What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (3 Viewers)

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
My Three Sons
"The Wiley Method" (S1E28)

Strange creatures, these teenage girls back in my day. With the social acuity of a cereal bowl, us guys approached them with all the subtlety of a farm tractor backing into a dachshund. My first school romance was literally with the girl next door--meaning her parents' suspicious eyes were always on me. I got to the point where I'd mow our lawn only after taking a shower and wearing pleated pants, lest they think their daughter was being subjugated to an ungroomed slob. No teenage boy under the age of 17 should even attempt the girlfriend experience. There's just not enough insight and ingenuity in us to compete with the far superior maturity of a teenage girl being wooed. Like a blind squirrel lucking upon an acorn, I only rarely hit upon a stance that any girl would find responsive or interesting. I think that's why I've been married for 40 years--once I snared a girl, I made sure I wasn't going to lose her and have to start all over again.

Robbie (Don Grady) is desperate to get the attention of pretty Maribel Quinby (Perri Sinclair) in his history class. Thinking he's made a connection with her when their charismatic history teacher Mr. Wiley (Chris Warfield) makes the whole class chant "Monroe Doctrine" over and over, Robbie locks eyes with Maribel during this exercise (similar to that of Albert Finney and Joyce Redman during the messy dinner scene in Tom Jones). Having thought he's successfully zeroed in, disappointment ensues when Maribel simply disconnects and moves on--the moment forgotten in her own mind.

Zeroing in on Maribel; She's not interested; A connection is finally achieved

Robbie admits to being dull, dull, dull as his dad (Fred MacMurray) suggests "now that you know the problem, it's up to you to solve it." No faux parental kid gloves here, by golly. So Robbie sets forth any number of lame plans to bolster Maribel's opinion of him. These all prove to be futile. So, remembering how Maribel was so attracted to Mr. Wiley's forceful teaching methods, Robbie assumes a similar mantle. Setting up a bizarre fight confrontation with his friend Hank to impress the girl, Mr. Wiley is astute enough to interpret Robbie's hairbrained scheme. Like the best, and rarest, of high school teachers, Mr. Wiley imparts some strategically sound advice to the boy. It leads to a much more solid connection between Robbie and Maribel. For once, love's labor is not lost.

This show constantly avoided the silly pitfalls of many sitcoms of the era by promoting scripts that happened to be realistic and funny. Fred MacMurray and William Frawley (as Uncle Bub) do an admirable job of providing stability to the motherless boys as each approaches their singular obstacles of growing up.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

The Abbott and Costello Show – 1.5 “Lou’s Birthday Party”
Pudgy little funnyman Lou has a tough time of it in this episode. It's his birthday, and he's excited to host a party at his and Bud's place...but things go wrong from the off. First, he's hassled by his irascible landlord, Mr. Fields (Sidney Fields). Then, while he's making fudge for the party, the syrup can gets stuck to his hand and won't come off. The guests arrive and things start to look up for a brief moment, as regal blond neighbor Hillary Brooke brings Lou the newest issue of his favorite comic book (Terry and the Used Car Dealers). But then the party derails as the guests become ill from Lou having accidentally made the antipasto with ant paste. A furious Bud kicks Lou out of the apartment, and the poor little guy roams the streets disconsolate, only to get manhandled by Mike the cop (Gordon Jones) and run over by Stinky Davis (Joe Besser) on his scooter. Finally, Lou winds up in the cake shop run by Mr. Bacciagalupe (Joe Kirk), who agrees to make him a gigantic cake for his birthday...but Lou's increasingly irritating demands - not to mention taking his shoes off in the bakery - begin to drive Mr. Bacciagalupe crazy.

Screencaps from ClassicFlix's S1 Blu-Ray set below, courtesy of Neal (The 1960's).

Overall, this is very funny stuff. True to what seems to be the norm for these S1 episodes, we get a series of skits, bits, and gags, and nearly all of them hit. My favorite was the section featuring Mr. Bacciagalupe, a hilarious segment played to perfection by both Lou and his then real-life brother-in-law, Joe Kirk.

Gunsmoke
It's interesting how these earlier, black-and-white half-hour episodes play, in many key ways, like an entirely different show than the later hour-long color seasons. I like both versions of the program, but there's something nicely taut and harder-edged about these early shows, with their frequently unpredictable storylines, moody cinematography and willingness to go to some pretty dark places. Luckily, we also get plenty of warmth leavened throughout, thanks to the charming, homey interplay between Matt, Chester, Doc and Miss Kitty. The acting across the board in these episodes is of a high caliber, but Dennis Weaver, as the garrulous, lovable Chester, regularly steals the show.

1.31 “How to Die for Nothing”
Matt is forced to kill a drunk Texas cowboy in self-defense, and the dead man’s older brother (Mort Mills) vows to shoot Matt in the back in revenge. The usually stoic Dillon is rather uncharacteristically nervous in this tense episode penned by Sam Peckinpah.

2.2 “Brush at Elkader”
An unseen stranger savagely shoots a well-liked Dodge City resident in the back, multiple times. Matt and Chester travel far away to a one-horse town named Elkader. They only know the backshooter’s name – Lou Shippen – but not what he looks like. They find the residents of Elkader cowering in their boots, afraid to cooperate for fear of reprisals from rabid dog killer Shippen. But Matt figures out a way to flush Shippen out into the open. As usual, familiar character faces abound: Malcolm Atterbury, Gage Clarke and Paul Lambert.

