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To Whiplash series details Menu
Film Drama Menu
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1 Convict Town
2 Rider on the Hill
3 The Legacy - Jo Acton has inherited a prize ranch run by the "little odd" Adam and sells out to Chris. But it gets "a little sticky" when the real owner claims the inheritance. Heady stuff! Specially when Adam turns out to have been disinherited and decides on revenge
4 Barbed Wire - Dundee (Grant Taylor) always "gets his way" and that includes revenge on Cobb. Why? Simply because he's delivering, of all things, barbed wire
5 Episode in Bathurst - Some appalling dialogue (no wonder producer Geraghty was fired) introduces the 3 US Denvers brothers into town. When they insist the Royal Mail pays them a toll, Cobb has to sort em out single-handed- with no gun either. Too many cliches spoil the tension- it's High Noon all over again, except Cobb has but a whip.
6 Twisted Road
7 Dutchmans Reef - Rich Mrs Culbert wants to knew the truth about her son 'Teddy Bear' Norton. Has he died in the desert? Chris is sent to learn the truth, and his answer is No, but Norton now looks like an aborigine. "Your mother'd never recognise you now."
8 The Actress - Another stage hold-up! But bushranger Mike Upton
takes a fancy not just for the loot, but for "tuppeny" stage actress Jenny
(Jennifer Jayne). "She's worth any risk," and he gallops off with her, and falls
for her. She seems attracted to the life of adventure too. But Cobb rescues her
and brings Upton in, but a lynch mob en route nearly finish off Upton, except
Jenny puts on a great performance to save his neck
9 Divide and Conquer - Bill Fry's gang captures Cobb and his government passenger, threatening to string em up unless they are granted free pardons
10 Remittance Man - Jimmy Quicksilver strikes again! Another Cobb carriage robbed. But this time our Jim's in for a shock- his aunt and uncle are on board, come to take him back home to England "to a good school and then to Oxford-"despite the fact that he looks at least 25! Almost good, almost a comedy, nearly a drama
11 The Sarong - Servant women are disappearing on the Brisbane run. They're being kidnapped by rich Lucian to work in his gem pearl beds. But they're treated as slaves til Chris stirs up rebellion
12 Solid Gold Brigade - Miners at Fury Creek offer Cobb 5% of their gold if he transports it over bushranger country. But a bullet in his head enables a crook to impersonate him. So much so that when Cobb reaches Fury C, a lynch mob strings him up as an imposter
13 Stage for Two - "Don't forget to say your prayers," Cobb's bank robber passenger is advised. His mates want their share of the loot! The climax is a deadly, yawn, gunfight
14 The Bone that Whispered- A 'Wells Fargo' story, only for Red Indians substitute Aborigines. The natives are restless thanks to the forked tongue of one white man.
But at least there's a twist - Forked tongue is straight after all. Cobb searches for Mary Anne's father who ran away from the law years ago. He's now a blood brother of the aborigines in this nightmare of a story
16 Canoomba Incident - Chris comes to a town where there are no men, they are all away on a gold rush. Carrying some gold, Dan's coach is robbed, one of the thieves being a woman. Dan enjoys a wooden romance with Joan (Janette Craig) before the inevitable truth dawns, that she's
the bushranger
17 Rushing Sands- To avenge his son's death, in order to kill the "invisible" Chad, Cobb's best driver resigns. Cobb shoves him in jail "for his own good," but for once Cobb blunders, in a most devious plot
18 Fire Rock - Interesting tale of a Cobb agent who disappears in the Turumba, "the burning land" whilst searching for the sacred opal rock
19 The Hunters - Surveying a new stage line, Cobb lodges with Mary whose husband just happens to be wandering round the desert with an arrow in his back. An aborigine is after him! In a claustrophobic cave the chase ends. "It's going to be all right," is the appropriate corny conclusion
20 Stage Freight - On board today's stage are a pair of murderers, as well as a government inspector. Plus a suspicious looking coffin. An even more horrendous journey than usual! However the story does manage to convey something of the extreme wearisomeness of travel in those days. And of Whiplash
21 Portrait in Gunpowder -
Perhaps the best of the series.
The opening sequence explains about Aussie bushrangers, highwaymen.
In Bathurst "one of the world's most distinguished painters" Denise du Mornay (Therese Talbert) hires Cobb's coach.
She's not quite The Old Bat Chris is expecting, and Chris finds her rather disarming. Her destination is secret and she only reveals it when there's a lunch stop.
Macdonald Scott is her wealthy patron, though Chris can't help puzzling why there's so much mystery surrounding this trip.
En route Denise sketches the scenery, and Coach and Five at a Spanking Pace isn't all she gives Chris. Romance is in the air as she agrees to paint him a picture for the princely sum of 500 guineas.
The deal is sealed with a kiss.
After petting a koala, the journey is resumed to Scott's magnificent but isolated mansion.
It's a treasure trove of Rubens, Reynolds and other old masters, though Chris quickly discerns the owner is Jimmy Quicksilver (Stuart Wagstaff), a gentleman bushranger.
