From 1951, for a few years American producers turned to Europe to film some series, perhaps because they wanted to show the folks back home some different backgrounds, but more importantly because labour was cheaper!
The experiment was largely, though not completely, abandoned, when it became evident from producers like Douglas Fairbanks and the Danzigers that filming based in Britain was a simpler, less complicated option. However some filming continued in Europe as part of an attempt to include authentic location footage in a series, for example the 1957 Charlie Chan includes some filmed sequences in Paris, Brussels and Venice. Then there were some pilot shows, including King of Diamonds, from Harry Alan Towers (1960) which was definitely made, this had scenes shot in Antwerp. And the same year William Russell went to Italy to make a pilot called A Man of the World. But the heyday of these Euro-series must have been in the early to mid 1950's
Note- a few Douglas Fairbanks Presents were made in Germany and Italy also.
Picture: The opening scene from my favourite Sherlock Holmes story, #20 The Case of The Careless Suffragette, Dawn Addams in the title role. The Paranormal Channel (Sky 201) is currently rerunning the series
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To 1950's Film Dramas Menu
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Foreign Intrigue / Overseas Adventure / Dateline Europe -These films are chiefly of interest because of the location shooting that was done, initially in Sweden, but then in other
European capitals, including Paris and Berlin. In all Sheldon Reynolds claimed episodes were shot in nine countries.
His method of production is fairly self evident when watching. He once explained his technique:
"I work backwards. When I see an exciting-looking balcony overhanging a sinister-looking street-
I have my leading player jump!" After examining the rushes, if it is "as exciting as I anticipated, I begin a story which will make use of the sequence."
Considering the primitive techniques available, the dubbing of sound, where attempted, in these external scenes, is commendable.
Apart from the stars and the producer Sheldon Reynolds, most of the cast and production crew were locals, but it is fair to say that
their English language is not at all bad.
John Padovano was assistant director, and Sheldon Reynolds' right hand man. He also acted as a journalist (Tony Forrest) in some of the stories, throughout the run of the show, thus providing
a slight cohesive link between them all.
I found this a tedious, humourless series. Perhaps the dull post war backdrops are rather dreary in themselves.
In all, an incredible 156 stories were made.
1951-3 series
with Jerome Thor as Robert Cannon
with James Daly as Michael Powers
1954/5 series
with Gerald Mohr as Christopher Storm
Picture right - Jerome Thor on location in the earliest of the series. Note the obligatory raincoat
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1951-53 series with Jerome Thor as Robert Cannon, and/or Sydna Scott (Thor's real life wife) as Helen Davis4 Paris Train - Bob and Helen are on the train from Paris to Rome to find the only Nazi surviving who was involved in the Nazi wartime atomic research. But Andre Polev, "the master spy," also wants to capture the top secret files, and the Nazi turns up dead in Cannon's compartment
6 Search for a Telephone- After a night at a Brussels club where he chats with Laurent, Bob Cannon is kidnapped by Richard Hegel because of quarter of a million dollars worth of industrial diamonds. Cannon escapes, and there follows a curious mixture of murder and comedy in Laurent's hotel, as Cannon is chased by Hegel's cronies, but by feigning lunacy escapes their clutches
7 At the Airport - A journalist in Zurich is killed, his naked body lying by the lake. Cannon retraces "the path of death" to Munich, walking "in a dead man's shoes." Indeed, one of Cannon's shoes has been secretly filled with heroin. He waits for it to be collected, and it needs his mate Tony to rescue him from the ensuing danger
9 Flea Market - Cannon is looking for The Flying Cat who knows about counterfeit US dollars. His path leads to a Paris fleamarket
11 Return to Freedom
12 Berlin to Frankfurt
13 The Letter - Secretary to Kestler, the Minister of the Interior, is shot dead during a safe robbery in which a letter is stolen, which is to be used to blackmail the minister. The price of its return? He must join his country with an anti-Western alliance. Bob Cannon tracks down the man who's "sitting with all the trumps," the thief, Zimmer. The final scene contains a dramatic exposure of the crooked politician behind Zimmer
15 Radio Message - All flights cancelled to prevent two spies leaving the country. Bob Cannon is the only man allowed to transmit messages, so one spy contacts him. "A million dollars is cheap" for secrets not to be radioed out of the country, but being a spy, he doublecrosses Cannon and sends the message anyway. But he's been doublecrossed in turn because his radio message is blocked and after a chase round the radio studios he's shot