2.22 “Skid Row”
This one starts out dramatically, with Chester getting pummeled by mean brute Groat (an older but still intimidating Guinn “Big Boy” Williams) who accosted Miss Kitty on the street (scrappy Kitty gets right in there, whacking the guy repeatedly with a chair like a true hellcat). This is followed by the arrival in Dodge of a young woman (Susan Morrow) who’s come looking for her fiancée (Joseph Sargeant), who hasn’t written her in over a year. Turns out said fiancée is a drunken failure that Matt, Doc and Chester try to sober up. A sense of unease builds as Groat turns back up and tragedy soon follows. I was surprised by the realistically downbeat ending of this one.

2.23 “Sweet and Sour”
Petite brunette beauty Karen Sharpe plays Rena Decker, a young woman Matt and Chester meet on the stage. Matt tries to help her out by arranging for Miss Kitty to hire her to work in the Long Branch, but Kitty can smell a troublemaker from the get-go and warns Matt that she's no good. Seems the pretty Ms. Decker is the type who gets off on inciting violence between men, goading them on until they fight over her, and before Matt gets wise to her ways, four men lay dead on the street.

Run for Your Life – 1.10 “A Girl Named Sorrow”
Randall posted an excellent review of this episode some time ago, along with some great screencaps. I finally caught up with this one recently, thanks to Neal a.k.a The 1960’s kindly sharing some COZI-TV digital files with me. Terminally ill but still physically able-bodied Paul Bryan (Ben Gazzara) is in Arizona, teaching Lisa Sorrow (Ina Balin, who looks absolutely scrumptious throughout this episode), a woman he hooked up with in Europe, how to fly a glider. But there’s more to the lovely Lisa than meets the eye…she’s actually a former concentration camp survivor turned Israeli agent who’s there to help identify and capture an escaped Nazi war criminal who’s hiding out under the name Kafka (David Opatoshu). When Kafka goes on the run, Paul winds up accompanying Lisa on a dangerous desert hunt to capture him. To all appearances, this seems like a crackerjack episode, but unfortunately suffers from large swathes of character development being roughly hacked out of it for syndication…judging by the average episode length of hourlong dramas in the late '60s, nearly 8 whole minutes' worth have been removed with a ham-handed lack of grace. The main story beats are all there, but what's missing is what I presume to have been some scenes fleshing out Kafka’s character. In this truncated version, fine actor Opatoshu barely gets a dozen lines. Despite this, it's still a recommended watch, with a sincere performance from Balin and some nice . The charismatic Gazzara must have enjoyed working on this show, nearly every episode of which involves him making out with a murderer’s row of stunning ‘60s starlets. Nice work if you can get it.

The Prisoner - 1.4 “The Schizoid Man”
I started out watching a later episode in this short-run and justly famous ITC series, “The Girl Who Was Death”, but I couldn’t stomach its relentlessly parodic tone (imagine an exagerated, goofily comic book-style spoof of Danger Man) and so switched it off, choosing to watch this early episode instead. "The Schizoid Man" turned out to be much more to my taste.

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) wakes up one morning, but appears not to be himself. He’s now sporting a moustache, is no longer right-handed and lives in a different bungalow in The Village, the surreal if pictureque government facility in which he's been imprisoned. The current Number Two (Anton Rodgers) informs him that he is actually an agent dubbed Number Twelve, who’s been brought in by the mysterious organization behind The Village to impersonate Number Six, in a ploy to get him to break down his resistance and reveal his supposed secrets. The real Number Six is suspicious but grows increasingly confused and disoriented as the other Number 6 seems much more like the man he is supposed to be. (Confused yet? ) The always mesmerizing Patrick McGoohan has a field day playing dual roles, essentially challenging “himself” to a series of tests to prove who is who, including pistol target practice, fencing and fisticuffs. The bad guys get awfully close to cracking tough nut Number Six, but his iron will and strong sense of self prove prevail once again. Beautiful Jane Merrow (who is on record as having loved working opposite the mercurial and uber-intense McGoohan ins everal productions) has a small yet crucial role as Number 24 (listed as “Alison” in the end credits), who has established what seems to be something of a telepathic link with Number Six...alas, she turns out to be one more in a line of attractive female residents of The Village who can’t be completely trusted, but at least has the good grace to feel bad about her subterfuge, in what seems to be a genuine confession at the coda:

Alison: It's not often one gets a second chance.
Number Six: There are no second chances.
Alison: There are sometimes, for the lucky ones. If I had a second chance, I want you to know that I wouldn't do it again.

The Prisoner is an odd duck of a series, basically a show of two halves. The first half, comprised of imaginative and serious sci-fi-tinged spy yarns, is simply wonderful, among the best of any TV program from the 1960s. However, as the show goes on it seems to lose sight of its identity, eventually crawling up its own ass and pretentiously dying there, with a string of increasingly outrageous, nonsensical and opaque plots. I admire McGoohan and company’s audacity and esoteric intentions, and it’s certain that the show wouldn’t have achieved anywhere near its current cult status had it continued in the more straightforward vein of the opening set of episodes - but I for one sure wish it had, because those are almost all uniformly stellar, while the later ones are, for me, something of a slog, albeit a visually-arresting one.

 

[JohnHopper]

The Prisoner is an odd duck of a series, basically a show of two halves. The first half, comprised of imaginative and serious sci-fi-tinged spy yarns, is simply wonderful, among the best of any TV program from the 1960s. However, as the show goes on it seems to lose sight of its identity, eventually crawling up its own ass and pretentiously dying there, with a string of increasingly outrageous, nonsensical and opaque plots. I admire McGoohan and company’s audacity and esoteric intentions, and it’s certain that the show wouldn’t have achieved anywhere near its current cult status had it continued in the more straightforward vein of the opening set of episodes - but I for one sure wish it had, because those are almost all uniformly stellar, while the later ones are, for me, something of a slog, albeit a visually-arresting one.

McGoohan was obliged by the network to supervise three more episodes to fill in the season
hence the deviation from the original concept.