Denise has been commissioned to paint for his portrait!
Chris is all for a quick departure, but she is charmed by Jimmy. And anyway, at the point of a gun, Jimmy insists Chris stays. "You can't help liking him," comments Dan, and one is inclined to agree. Even though they are all loosely prisoners, they are well treated.
An interruption to the jollity as guns are fired. Rival bushrangers attack the mansion and Jimmy has to surrender. But it turns out it's all a joke by Jimmy's men- "very funny," says Chris. However Chris has persuaded Jimmy to renounce his life of crime,
and return the fortune he has stolen, in return for a pardon. Though Jimmy's men are handsomely paid off, they can't accept Jimmy's reform and it takes Diane as well as Chris, Dan and Jimmy to teach them that honesty is the best policy.
Chris returns to base with Denise, whilst Jimmy, his debt paid, disappears into the night.
And Denise promises Chris she will come back some day....
To Whiplash story titles
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22 Ribbons and Wheels - Western Coach Lines- "faster, cheaper, cleaner" runs their slogan, giving Cobb and Co "good healthy competition." A race will decide who wins the line. Dirty tricks are inevitable- "when honesty fails, never hesitate."
23 The Wreckers - A hold up at Cobb's Wallabella office, crooks getting away with Cobb's new stagecoach, using it to rob some banks. Chris is blamed and is now a Wanted Man, so he sets out to clear his name, trailing the villains as they do their last job at a Brisbane foundry
24 Storm River- "Real man" Chris has an admirer in young Cassie (Annette Andre) who goes after Chris as he paddles down river. Following is her jealous stepbrother culminating in a fight with oars accompanied by histrionics from Cassie, who asks Chris "will things be different when I'm older?"
25 Flood Tide - Chris gets stranded in a lonely house with one female passenger. Husband Jess, "who can be difficult" joins them. The pair are as nutty as the script
26 Dilemma in Wool - Nina is (unkown to Chris) smuggling a lamb to Spain- "you could get a 25 years sentence"- heady stuff!
27 Dark runs the Sea - On Cobb's stage to Sydney, Fiona (Annette Andre) is kidnapped. Customer care even extends to rescuing missing passengers! A loony with a permanent cockatoo on his head, helps Cobb uncover a "silly romantic schoolgirl adventure." No wonder he looks baffled when he's trapped in a large birdcage
29 Haunted Valley - At Wallaby Junction Chris is to meet Wallaby Dick, except he's dead. He'd found an important secret pass which Chris now searches for, with the aid of local bigwig Macready. Thoroughly uninspired
30 Love Story in Gold - Cobb is tricked into going to a convicts' hideout where he's ordered to marry a convict's daughter. Here comes the preacher, and after a funeral it's a shotgun wedding, but "no marriage was ever joined with a knife."
31 Secret of the Screaming Hills - A dying Wooster entrusts to Chris Cobb his treasure map to be given to Mrs Wooster. Quite
impressive visually is the stormy scene as, guided by the Frog Man, the treasure is unearthed, though
there are too many cliches to make it genuinely exciting
32 Act of Courage - Chris is at Cross Creek to testify against one of the Stuart brothers. With his passengers, he's held hostage at Terry's ranch until Jamie Stuart is released. Whilst they wait Terry's son learns bushranging ain't all fun, though it's a shortcut that solves the dilemma. Guy Doleman also sings in a story with a slight Christmas setting
33 Adelaide Arabs - At Wallenbridge Horse Sales Miss Virginia Jessop bids for three lovely horses, but they are stolen from her and Chris Cobb is framed. Cobb helps the police catch the real thieves who are using the horses as fast getaways from a bank robbery.
But one robber (Chips Rafferty) isn't so bad, as he ends the chase, for the humane reason his horse needs a vet!
34 Other Side of the Swan - Chris searches for the gov's brother, wanted for murder. An untypical tale, with an unlikely end
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After Richard Denning had spent a little time down under filming with producer David Macdonald (though co-star Jill Adams did not make the trip),
filming the series proper started on the Elstree production floor in October 1958 and was ten months in the making. Celebrations were in the air "as they neared completion of the last story- "little flags were waving over cameras, dolly, boom...."
Apparently this story was "all about a secret missile... a huge thing, an upturned battered truck, and even Patrick Holt all gory with studio blood."
September 11th 1959 saw the series previewed at the plush Viewing Theatre at The Mayfair Hotel with a screening of episode 1. Guest of Honour naturally enough was the High Commissioner for Australia (Sir Eric Harrison).
No sign of the star although supporting cast Alan White and Jill Adams were there.
A critic wrote of this episode 1: "Star Richard Denning emerged as an extremely sympathetic personality. It is too early yet to judge whether the several hundred feet of location
shooting in the outback will show up sufficiently brilliantly to lift it out of the ordinary."
Let's be honest, this wasn't a masterpiece. However I rally to its cause when I read what another snooty contemporary critic wrote:
Guy Taylor (9 June 1960) -"hackneyed, corny, cliched, scenes opening up with actors obviously waiting for their cue, cardboard sets and cardboard characters."