17 Food Hijacking- Ex-journalist Hans Bender gives Cannon the lowdown on a gang hijacking Western aid to Berlin. There's a tense scene as Mrs Bender is chatted up by the gang, awaiting her husband's return home. She is eventually snatched to ensure his silence and Cannon is tricked into seeking refuge in the home of the gang leader. But though the determined Hans is shot, he shoots the boss in a melodramatic conclusion
18 Sun Lamp - Double agent Damon is on the train to The Hague on which Bob Cannon is also travelling with Eric whose despatch case with secret plans is stolen. Bob is given the job of negotiating its return, and with the aid of an infra red lamp he shows up the real traitor
19 The Living Corpse- Martin (John Padovano) is on death row. In an interview with Bob Cannon, he protests his innocence like they all do. He never murdered Lautrec, and what's more, this man is still living.. With "no finesse," the real killer is rounded up
20 Steel Baron- A 600 year old castle on the Rhine provides an impressive backdrop in a story that lacks action. A baron lives here in some style with his nephew Otto and niece Lisa. Before the war he'd made his fortune as a steel baron, and now he wants to be reinstated as a director of the company. Robert Cannon is to furnish an objective report. Lisa accuses her uncle of murdering her father, and a botched attempt to kill her reveals the murderer. The baron is accidentally killed so Cannon's research proves redundant
25 Sleepy Village - Shoe clerk Paul Bundy "tried to forget the past and start a new life," but inheriting $117,000 is not a recipe for anonymity. Helen Davis' story turns into the tragedy of a war informer: "it's a jungle world, Miss Davis." (no Jerome Thor)
29 The Noose - Back in 1947 Colonel Rhone, a Nazi, had been hanged, but now Felix claims to have seen him alive in Stockholm. Robert Cannon probes and learns Dr Lindgaard's "anaesthetical hypnotism" might be behind the pseudo hanging- or is he being "too imaginative?" Behind it all lurks the spectre of the return of the Nazis, but in the end, after a rooftop chase, the Colonel meets a poetic death
30 Perfect Plan -with Sydna Scott
31 Committed to Memory- Cannon is sent behind Commie lines to obtain info from Brenner a top scientist. That's the easy bit, but now he has to memorise a huge document, with help from local agent Blane. Wald, Chief of Security Police, gets wind of it all, and warns Cannon he "will be dead in two days"
33 Sawmill - A Polish scientist has discovered an incredible way of turning wood pulp into high protein food- and now he is scared. The commies demand he returns to his native land. A tense fight in a sawmill decides the issue
46 The New Order - Cannon claims he was held prisoner by a convicted Nuremburg war criminal who was supposed to have commited suicide
47 Diamonds - Van Roon, Amsterdam police chief, asks Bob Cannon to buy a one carat smuggled diamond. Having purchased it, he is approached by a stranger, Curien (Giselle Preville), to deliver a birthday present for her sister in Paris. It's only a cheese, and at Orly Airport, Bob gives it to Marjetta and is rewarded with $100. Leader of the smugglers, Keston, then entrusts Bob with a more valuable cargo, hidden in a typewriter ribbon. But Bob's cover is exposed, so a bomb is planted in the machine. On the Paris flight, a thief nicks the typewriter, he is found, the bomb defused, the smugglers captured, and they all live happily etc
48 Paris - By the Seine, Claire confronts Otto Wessler, accusing him of killing her husband Peter during the war. Otto is in France for a meeting aimed at seeing the Old Germany "rise again... the word Nazi will be respected again." In his evil frenzy, he attempts to strangle her, and she winds up in hospital. Bob Cannon is back from holiday in Cannes, and thwarts this Nazi revival while Claire, attacked in her bed by Otto, silences the evil killer
49 Free Germany - (with Sydna Scott) Factfinders of Free Germany expose ex-Nazi criminals still at large. Bob Cannon obtains an exclusive interview with their leader, The Voice. However this scoop doesn't come off, Cannon is tricked and finds himself accused of killing The Voice's entourage. However Bob clears his name by exposing one of his own colleagues
51 Gold - This adventure stars Bernard Farrel as reporter Steve Godfrey. He probes the background of Andre Sokoloff (Lou van Burg), "a magician with gold," though the Finance Minister wants to know where all his earnings are hidden as "we don't believe in magic." A barber introduces Godfrey to Sokoloff's ex-wife who reveals he's a swindler living with his floosie Irene (Dora Doll), and Godfrey is thus able to expose him and recover his hidden fortune in gold