THE THREE MISFITS
“Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”
“Living in Harmony” (western parody)
“The Girl Who Was Death” (spy parody)

The series was first designed as a seven episodes production then as a thirteen episodes production and eventually as a seventeen episodes production.

Patrick McGoohan’s initial “serial” concept
1. “Arrival”
2. “Free for All”
3. “Dance of the Dead”
4. “Checkmate”
5. “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6. “Once Upon a Time”
7. “Fall Out”

 

[JohnHopper]

The Prisoner - 1.4 “The Schizoid Man”
I started out watching a later episode in this short-run and justly famous ITC series, “The Girl Who Was Death”, but I couldn’t stomach its relentlessly parodic tone (imagine an exagerated, goofily comic book-style spoof of Danger Man) and so switched it off, choosing to watch this early episode instead. "The Schizoid Man" turned out to be much more to my taste.

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) wakes up one morning, but appears not to be himself. He’s now sporting a moustache, is no longer right-handed and lives in a different bungalow in The Village, the surreal if pictureque government facility in which he's been imprisoned. The current Number Two (Anton Rodgers) informs him that he is actually an agent dubbed Number Twelve, who’s been brought in by the mysterious organization behind The Village to impersonate Number Six, in a ploy to get him to break down his resistance and reveal his supposed secrets. The real Number Six is suspicious but grows increasingly confused and disoriented as the other Number 6 seems much more like the man he is supposed to be. (Confused yet? ) Patrick McGoohan has a field day playing dual roles, essentially challenging “himself” to a series of tests to prove who is who, including pistol target practice, fencing and fisticuffs. The bad guys get awfully close to cracking tough nut Number Six, but his iron will and strong sense of self prove unassailable once again. Beautiful Jane Merrow (who is on record as having loved working opposite the mercurial and uber-intense McGoohan ins everal productions) has a small yet crucial role as Number 24 (listed as “Alison” in the end credits), who has established what seems to be something of a telepathic link with Number Six...alas, she turns out to be one more in a line of attractive female residents of The Village who can’t be completely trusted, but at least has the good grace to feel bad about her subterfuge, in what seems to be a genuine confession at the coda:

Alison: It's not often one gets a second chance.
Number Six: There are no second chances.
Alison: There are sometimes, for the lucky ones. If I had a second chance, I want you to know that I wouldn't do it again.

It's one of my favorite entry because of the main themes (doppelgänger/conditioning/the question of identity).
The core of this episode (mind alteration) will be exploited in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

The Prisoner | The Schizoid Man | The Conditioning Scene

The Prisoner | The Schizoid Man | Trailer

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
The Big Valley
"Last Train To The Fair" (S1E30)

In the Old West, women who looked like Audra Barkley (Linda Evans) were about as common a sight as a Ferarri Testarosa parked alongside the town livery stable. Oh, it's not that frontier women couldn't be pretty, but without the aid of fake eyelashes, cosmetics, hair extensions and underwire bras--they tended to be, well...plain. In addition, another Big Valley anachronism was the absence of electric lighting, despite which the Barkley mansion curiously seemed to be as illuminated as a high school gym during playoffs. Perhaps the only thing that could brook such passable luminescence would be Daylight Savings Time, a congressional feature not yet enacted then. One last tidbit of interest centers on the main mode of transportation in the 19th century: Horses, which frequently evacuated their bowels without much contemplation to time and place. Yet the streets of Stockton appear as pristine as the Rolex jewelry aisle at Tiffany's.

The Barkley family is on its way to the Sacramento State Fair for the sole purpose of winning a blue ribbon for their home-brined pickles. On the train ride, Audra develops severe appendicitis. Is there a doctor in the house? Why, yes--there's a Doc Travers (Richard Anderson) aboard who--at the present--is trying to escape a furious posse out to hang him for unspeakable acts from his past. Jarrod (Richard Long), Nick (Peter Breck) and Heath (Lee Majors) have major concern for their sister's well-being, and as such display some trepidation towards the squirrely Doc--especially when the posse boards the train with the rude intention of hanging the man. The Barkley boys are quick to gasp that stretching the doctor's neck is a poor substitute for having access to his expertise in treating Audra.

Audra falls ill; The posse assembles to attack; And...she's all well now

Despite having spent 15 years in prison for his crimes, Doc Travers is determined to save Audra's life--if only for turning over a new leaf and proving himself a worthy functionary to society. While the Barkleys fight off the interlopers, the doctor sharpens his scalpel, administers a brickload of laudnum to Audra and pretends to act professional despite her being naked from the waist up. It all ends well--Doc Travers is suitably redeemed, Audra lives and the posse sees the light of forgiveness.

What remains unresolved is the disposition of the Barkley's pickle entry in the fair. Rumor has it that their pickles not only win, but some guy named Vlasic buys the rights to the recipe.

 

[ScottRE]

THE THREE MISFITS
“Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”
“Living in Harmony” (western parody)
“The Girl Who Was Death” (spy parody)

Adding to your thoughts...

"Do Not Forsake Me..." was done while he was shooting Ice Station Zebra, which necessitated the mind swap and another actor brought in. Ridiculous premise in that regard but otherwise a solid episode (McGoohan hated the cut he saw and reshot or re-cut it, the story goes).

"Living in Harmony" was actually not too bad either. A stretch because the concepts for this series were limited and McGoohan was well aware of it, but for all that, it turned out pretty good. Not worth the US ban though. It would have just been another average episode if they ran it.

"The Girl Who Was Death." I must be the only person who likes this one. It's hysterical. Oddly enough, it is one of the first episodes I caught on a PBS station back in the 80's and I found it weird. But once I saw it in context of the series, and by then very familiar with the spy genre, I got the jokes and think it's a very imaginative and self aware send up. McGoohan brought in a lot of his Danger Man people. He's obviously having a good time blowing off steam and the score is all library music - and it's great stuff. Not at all what most fans tuned in to see, but I think it's a funny 51 minutes. And frankly, the very idea of children being in The Village was pretty chilling (most likely just brought in to trick No. 6).

