

And THEN things get really nasty! In a scene that could have inspired part of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (4 years later), a dozen BATS are unleashed in the bedroom of the prince (the innocent brother of the evil king), allowing the team to KIDNAP his wife and toss her in a room that looks identical to the real slave pens (thanks to Barney's photos). As the words, "To Be Continued Next Week" come up, you're left thinking-- THESE are the GOOD GUYS???

This episode had one of the strongest guest casts I've seen on the series so far, no less than 5 of them who also appeared on STAR TREK: Joesph Ruskin (The Gamesters of Triskellion), Percy Rodrigues (Court Martial), Warren Stevens (By Any Other Name), Antoinette Bower (Catspaw) and the ubiquitous Sid Haig (The Return Of The Archons-- I admit, I had to look that one up!). Bower is a fine actress, and though I've never considered her all that pretty, she probably never looked better than she did in this story. And she winds up terrorized-- by the GOOD GUYS!

I was laughing at the end of Part 1, thinking, if my Mom were still around, she'd probably have insisted on watching both halves in one go. But, I'm making a point to watch ONE episode per week, so I have to wait 7 days to see how this all turns out.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: The Slave, Part 2
The Middle Eastern Slave Auction (8 of 10)

Posing as a slave trader, Jim Phelps sells Cinammon to the villains. After having his price knocked down from $5,000 to $3,000, they wind up paying him only $1,000, then tell him he'll have to discuss it with DeGroot (Warren Stevens). But instead, his team kidnaps DeGroot, who is never seen again in this episode! Jim then returns, with Cinnamon, and says that from now on, HE's their business partner-- while shocking them (and, allegedly, Cinnamon) by first revealing that she's his wife-- and then going ahead and selling her ANYWAY. The baddies are stunned by just how ruthless their new "partner" really is. Of course, they still have no real idea who they're actually dealing with.

The first 5 or more entire minutes of this episode is flashbacks to the previous episode, as the plot is just too complicated to explain to anyone who missed the first half otherwise. After that, you wind up watching and still wondering, what exactly do Jim and his people have in mind? It slowly starts to take shape when they sneak the wife of the King's brother-- who they kidnapped earlier-- into the prison cell and swap her for Cinnamon. The climax, to put it simply, is jaw-dropping. It's also one of the few times I can remember where, afterwards, the entire team meets up with the people they're working to help, and openly admit what they were doing all along. "For the results, I would have gladly gone through all of it again!", says the NEW King's wife.

As before, Joseph Ruskin, Percy Rodriguez, Warren Stevens, Antoinette Bower, Sid Haig, David Mauro and Eugene Weingand make for one of the best guest-casts the show has seen up to this point.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Operation ‘Heart’
How DO you kidnap someone out of a hospital?   (7 of 10)

The President of a friendly country is targetted for assassnation by his own security chief, who is in reality a Soviet infiltrator. To divert attention from his scheme, he has a noted archelogist arrested as a spy, and spends weeks interrogating him, causing the man to have a heart attack. Jim's mission is to prevent the assassination, take down the traitor, and, rescue the scientist. This proves to be more confusing than even usual for this show, as I could never quite make out if the scientist was in fact a spy-- or not!

Pernell Roberts (BONANZA) is "President Beyron Rurich", a rare good guy role for the actor. On this show, the top man in any small foreign country usually turns out to be a baddie, but not here. Jim Phelps poses as a journalist, who spends most of the story interviewing the man, as a way to stay close to him, and make sure things go according to his, as always, far-too-complex plan.

Michael Strong (STAR TREK: What Are Little Girls Made Of?) is "Stephan Gomalk" the chief of security and alleged best friend of the President, the last person he would ever suspect of plotting to kill him. I've seen him in a number of roles over the years, and I'm beginning to wonder if he ever played one of the good guys.

The craziest part of the scheme involves rescuing the scientist from a hospital right in the middle of an alleged heart operation, where the team manages to make it look like he has a heart attack and dies right on the operating table. And, while this is going on, a set of oxygen cannisters are made up to look like a disguised bomb, which needs to be defused, causing the entire building to be evacuated.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Money Machine
The Counterfeit Counterfeiters   (8 of 10)

The finance minister of an African country is using his day job at a stock trading house to line his own pockets. He's also employing an engraver to create counterfeit money. Jim's job is to put a stop to it. This involves the help of another, far more honest government minister, who informs him that a bank loan he's been using for dangerous stock speculation, is suddenly due 5 weeks early, a month before the fake printing plates will be ready for use. Cinnamon poses as the wife of the head of a copper mine, who wishes to invest heavily before the discovery of a new rich vein will drive share prices up. And Rollin poses as a man wanting to buy stocks, as it turns out, with near-perfect counterfeit bills. When Rollin appears to have an epileptic siezure, he wakes up in the Minister's house, who demands to know HOW he printed such money with brand-new sequential serial numbers!

Rollin is forced to take him to his partner, Jim, who under duress shows off a computer capable of printing exact, perfect bills-- which will be even better when the Minister supplies him with the REAL paper it's supposed to be printed on! But what the Minister and his armed cronies don't know, is that the machine is a fake. Inside, Barney sits replacing blank paper with printed paper. And, the ink is designed to self-destruct when exposed to microwaves.

Brock Peters ("Darth Vader" in the STAR WARS radio shows) is Walter DuBris, an arrogant, greedy conman who lets his own greed get the better of him.

Davis Roberts (whose long career dated back to 1947 including 3 episodes of SANFORD AND SON) is "Anton Bouchet", the Minister's crony.

Rockne Tarkington (8 episodes of TARZAN and all 26 episodes of DANGER ISLAND) is "Paul Giroux", the honest Minister who winds up working with the IMF to take down DuBris. It's very unusual on this show for an actual government official to be in on the scheme before and while it's happening.

Another unusual moment is when DuBris tries to double-cross Jim at gunpoint, and one of his gunmen gets KILLED by Barney, wearing a heavy bulet-proof outfit, partly to hide the fact that earlier in the same story, he was posing as a doctor! (What would Richard Kimble say?)