56 The Code Room
60 Linetski Forest - An exciting and intriguing story with a dramatic conclusion. An investigation into the alleged massacre of six hundred POWs in 1940. Cannon tracks down an eyewitness called Anton Storm who is now confined to an asylum. Posing as an amnesiac, Cannon gets to see the shattered Anton and persuades him to draw the location of the corpses which noone has yet been able to identify. But an old Nazi is determined the truth will never be known
65 Science Conference - An important scientist flees from an oppressive regime seeking asylum. He promises to identify spy Ugo Elbe, "the world's greatest expert at disguising himself." Just how clever he is, soon becomes evident. Police fail to catch Elbe, but Helen Davis shows them the way. (No Jerome Thor in this story)
72 The Villardo Legend - Count Philip Kuhl lives in his Spanish mansion with his brother ex-Nazi Achille and his adopted daughter Odette. He is about to expose Spanish fascists to Robert Cannon, when a dagger lands in his neck. And for once, the butler really has done it
74 Stolen Bid - A sealed bid for runway construction, The Arabian Project, is stolen, and Helen Davis tracks down the thief thru a ticket to the opera. A superintendent of a building had found it in a waste bin. She does recover the plans from his tenant, but is chased along very deserted streets. Exposed is a "melodramatic" traitor inside the organisation (No JT)
75 The Coffin - In the divided city of Wurtenburg, Cannon is charged with escorting the body of journalist Max Wyler out of the Eastern sector. But Cannon becomes a pawn in a spy game, a game of double bluff on the train
76 The Camera - An American photographer called Russ Jones is shanghaied by French subversives in Paris, but later released. Bob Cannon is lured by brunette Nicole into the hands of the traitors who have planted a bomb in Jones' camera. This will explode when he takes his next picture- at an important conference
77 Diamond Bullet - A double agent, model Gerda Martinez, uses Cannon to smuggle diamonds from Paris to Brussels
78 Operating Room - The car in which the PM is travelling crashes, and the PM is rushed to a new hospital that ironically he has only just officially opened. Erik the surgeon is blackmailed into "allowing him to die," but the good doctor can't delibrately botch it up
To series with James Daly . . . Foreign Intrigue menu
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1953/4 series starring James Daly as Michael Powers, and/or Anne Preville as Pat Bennett.84 Hall of Justice - There's a "watertight" case against racketeer Derek Savage, who seems unperturbed when he's arrested: "there will be no conviction." His confidence is based on the theft of vital documents from the safe of the police chief (Gregoire Aslan)
86 The General Staff - Karl Weimer (Eugene Deckers) escapes from the Berlin War Criminals' Prison. Michael Powers tails his brother, then Helly his girl friend to find where Weimer is hiding: "our world is to be born again," he claims, as the spectre of neo fascism rears its head. His gunning down, watched by his parents, is a poignant final scene
87 Blackmail - After a long chase though Paris, Leon Prager is finally wounded but not killed. His story is worth "big money," and Michael Powers tries to help, but at the doctor's Prager dies. Then the villains chase Powers, but Miss Bennett saves him- never learned what that scoop was
90 The Star of Ghiza - This is the name of a club where Michael Powers goes in search of Akmet, brother of a girl who had died in Mike's arms. Their father is an influential ruler of a Middle East state. Powers races with the enemy to get to Akmet first, for he is carrying vital information...
93 The Badger Game- Maria, the wife of politician Hans drowns. His rival Veldac tries to frame him claiming it was suicide, as a result of Hans' affair with a Miss Manners. Julian was an eyewitness to the drowning, which was a genuine accident, but he is frightened off by Veldac's bullies, and he's "the only person who can stop this big lie." So Hans prepares to resign, but Powers tracks down Julien and thus Veldac is exposed as a blackmailer
96 Disaster Relief - Food and clothing for relief victims is partly destroyed in a warehouse fire, so the surviving donations are sent urgently, avoiding customs formalities. But Powers finds these goods have been switched, uncovering a plot to smuggle rifles for a revolution
97 Geiger Counter - 30 million francs is stolen from a bank
103 International Finance
105 Prophecies
106 Overlord of Narcotics - The arrest of key middleman Johnny Hubert is the opportunity to nail the overlord Burt. But jailed Hubert is knifed and so Powers tries his own methods, which involves making a play for Burt's attractive 'secretary'. Burt gets so riled he tries to do her in too, which is sufficient to make her testify "enough to hang him."