"Fall Out" really should be included as it was written at the very end in 48 hours - and it shows. "Once Upon a Time" was shot very early and held back for the end. A conclusion was part of the plan, but not that one. Script editor George Markstein was gone by then and his influence is what kept the series on track. He couldn't get along with McGoohan, call his his ideas "rubbish" and hated the ending we all saw. While Markstein would have probably provided a more grounded climax, McGoohan's gonzo vision is what made this series legendary. And that episode pretty much sealed McGoohan's fate in a lot of ways. Walking off Rafferty without notice because he was tired of it also didn't help.

A great series I need to revisit soon.

 

[JohnHopper]

Adding to your thoughts...

"Do Not Forsake Me..." was done while he was shooting Ice Station Zebra, which necessitated the mind swap and another actor brought in. Ridiculous premise in that regard but otherwise a solid episode (McGoohan hated the cut he saw and reshot it, the story goes).

"Living in Harmony" was actually not too bad either. A stretch because the concepts for this series were limited and McGoohan was well aware of it, but for all that, it turned out pretty good. Not worth the US ban though. It would have just been another average episode if they ran it.

"The Girl Who Was Death." I must be the only person who likes this one. It's hysterical. Oddly enough, it is one of the first episodes I caught on a PBS station back in the 80's and I found it weird. But once I saw it in context of the series, and by then very familiar with the spy genre, I got the jokes and think it's a very imaginative and self aware send up. McGoohan brought in a lot of his Danger Man people. He's obviously having a good time blowing off steam and the score is all library music - and it's great stuff. Not at all what most fans tuned in to see, but I think it's a funny 51 minutes. And frankly, the very idea of children being in The Village was pretty chilling (most likely just brought in to trick No. 6).

"Fall Out" really should be included as it was written at the very end in 48 hours - and it shows. "Once Upon a Time" was shot very early and held back for the end. A conclusion was part of the plan, but not that one. Script editor George Markstein was gone by then and his influence is what kept the series on track. He couldn't get along with McGoohan, call his his ideas "rubbish" and hated the ending we all saw. While Markstein would have probably provided a more grounded climax, McGoohan's gonzo vision is what made this series legendary. And that episode pretty much sealed McGoohan's fate in a lot of ways. Walking off Rafferty without notice because he was tired of it also didn't help.

A great series I need to revisit soon.

Production order for the Prisoner series

George Markstein Block
1. “Arrival
”
2. “Free For All
”
3. “Checkmate”
4. 
“Dance of the Dead”
5. “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6. “Once Upon A Time”
7. “The Schizoid Man”
8. “It’s Your Funeral”
9. “A Change of Mind”
10. “The General”
11. “A. B. and C.”
12. “Hammer into Anvil”
13. “Many Happy Returns”

Patrick McGoohan Block
14. “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”
15. “Living in Harmony”
16. “The Girl Who Was Death”
17. “Fall Out”

 

[ScottRE]

Production order for the Prisoner series

George Markstein Block
1. “Arrival
”
2. “Free For All
”
3. “Checkmate”
4. 
“Dance of the Dead”
5. “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6. “Once Upon A Time”
7. “The Schizoid Man”
8. “It’s Your Funeral”
9. “A Change of Mind”
10. “The General”
11. “A. B. and C.”
12. “Hammer into Anvil”
13. “Many Happy Returns”

Patrick McGoohan Block
14. “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling”
15. “Living in Harmony”
16. “The Girl Who Was Death”
17. “Fall Out”

Thanks! You saved me the trouble of looking it up. "Chimes" and "Time" were shot back to back to take advantage of Leo McKern's availability. By the time they had gotten to "Fall Out" he had totally changed his appearance, which had to be written into the episode with a shave sequence.

"The General" and "A, B and C" make much more sense in production order. Colin Gordon's No. 2 was drinking milk apparently for an ulcer in "A, B and C" but the next time we saw him in "The General" he was confident and much more in charge. It makes sense for it to be the other way around since he was given a second chance after his failure in "The General." I think the A&E DVD releases put the episodes in a logical order but the blu rays were in US Airdate.

Anyway, this series deserves a thread of its own.

 

[JohnHopper]

THE PARODIES
“Living in Harmony” (aka The Prisoner meets Ted Post’s Hang ‘Em High)
“The Girl Who Was Death” (aka The Prisoner meets Danger Man, The Avengers and Casino Royal)

The Prisoner | Living in Harmony | Trailer


The Prisoner | The Girl Who Was Death | Trailer

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Scott! I believe there was a thread for The Prisoner at the time the Blu ray came out. Agreed it’s a great series. I should do a re-view via production order.

 

[Nelson Au]

The past two weeks, I’ve been doing my usual Star Trek viewings and several Gerry Anderson Supermarionation series, I should do a post about them as it will take some time as I’m deep diving back into these shows. I loved those shows as a little boy.

i wanted to do a quick post about The Outer Limits. This is a series that has haunted me since I first saw it as a kid. It has so many images that remain imbedded in many who also saw it as young kids. HTF member Craig Beam has a great blog on it and a big fan. i collected this series, like I did for Star Trek TOS, in most of its home video formats, laserdisc to DVD to blu ray.

I watched Controlled Experiment last night. I had this episode in mind for some time. I think because of Barry Morse due to my recent screenings of his appearances on Space 1999 and The Fugitive. It co-stars Carrol O’Conner in a very different role from his later more famous role.

This is one of my favorite episodes in the series because it’s so offbeat from the rest of the series plus it’s just plain fun. For the uninitiated it also includes a young Grace Lee Whitney before her Star Trek fame. I’d recently revisited several of her better Star Trek appearances.

During this viewing, it was likely the first time watching on my new OLED. And I was really surprised by the quality of the image! I knew it looked great when I saw it on my previous plasma screen, but this was just so sharp with great grey scale. I could see details on actors skin and fabric details on clothes.

These images really surprised me.
Phobos:

Deimos:

Phobos credentials:

Carla: That’s quite a Monroe hairdo compared to her Star Trek look.

Carla’s asset:


One thing I came away with was a reminder that in an earlier viewing, Phobos and Deimos reminded me of the Looney Tunes characters Hubie and Bertie that are a pair of mice who create havoc for a cat in Mouse Wreckers. One of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts. One is smarter then the other one and enjoy their mischievous pranks.

I might have to try to make a replica of Phobos credential card. It’s pretty cool.

 

[Flashgear]

Man of the World episode 14 The Bandit (May 11, 1963). W: Ian Stuart Black, John Pudney. D: Charles Crichton. Starring Craig Stevens. Guest starring Sam Wanamaker, Natasha Perry, John Woodvine, Raymond Rietty.

Craig Stevens, fresh off of three seasons of Peter Gunn, was lured to the UK in 1962 by Sir Lew Grade's ITC for a new hour long action-adventure TV series. A quality production, Man of the World would ironically also feature a beautiful theme by composer Henry Mancini, just as with the earlier Peter Gunn. It would film at Shepperton Studios for 20 episodes including a color-test pilot episode filmed in Spain...sadly truncated by a six month long actor's strike in Britain. Going by convention, they had probably hoped to produce 26 episodes. Too bad for this stylish series starring ultra-smooth Craig Stevens...if you love Peter Gunn and have a region-free player, you really should get the Network DVD set...or watch it for free on Youtube!

Our Brit TV scholar Jeff Flugel would know more about this series, but it does appear that ITC intended for Man of the World to make a big splash in the United States TV market and overseas generally, and some sources say that it was initially planned for the entire series to be filmed in color! But the chaotic and militant British union and actor's guild actions ballooned ITC's budget, and the series would not survive the six month strike...perhaps in an effort to salvage something, Man of the World did spawn a spin-off show in fall 1963's The Sentimental Agent, starring Carlos Thompson as the character first introduced in episode 8. Thankfully, Network has released both series in high quality R2 PAL DVD sets derived from 35mm vault elements. My screen caps are from the 2009 five disc Network DVD set...

In The Bandit, Craig Stevens, playing international photo-journalist Michael Strait, would be joined by another American actor in Sam Wanamaker (Outer Limits A Feasibility Study, Danger Man, The Baron, Wild Wild West, The Spy Who Came in from The Cold, Warning Shot, Holocaust, Death on the Nile, Irreconcilable Differences, The Aviator, Superman IV etc., Chicago born, and a US Army veteran in WW2, but with a long acting history in the UK, he became director of the reborn Globe Shakespearean Theatre in 1987, a choice and prestigious post, and was named to the Knight's order Commander (CBE) by the Queen in 1993, just before his death from prostate cancer. A remarkable life!).

Wanamaker plays an inordinately charming and fun-loving Sicilian bandit 'Nicola'...Michael Strait is touring Sicily in his Jaguar, looking to photograph the scenic sites and charming people of the island...and specifically looking for a 4th-5th century B.C. Greek temple...what he doesn't know is that the temple is occupied by bandits led by Nicola, and that Nicola has just abducted for ransom a pretty actress (Natasha Perry of Midnight Lace, Romeo and Juliet) from a film set where Strait was about to interview her. When he arrives at the Greek temple, Strait discovers her there, prisoner of the bandits...and that Strait is now also in the bag! Compounding things is that Nicola is also in cahoots with a local Carabinieri lieutenant (another charming rogue played by Robert Rietty)...Nicola has a compulsion for card playing...Gin Rummy, Poker, 5 card stud...but has long desired to find someone smart enough who can play the challenging and intellectually regimented game of Bridge! Nicola learned the arcane game from a British commando in WW2, who led Nicola and others of the Italian resistance on many sabotage missions...Nicola himself was once a hero of the resistance, but long-since fallen on hard times...thus, he is both charming and still noble...and he has found his match in all respects in Craig Stevens' Man of the World...nothing that happens in this very pleasant hour should be taken very seriously...except the (to me) pleasure of watching this fine example of vintage Brit TV...

Thanks to Jeff for turning us on to so many more obscure British shows! Peter Gunn has long been a favorite of mine, but I had been previously unaware of his follow-up series Man of the World...and once again, in concert with some great Henry Mancini music!


Craig Stevens would return to the states for the prematurely cancelled NYC filmed drama-comedy Mr. Broadway, for 13 episodes in the fall of 1964. The high quality show produced by David Susskind (Producer's Associates) aired on CBS on Saturday nights. Sad to say that series didn't stick either. Craig Stevens deserved better, but that can be said of many guys.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

George Markstein Block
1. “Arrival
”
2. “Free For All
”
3. “Checkmate”
4. 
“Dance of the Dead”
5. “The Chimes of Big Ben”
6. “Once Upon A Time”
7. “The Schizoid Man”
8. “It’s Your Funeral”
9. “A Change of Mind”
10. “The General”
11. “A. B. and C.”
12. “Hammer into Anvil”
13. “Many Happy Returns”

Thanks for the Prisoner comments, John, Scott and Nelson! Yeah, looking at the list above, my preference is very much for the episodes with George Markstein's involvement. Once he walks and McGoohan is left to his own increasingly odd devices, and the series descends into pantomime and obtuse allegory, I lose interest. It remains a fascinating show from beginning to end, though, no matter what one makes of the bizarre ending episodes.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Man of the World episode 14 The Bandit (May 11, 1963). W: Ian Stuart Black, John Pudney. D: Charles Crichton. Starring Craig Stevens. Guest starring Sam Wanamaker, Natasha Perry, John Woodvine, Raymond Rietty.