108 Mountain Climbing - Brita, the PM's daughter, is taken for an Alpine climb by a guide called Mansell,, an escaped convict. The plan is to persuade her father to pardon a cold blooded murderer. Michael Powers rolls around in the snow to foil the plot
109 Kidnapping - Cabinet secretary Philips has received a death threat, unless he votes against Allied bases being installed in his country. In front of Michael Powers, he is kidnapped, and later reporter Nancy is also snatched. The mysterious Mr Black tips off Powers, but when the case is almost solved, Powers surprises everyone by accusing Philips of organising his own kidnap!
110 The Brotherhood
111 Missing Official
117 The Tourist
To Series with Gerald Mohr . . . Dateline Europe menu
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1954/5 series (also known as Cross Current) starring Gerald Mohr as Christopher Storm, proprietor of Hotel Frontier in Vienna.Some stories have a passing resemblance to Bogie's movies with Lorre and Greenstreet, but the connection is only fleeting.
118 Forged Plates - Michael Powers (James Daly) asks Storm to help catch Tommy (Gregoire Aslan), a black marketeer "to whom death is less than a threat." He's got the plates to make perfect US passports, but Storm persuades a femme fatale to hand them over.
This first story with Gerald Mohr sees him as a stylish George Raft imitator, though his sparkle was soon to wear off as the series progressed
120 The Boxing Game - Fritzi has returned to his hometown of Vienna for a boxing match, but Michael Powers knows his last bout in Paris nearly killed him.
His manager Raoul is using him to scoop a huge bet on his opponent winning. Christopher Storm gets a doc to check Fritzi out in this noirish film with
such iconic lines as "even the smell was more pronounced," and "in oysters, a grain of sand can unravel itself into a pearl." With Powers, Storm puts a stop to the swindle and thus saves Fritzi's life
121 Confidence Game - A guest at the Frontier Hotel, Mr Hodge, is a victim of Delacruz's poker swindle. He's tricked into thinking he's killed one of the gamblers.
Christopher Storm hunts down 'Snow White and Her Four Crooks' in a Stockholm hotel
124 International Robbery - Tense drama of a bank robber who hides out in an apartment holding a mother and daughter hostage. Storm's dilemma- "I knew where he was and I couldn't do anything about it." But he tries to persuade the robber's girlfriend to betray him
131 Speed Demons - Misleading title! Driving his Merc, Chris Storm knocks down Marie who has stepped out into the road. She's not badly hurt but Chris helps her back home, Flat 317. But when he calls again, a different woman is living there, calling herself Marie.
A minor mystery, almost interesting for a moment, develops most unconvincingly
132 Spy Ring
133 Appointment at Five- Mr Graham Marble has an appointment at the Westbahnhof Cafe at 5pm, but his secretary, Miss Steiner,
overhears two men planning to kill him at this meeting. Try as she will, frustratingly she can't contact him, but maybe Chris Storm can. It's urgent, Storm learns, as
Marble is involved with smuggling commies out from the Iron Curtain. Matters aren't improved when Storm is knocked down by a truck, and lands in hospital, and given a sedative.
A corny storyline, that has doses of excitement... and irritation
134 Wayward Brother - Martin Fenner's crowd "spell trouble and lots of it," and young Teddy steals a consignment of morphine that they deem theirs. Chris helps Hilda, Teddy's older sister, but she is kidnapped by Fenner, who is "no gentleman"
138 Diamond Allergy - Jan can't wait to marry Helene Anderson, but they haven't the money. Jan's chance comes, when he sees a thief who has stolen a necklace from Hans Meijer, drop it when he's pursued. Jan picks it up and hides it
in the bedside cabinet in room 105 of the Frontier Hotel. When he returns to retrieve it later, a Miss Norah Phipps is occupying the room.
Chris Storm is suspicious of Jan, and goes as far as checking up on him with Helene.