In The Bandit, Craig Stevens, playing international photo-journalist Michael Strait, would be joined by another American actor in Sam Wanamaker (Outer Limits A Feasibility Study, Danger Man, The Baron, Wild Wild West, The Spy Who Came in from The Cold, Warning Shot, Holocaust, Death on the Nile, Irreconcilable Differences, The Aviator, Superman IV etc., Chicago born, and a US Army veteran in WW2, but with a long acting history in the UK, he became director of the reborn Globe Shakespearean Theatre in 1987, a choice and prestigious post, and was named to the Knight's order Commander (CBE) by the Queen in 1993, just before his death from prostate cancer. A remarkable life!)

Fabulous review and screencaps, Randall! I have yet to see this particular episode of Man of the World, but plan to remedy that soon. While I appreciate your kind words, I don't think I can quite claim the title of "Brit TV scholar"...though I definitely agree with your assessment of this fine ITC series (the pilot of which premiered in the U.K. on Saturday, September 29th, 1962, a mere five days before Roger Moore's very first outing as The Saint, "The Talented Husband"). Smooth operator Craig Stevens anchors the show with elan, and occasionally shares the screen with the sultry Tracy Reed (perhaps better known as the bikini-clad Miss Scott in Dr. Strangelove) as his assistant, Maggie. Definitely a series worth checking out.

For more background on the making of Man of the World, check out this episode of the terrific ITC Entertained the World podcast, hosted by ITC expert Jaz Wiseman:



And here's YouTube link for "The Bandit" episode Randall reviewed above:

 

[bmasters9]

Emergency!, "The Tycoons" (OAD Sat. Feb. 28, 1976 on NBC)-- wanted to spotlight something here that intrigued me that I never knew about up until now...

At the run-down hot dog place called Davey's Dogs that John and Roy are sent to check out for an inspection (John later tries to get the other men on his shift interested in buying it and running it), there is a sign on the inside front door for "Chili Size." At first, I thought it was a fake recipe/meal simply written for the show, but then I looked it up, and Chili Size is a real meal known in the City of Angels, and the County of Angels (L.A. County). Here's more on it:

The Chili Size: a Los Angeles Original

Many cities have urban food legends built around them. Los Angeles is no different, with the most well-known controversy surrounding the creation of the French Dip sandwich, variously claimed by bo…

thelosangelesbeat.com

And here's a shot from that inspection scene where the "Chili Size" sign is hanging on the door...

Needless to say, John and Roy find multiple problems with the hot dog stand (non-standard wiring, electrical problems, too much grease in a flue), and give Davey Hobson, proprietor (the late Ted Gehring), a 410 citation, and 14 days to remedy the problems; Davey doesn't seem all that interested, and says he wants to sell the place, and is looking for a buyer. He does, however, offer to make John and Roy a "chili size" the next time they're over there (the subtitle says "chili dogs," but Davey clearly says "chili size").

That said, again, I wanted to spotlight this little piece of L.A. (and L.A. County) culinary history that you probably never knew about.

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
The Adventures Of Superman
"The Phantom Ring" (S4E12)

Since childhood I've had dreams that I could fly. Oh, not in the sleek streaking style like Superman--the parameters of my slumberland don't seem to recognize that capability. In my dreams, I achieve flight by flapping my arms up and down, thus causing me to rise. The harder I flap, the higher I go. To maintain altitude, however, I must continue to flap vigorously or sink. It's a highly exhausting exercise, even while asleep. In addition, my trajectory is strictly limited to a vertical climb, never do I flatten out horizontally and zoom parallel to the Earth's surface like a hawk searching for a field mouse. I'm sure from a psychological standpoint, this could be read as some sort of sexual misfunction since it seems all males' unconscious thoughts fall into that dismal basket of fuzzy interpretations. I don't have my flying dreams much these days, indicating either that I've entered my age of eunuchism, or I just don't give a rat's rear anymore.

I always found it interesting that as a simple line reporter, Clark Kent had a private office. This flies in the face of every mid-century newsroom operation ever portrayed on TV or in film. Be that as it may, Clark receives a pigeon in a box at his office. The bird contains a note inviting Kent to a meeting with someone named "the Spectre". The pigeon is let loose and is duly followed by Kent / Superman to a shack which moments before was inhabited by a band of gangsters who have now mysteriously disappeared. Hidden from Superman is a spiffy device which renders the thugs as invisible so they can go about their misdeeds unseen. It's an operation that heretofore would've gone undetected save for the unexplainable invitation send to Clark Kent. A hole in the plot, you might assume.

Clark and Inspector Henderson discuss the case; Clark is being closely watched; A jewelry store is missing some inventory

Clark and Inspector Henderson (Robert Shayne) discuss the bizarre disappearance of the thieves, who have been robbing jewelry stores all over town. Kent and Henderson conclude--with no evidence whatsoever--that the thieves are truly invisible, as if the solution is as easy to read as a large print Harlequin novel.

So as to pull Superman off their trail, one of the gang (a young Paul Burke, later of Naked City fame) kidnaps Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. It's as if this gang is determined to be about as inconspicuous as a hunchback clinging to a loudly ringing cathedral bell. In this episode, we also learn that Clark Kent has a pilot's license. Think about that for a second or two. This fact, as with so many others in this story, was included by script writers for no fathomable purpose that I can determine. But as you can imagine, Superman easily succumbs the whole gang. The main purpose of the story seems to be the introduction of invisibility, which was sure to evoke oohs and aahs from the 8 year-old fan base of The Man of Steel. The plot holes go entirely unnoticed.

I really hoped to be strictly neutral in this commentary, but some shows are just too damn silly about which to plow a straight furrow.

 

[Rustifer]

The Abbott and Costello Show – 1.5 “Lou’s Birthday Party”
Pudgy little funnyman Lou has a tough time of it in this episode. It's his birthday, and he's excited to host a party at his and Bud's place...but things go wrong from the off. First, he's hassled by his irascible landlord, Mr. Fields (Sidney Fields). Then, while he's making fudge for the party, the syrup can gets stuck to his hand and won't come off. The guests arrive and things start to look up for a brief moment, as regal blond neighbor Hillary Brooke brings Lou the newest issue of his favorite comic book (Terry and the Used Car Dealers). But then the party derails as the guests become ill from Lou having accidentally made the antipasto with ant paste. A furious Bud kicks Lou out of the apartment, and the poor little guy roams the streets disconsolate, only to get manhandled by Mike the cop (Gordon Jones) and run over by Stinky Davis (Joe Besser) on his scooter. Finally, Lou winds up in the cake shop run by Mr. Bacciagalupe (Joe Kirk), who agrees to make him a gigantic cake for his birthday...but Lou's increasingly irritating demands - not to mention taking his shoes off in the bakery - begin to drive Mr. Bacciagalupe crazy.

Screencaps from ClassicFlix's S1 Blu-Ray set below, courtesy of Neal (The 1960's).

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Overall, this is very funny stuff. True to what seems to be the norm for these S1 episodes, we get a series of skits, bits, and gags, and nearly all of them hit. My favorite was the section featuring Mr. Bacciagalupe, a hilarious segment played to perfection by both Lou and his then real-life brother-in-law, Joe Kirk.

Gunsmoke
It's interesting how these earlier, black-and-white half-hour episodes play, in many key ways, like an entirely different show than the later hour-long color seasons. I like both versions of the program, but there's something nicely taut and harder-edged about these early shows, with their frequently unpredictable storylines, moody cinematography and willingness to go to some pretty dark places. Luckily, we also get plenty of warmth leavened throughout, thanks to the charming, homey interplay between Matt, Chester, Doc and Miss Kitty. The acting across the board in these episodes is of a high caliber, but Dennis Weaver, as the garrulous, lovable Chester, regularly steals the show.

1.31 “How to Die for Nothing”
Matt is forced to kill a drunk Texas cowboy in self-defense, and the dead man’s older brother (Mort Mills) vows to shoot Matt in the back in revenge. The usually stoic Dillon is rather uncharacteristically nervous in this tense episode penned by Sam Peckinpah.

2.2 “Brush at Elkader”
An unseen stranger savagely shoots a well-liked Dodge City resident in the back, multiple times. Matt and Chester travel far away to a one-horse town named Elkader. They only know the backshooter’s name – Lou Shippen – but not what he looks like. They find the residents of Elkader cowering in their boots, afraid to cooperate for fear of reprisals from rabid dog killer Shippen. But Matt figures out a way to flush Shippen out into the open. As usual, familiar character faces abound: Malcolm Atterbury, Gage Clarke and Paul Lambert.

2.22 “Skid Row”
This one starts out dramatically, with Chester getting pummeled by mean brute Groat (an older but still intimidating Guinn “Big Boy” Williams) who accosted Miss Kitty on the street (scrappy Kitty gets right in there, whacking the guy repeatedly with a chair like a true hellcat). This is followed by the arrival in Dodge of a young woman (Susan Morrow) who’s come looking for her fiancée (Joseph Sargeant), who hasn’t written her in over a year. Turns out said fiancée is a drunken failure that Matt, Doc and Chester try to sober up. A sense of unease builds as Groat turns back up and tragedy soon follows. I was surprised by the realistically downbeat ending of this one.

2.23 “Sweet and Sour”
Petite brunette beauty Karen Sharpe plays Rena Decker, a young woman Matt and Chester meet on the stage. Matt tries to help her out by arranging for Miss Kitty to hire her to work in the Long Branch, but Kitty can smell a troublemaker from the get-go and warns Matt that she's no good. Seems the pretty Ms. Decker is the type who gets off on inciting violence between men, goading them on until they fight over her, and before Matt gets wise to her ways, four men lay dead on the street.

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Run for Your Life – 1.10 “A Girl Named Sorrow”
Randall posted an excellent review of this episode some time ago, along with some great screencaps. I finally caught up with this one recently, thanks to Neal a.k.a The 1960’s kindly sharing some COZI-TV digital files with me. Terminally ill but still physically able-bodied Paul Bryan (Ben Gazzara) is in Arizona, teaching Lisa Sorrow (Ina Balin, who looks absolutely scrumptious throughout this episode), a woman he hooked up with in Europe, how to fly a glider. But there’s more to the lovely Lisa than meets the eye…she’s actually a former concentration camp survivor turned Israeli agent who’s there to help identify and capture an escaped Nazi war criminal who’s hiding out under the name Kafka (David Opatoshu). When Kafka goes on the run, Paul winds up accompanying Lisa on a dangerous desert hunt to capture him. To all appearances, this seems like a crackerjack episode, but unfortunately suffers from large swathes of character development being roughly hacked out of it for syndication…judging by the average episode length of hourlong dramas in the late '60s, nearly 8 whole minutes' worth have been removed with a ham-handed lack of grace. The main story beats are all there, but what's missing is what I presume to have been some scenes fleshing out Kafka’s character. In this truncated version, fine actor Opatoshu barely gets a dozen lines. Despite this, it's still a recommended watch, with a sincere performance from Balin and some nice . The charismatic Gazzara must have enjoyed working on this show, nearly every episode of which involves him making out with a murderer’s row of stunning ‘60s starlets. Nice work if you can get it.