In time, he prevents Jan from removing the stones, instead catching the real thief in this unusually romantic little tale
139 A Game of Chance - A guest, Barbara, leaves behind a valise containing $75,000. As she's a model, Chris Storm traces her thru a fashion house, putting a stop to her husband's blackmail racket
140 Pearl Necklace - Lotte steals the necklace of her companion Mme Schiller in order to help her poor brother. But she thinks better of it, and Chris Storm helps
return the necklace by posing as a waiter at Mme Schiller's party. There are a few tense moments as Storm is nearly found out
142 Two Men from Zurich - In Zurich Chris Storm meets his date, Penelope (Naomi Chance) in her flat, but she's surrounded by stolen furs. "Put her under lock and key," orders Storm, "and send the key to me." As the crooks attempt to get revenge for the loss of their furs, just whose side is the enigmatic Penelope on?
146 The Diplomat
149 Little Romeo - Two teenagers are sold dope in Storm's hotel by Little Romeo. When they are killed in "an auto accident," Chris sets out to bust the boss behind the racket
151 Miss Fortune - A nice part for Martine Alexis as Claudine, a loyal secretary to the owner of a profitable Riviera casino. But the owner's brother Karl is helping himself to the profits.
Actually, so is she, and she makes a run for it to Zurich, thence to Vienna, where she stops off at Chris Storm's hotel. There she falls for a rich diplomat Lauritz, but Karl finds her and blackmails her. She lures him to a lonely
cabin, stabbing him with some scissors. But it ends in tears, lots of tears
154 First Blush - Shana had been threatening to kill her business partner Kurt, and now she's found him dead. Chris helps her, questioning singer Conchita, and Kurt's shady contact Eridatti to whom he owed money.
But neither of these is the killer, as a stick of lipstick leads Chris to the real murderer, to whom he has earlier innocently sent Shana for safe keeping...
155 Delores - "Gentle as a baby" is Delores, a circus elephant, but has she trampled to death the clown?
Chris and Tony help the owner, Tina, who had been going to marry the clown. So to trap the killer, Tony's engagement to Tina in announced.
This draws Toto the knife thrower into a chase round the circus, he finishes under Delores' giant hoof
156 Runaround
To Overseas Adventure menu
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Filmed in Cinetone Studios Amsterdam, and starring Robert Alda as Major William Morgan (1954)
1 Mission Assassin - In Naples for an International Peace Conference, a delegate needs Morgan's protection. With the aid of an old war buddy, he defeats the plan of The Gangster King
2 Mission Chopin - Talented pianist Helene van Loon (Agnes Bernelle) is assigned to "checkmate" a prominent Budapest impressario, "a dangerous enemy agent." But whose side is she really on?
3 Mission Firebird - Major Morgan takes the place of an ex Nazi ace to destroy a rocket in Czechoslovakia
4 Mission M - Major Morgan impersonates a gangster who has flown into Amsterdam to work for the subversive International 57.
He contacts Yvonne, a skater, who provides Morgan with his contact with Tolstoy. But she turns out to be a French agent, and is warned, "you will be
under the ice before morning." Morgan is exposed as an imposter also, and tied up, but he gives the alarm and police and spies shoot it out
21 Mission Windmill - In this film, to destroy files that would send 3,000 Dutch to concentration camps, Major Morgan impersonates Major von Richter to infiltrate Nazi HQ. He's invited to stay at a splendid Dutch castle where he exposes the collaborator in Group Orange who has betrayed previous agents on this mission. His cunning enables the files to be blown up in a bombing raid
TO Euro Crime Series Menu
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1 The Case of the Cunningham Heritage
2 The Case of Lady Beryl 3 The Case of The Pennsylvania Gun 4 The Case of The Texas Cowgirl 5 The Case of The Belligerent Ghost 6 The Case of The Shy Ballerina 7 The Case of The Winthrop Legend 8 The Case of Blind Man's Bluff 9 The Case of The Harry Crocker 10 The Mother Hubbard Case 11 The Case of the Red Headed League 12 The Case of The Shoeless Engineer 13 The Case of The Split Ticket | . . |
14 The Case of the French Interpreter
15 The Case of the Singing Violin 16 The Case of the Greystone Inscription 17 The Case of The Laughing Mummy 18 The Case of The Thistle Killer 19 The Case of The Vanished Detective 20 The Case of The Careless Suffragette 21 The Case of The Reluctant Carpenter 22 The Case of The Deadly Prophecy 23 The Case of The Christmas Pudding 24 The Case of The Night Train Riddle 25 The Case of The Violent Suitor 26 The Case of The Baker Street Nursemaids | . . |
27 The Case of The Perfect Husband
28 The Case of The Jolly Hangman 29 The Case of The Imposter Mystery 30 The Case of The Eiffel Tower 31 The Case of The Exhumed Client 32 The Case of The Impromptu Performance 33 The Case of The Baker Street Bachelors 34 The Case of The Royal Murder 35 The Case of The Haunted Gainsborough 36 The Case of The Neurotic Detective 37 The Case of The Unlucky Gambler 38 The Case of The Diamond Tooth 39 The Case of The Tyrant's Daughter |
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This series of 39 films was shot in Paris studios under the aegis of executive producer Sheldon Reynolds and Nicole Milinaire. Although many actors based in France were used, such as Eugene Deckers, a number of British actors made the journey across the Channel to appear, which for me is really the fascination of the series.
These were new and rather mundane adventures of Conan Doyle's hero, Ronald Howard in the title role trying his best. Also featured were H Marion Crawford as Dr Watson ("now really Holmes, you've gone too far"), and Archie Duncan, who makes an entertaining idiot out of Inspector Lestrade. My favourite episode: #20 The Careless Suffragette, by a narrow head from #9 Best moment: Perhaps the crazed Michael Gough in #27, calmly telling his wife he 's going to murder her. Dud episode: #34 The Case of the Royal Murder Note-
Unlikely though it sounds, this series was premiered on British TV only in 2006, on Sky's late Bonanza Channel.
Dvds of all 39 stories can be purchased from some outlets.
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. . . . . - Made in West Berlin, Steve Holland starred in this low budget, low thrills series of 39 dark stories.1 The Planet of Death - "You'll murder every man you send to Tarsis." The curse of Belphegor falls on anyone landing on this dead planet. But as "the defence of the galaxy" depends on gravitational experiments being conducted there, our brave Mr Flash must travel to this Planet of Death 8 The Breath of Death - Flash and Dale zoom in the Skyflash to prison planet Gemini to patch up an oxygen purifier. "One of the worst criminals in the universe," No 34, escapes and stows aboard for the return trip. While Ground Control are forced to consider blowing up Skyflash, Flash is compelled to land on a poisonous planet where he and 34 have to hold their breath. A fight. Flash, naturally, has the bigger lungs, and "disintegrator guns" just save Skyflash from annihilation. "Thank heaven!" 10 Return of the Androids - Flash and his buddies hold the secrets of how the robots known as Androids used to be made. Forcing Flash to reveal all will enable an evil Queen take over (shock horror) the galaxy! "Androids - destroy. Attack GBI headquarters!" 17 The Lure of Light - "Can a human being survive at a speed faster than the speed of light?" Evil Queen Credentia wants that secret in order to go back in time to reverse the result of the war she lost, and thus become Queen of the Universe. But it's Flash who braves that epic first journey, thwarting her wicked plan 19 Race Against Time - A ray machine forces Flash to make an emergency landing on Planet Epsilon 30. Waiting are three criminals, who act more like the Three Stooges 21 The Brain Machine - Cmdr Richards and Dr Zarkov cause an explosion on Neptune. Flash clears their names by exposing the Witch of Neptune and her fiendish "brain recorder" which is able to "make every living human bend to her will." Richards and Zarkov end up as dummies (OK, so they always were) as the Witch flees with their secrets. (to be continued) 22 Struggle to the End (part 2) - An electronic memory file holds the secrets of what Dr Zarkov and Cmdr Richards once knew: "their mind's a complete blank!" Learning the secret of matter transference, Flash swears to catch the "mad witch of Neptune" before she rules the galaxy: "I have made the greatest conquest of all" 24 Saboteurs from Space - Flash's craft is "sucked thru space into a trap" whilst machines on Earth are paralysed by an "electronic distorter." But good old Flash foils the attempt to kidnap top scientists 25 The Forbidden Experiment - Electrosillion is wanted on a remote planet by an old colleague of Dr Zarkov, but it's a trap and he's captured by a growling fiend known as The Lion Man. Flash to the rescue, but with all the animals in the jungle at Lion Man's disposal, surely Flash can't succeed? 36 Deadline at Noon - Isis, Osiris and other planets are blown up by an enemy that "has sworn eternal war against the Earth," where an early intimation of Climate Change is the result of a bomb being placed way back in 1953 by the evil planet's representative, who speaks, unsurprisingly, with a German accent. "In one hour, your precious earth explodes," he warns. Dr Zarkov's time machine leads Flash to, where else?, Berlin ("the inhabitants may be hostile") and there's a long chase sequence set around the rubble of West Berlin. With a mere two secs to go the bomb is defused 39 The Subworld Revenge - 1,500 miles inside the earth's core, the evil Zaldo plans to fire his deadly machine that'll turn the earth into a ball of fire. Flash is caught by Zaldo's magnetic field- "poor Flash... and soon it'll be poor us!" Euro Crime Series |
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Orient Express (1953) -Made by Thetis Film Cinetelevision, produced by John Nasht
Uppercut (aka The Gladiator) -
Filmed on location in Italy. The train is approaching Rome, and manager Dan (Patrick Crean) is warning his boxing protege Freddie (Steve Barclay) about the dangers of overconfidence. For Freddie, "the most famous fighter in the world," has never lost a fight yet but the knowing Dan is only too aware that he could "go down the drain," his head turned by money or dames. For Freddie is something of a ladies' man.