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The Prisoner - 1.4 “The Schizoid Man”
I started out watching a later episode in this short-run and justly famous ITC series, “The Girl Who Was Death”, but I couldn’t stomach its relentlessly parodic tone (imagine an exagerated, goofily comic book-style spoof of Danger Man) and so switched it off, choosing to watch this early episode instead. "The Schizoid Man" turned out to be much more to my taste.

Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) wakes up one morning, but appears not to be himself. He’s now sporting a moustache, is no longer right-handed and lives in a different bungalow in The Village, the surreal if pictureque government facility in which he's been imprisoned. The current Number Two (Anton Rodgers) informs him that he is actually an agent dubbed Number Twelve, who’s been brought in by the mysterious organization behind The Village to impersonate Number Six, in a ploy to get him to break down his resistance and reveal his supposed secrets. The real Number Six is suspicious but grows increasingly confused and disoriented as the other Number 6 seems much more like the man he is supposed to be. (Confused yet? ) The always mesmerizing Patrick McGoohan has a field day playing dual roles, essentially challenging “himself” to a series of tests to prove who is who, including pistol target practice, fencing and fisticuffs. The bad guys get awfully close to cracking tough nut Number Six, but his iron will and strong sense of self prove prevail once again. Beautiful Jane Merrow (who is on record as having loved working opposite the mercurial and uber-intense McGoohan ins everal productions) has a small yet crucial role as Number 24 (listed as “Alison” in the end credits), who has established what seems to be something of a telepathic link with Number Six...alas, she turns out to be one more in a line of attractive female residents of The Village who can’t be completely trusted, but at least has the good grace to feel bad about her subterfuge, in what seems to be a genuine confession at the coda:

Alison: It's not often one gets a second chance.
Number Six: There are no second chances.
Alison: There are sometimes, for the lucky ones. If I had a second chance, I want you to know that I wouldn't do it again.

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The Prisoner is an odd duck of a series, basically a show of two halves. The first half, comprised of imaginative and serious sci-fi-tinged spy yarns, is simply wonderful, among the best of any TV program from the 1960s. However, as the show goes on it seems to lose sight of its identity, eventually crawling up its own ass and pretentiously dying there, with a string of increasingly outrageous, nonsensical and opaque plots. I admire McGoohan and company’s audacity and esoteric intentions, and it’s certain that the show wouldn’t have achieved anywhere near its current cult status had it continued in the more straightforward vein of the opening set of episodes - but I for one sure wish it had, because those are almost all uniformly stellar, while the later ones are, for me, something of a slog, albeit a visually-arresting one.

Another nicely eclectic array of well-written reviews, Jeff. I'm especially fond of Run For Your Life, a real favorite of mine from so many years go.

 

[JohnHopper]

I watched Controlled Experiment last night. I had this episode in mind for some time. I think because of Barry Morse due to my recent screenings of his appearances on Space 1999 and The Fugitive. It co-stars Carrol O’Conner in a very different role from his later more famous role.

One of the best Barry Morse parts of the Sixties along with:
(needless to mention The Fugitive)

“Soft Focus” from ’Way Out
“A Piano in the House” from The Twilight Zone
“Wings for a Plush Horse” and “Walk This Street Lightly” from The New Breed
“The Life Seekers” from The Invaders
“The Flaw” from The FBI

 

[BobO'Link]

Posting this here because some of you guys are likely to be the ones most interested in this deal...

Miami Vice (the original) - Complete Series BR @ Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon) for $28.99.

See on Amazon

I'm not much of a fan but ordered a copy solely due to the price.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I watched Controlled Experiment last night. I had this episode in mind for some time. I think because of Barry Morse due to my recent screenings of his appearances on Space 1999 and The Fugitive. It co-stars Carrol O’Conner in a very different role from his later more famous role.

Nice review of this Outer Limits episode, Nelson. My viewing of OL has been rather sporadic over the years. Always been more of a Twilight Zone man myself (the shorter episode length adds more punch to the stories, IMO). That said, I do enjoy The Outer Limits, especially for its palpable sense of eerie atmosphere and its beautifully moody lighting and cinematography (at least when DP Conrad Hall is involved). I've owned the flipper DVD sets of the show for a long time now, but will be coming into possession of Kino's S1 Blu-Ray set later this week (a good friend is kindly gifting me an extra copy). I'll be certain to check out further episodes of the show that I've yet to see on a more frequent basis once I get that Kino BD set in my hot little hands.

That said, again, I wanted to spotlight this little piece of L.A. (and L.A. County) culinary history that you probably never knew about.

Never heard of a "chili size", Ben. Thanks for spotlighting this episode of Emergency!, and for educating us on a slice of Californian food history. And also for making me hungry for a chili burger.

Frankly, I'm amazed that your eagle eye even spotted that "chili size" sign in the background of the scene you screencapped above. That's the sort of detail that almost always passes me by.

Episode Commentary
The Adventures Of Superman
"The Phantom Ring" (S4E12)
...
I really hoped to be strictly neutral in this commentary, but some shows are just too damn silly about which to plow a straight furrow.

Funny stuff, Russ! I'm glad that you chose to bring out your trademark wit to poke fun of this episode. I know that this show is beloved as a nostalgia piece by many Boomers, but I've never been able to take it completely seriously as a piece of superhero fiction. As I've mentioned before in this thread, even as a little kid catching this in reruns, I wondered why Supes was wasting his time taking on penny-ante crooks week in and week out. Where were the supervillains? As an adult, the ultra-cheap nature of the production is more apparent, so I can see why the studio went the more prosaic route. I do like George Reeves, though. He's the main reason to tune in, as far as I'm concerned.