In Rome Freddie's Italian father looks up an old friend whose daughter Anna (Nadia Gray) Freddie is soon making eyes at. "Are all Americans as sure of yourself as you?" she asks him naively, as he wines her at a nightclub. Freddie is so enwrapt with her he forgets about an important news conference, which makes "the reporters sore."
Training begins in earnest next day, though Freddie's mind is elsewhere. As Dan comments, "you can't mix late nights with a girl on the brain and a big fight." Anna is persuaded to call off their pre-fight date.
The fight sequence is too long, with Freddie the clear loser. Sore at Anna's apparent rejection he tells her "I don't need your help." His dad though is glad his son has been taught a bit of a lesson: "you're getting too big for your own good." He helps Freddie face up to his feelings and encourages him with "you work at it hard enough, you could be a winner." Now Freddie is man enough to patch things up with dad, and then with Anna.
Euro Crime Series
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Paris Precinct (1955) -An interesting series filmed in Paris with Louis Jourdan as Inspector Beaumont and Claude Dauphin as Balbec.
"Based on cases from the official files, and filmed with the co-operation of the Paris Police Department."
7 The Actress- The newspaper headlines read 'First Lady of Paris Stage to wed her Director Tomorrow," but today she's shot through the heart in her dressing room. The police conduct interviews with:
* Marie the personal maid, who found the body when she went to give Michelle her final curtain call.
* Jean Paul an actor, on stage at the time of the killing.
* Her fiance, Poiret (Roger Treville) who had "moulded" her. He'd been in his office when the murder had been done. His ex-wife Georgette (Madeleine Robinson), once his leading lady, was jealous of Michelle.
* The understudy, who claims the happy couple had been arguing that night.
The murder weapon arrives anonymously through the post - it's Poiret's revolver!
Beaumont puts on "a little show" as the last act of the play is reenacted. At the end, Poiret is arrested even though privately Beaumont has declared he's not guilty. This action elicits a theatrical monologue from the real killer.
The story ends with an effective scene without any words, as the police escort the killer away.
8 The Cemetry (on 16mm film) - Old Marie interrupts a thief and is murdered. Her son Antoine discovers her body when returning home after finishing his night work as a taxi driver. He'd kept warning his mother not to keep all her cash in the house. The concierge Sara (Maximilienne) says Marie had a habit of talking to strangers. One is traced to a Boucherie, who claims she knew Marie and that Marie and her son often quarrelled over her late husband's will
Police Headquarters - A gendarme picks up a scruffy looking man swaying on the edge of the Seine. Roger Vezenay (Marcel Dalio) has plenty of money. He says it's the ransom for his seven year old boy- the kidnappers have demanded half a million francs to be paid at 10.30am.
Balbec takes Vezenay's place, but at the drop-off cafe he's phoned, ordered to go to the Eifel Tower. Once there, a message is handed to him by a stranger who's promptly arrested rather ostentatiously. "You were careful when you arrested him?" queries a hopeful Balbec. Our tour of Paris takes us next to St Lazarre station. The railway police think Balbec looks suspicious so Beaumont has to intervene just as the station announcer's voice booms up that there's an urgent call awaiting at the Information Desk. Balbec is told to get a 32 bus, which he does. It all seems rather odd observes Balbec- the voice on the phone "sounds like Vezenay himself." The uneventful bus trip takes him to the Champs Elysees. Still nothing. So the police question Vezenay. He's in hospital where a doc solves the case- "there was no kidnapping," he explains to the incredulous policemen. So it was all an excuse to show us round Paris!
Euro Crime Series
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Euro Series Menu . . . To Main TV Menu