Two weeks later he recanted, just slightly.... " I was staggered at the low standard of the material. I wrote a searing review because I thought it an insult to the intelligence of a British audience
to screen such banal rubbish. (Rather a cliched review don't you think?) To be absolutely fair (my bold type!) however I took another look at The Flying Doctor to see
whether there was a glimpse of improvement. The script of 'The Secret' was written by Philip Levene... and while it was better than the previous one I had seen, the standard was still low."
Who played Dr Harrison?
Answer
Film Drama Menu
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The Hideout
Across the studio desert crawls a battered man. He's in luck for Dr Greg Graham is flying overhead and rescues him,
taking him to the obervation block in his hospital. "Who is he, where does he come from?" are questions that at present
cannot be answered. When he does regain consciousness, he says he's Barney Mason from Westway. He has a pain in his back. He's very evasive.
Later an abandoned truck is found in the same area as Mason had been picked up. Out of fuel, the police confirm it had been stolen.
Mason's tempertaure is rising. Dr Harrison notices a small animal bite that somehow Greg had missed. Mason admits a rat had bitten him. He's got the plague.
The police now identify him as Jeff Martin, wanted for stealing £50,000 a few days ago. It's vital he tells the names of anyone who had harboured him,
so they can be treated as a matter of urgency. But he won't cooperate, though he must have been sheltered somewhere after the crime. A search
over a thousand square miles for any infected contacts is impracticable, and besides "someone's got fifty thousand reasons for remaining silent."
"He's dead." The dead man's clothes yield a possible clue- wood splinters, English oak, and the only importer of such wood is Collins. He has sold
all the recent batch, and takes an age to check out the names of the two buyers, Greg Summers and Sam Newton. The latter lives nearer to the abandoned truck, so Greg dashes to his homestead.
Sam is unresponsive. Greg explains the urgency of his mission, then notices Sam's daughter isn't looking too well. That gets Sam to admit the
thief had been there. "Where's the money hidden?" It's dug up, and the little girl is given tablets, so it all ends happily, except that is for Sam.
Flying Doctor Menu
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The Conspiracy -
"Sell him the wool," a wife orders her stubborn husband, "or next time they'll kill you."
Sheep farmer Mason (Bill Kerr) needs treatment by Dr Graham. He's not the first similar "accident" that Greg has had to treat recently, but he's too scared to talk. Instead he claims he "fell off his horse."
"Why should they lie to you?" asks naive Dr Jim Harrison. "What's the prescription for fear?" retorts Greg.
He tries to persuade the local policeman (John Warwick) that there's a protection racket in operation. Other Marydale merino wool farmers have similar stories to Mason's: Bentley, for example, fell off a roof. "You're right doctor," the policeman is finally forced to concede, but the burning question is, "how can we stop it?"
Wool broker Hargreaves (George Woodbridge), who has handled Mason's wool for ten years, is told Mason is now selling to someone else. He's caved in to the racketeers.
Greg calls a public meeting at the Civic Hall Broken Gate and delivers a long speech to the packed meeting on the Roaring Twenties when "fear merchants ruled the roost. Decent respectable men gave this killer disease its life blood." A detailed history of the rackets when "people lived in dread." The circle was only broken, concludes Greg triumphantly, when Freedom was upheld.
However the police here can never offer everyone simultaneous protection, so Greg comes up with a novel idea. All the sheep farmers sign over their wool to Greg.
Trying to corner the wool market is Al. With his buddies he approaches Greg. The Southern Trading Company asks Greg to transfer his wool rights. Greg refuses. So the tough stuff- Dr Harrison will be done in unless Greg agrees. But via a radio link, the police have been listening in to the conversation!
All the farmers are duly grateful, and thank Greg.
Flying Doctor Menu
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A Call to London -
Grubber Evans (Robert Beatty) makes an urgent phone call for help- his mate 'Windmill Wilson' has been in a coma for days.
Only Dr James Harrison knows how to cure him, but he's away in London. He's currently at the Commonwealth Medical Relations Office, advising on setting up a Flying Doctor service in India.
Dr Greg Graham flies out to examine Wilson. The problem is, his medical notes can't be traced, so Dr Harrison is contacted in London. Dr Graham listens to what Grubber knows: Wilson, before he had fallen into this deep sleep, had been rambling on about seeing severely burned natives, just after the atom bomb test. Is it a radioactive coma? "He looks half dead to me, doc." Grubber knows Dr Harrison had previously treated Windmill's similar problems with pills and injections, but why is there nothing in the medical files? "He's in a deep coma... his heart is slowly stopping," Dr Graham tells them back at base.
The telephone lines are down, so a radio message is sent via a relay across 12,000 miles: from Broken Gate Australia to Fiji to Honolulu to New York and finally London, where Roy Conway (Brian Nissen) receives the message. But Roy can only find out Dr Harrison is visiting unknown friends: "I am afraid I don't know who they are," he's told. So the police issue one of those SOS messages on the wireless, and Dr Harrison happens to hear it at the home of his friends Violet and Roger. He's whisked from 77 Denham Street to the nearest police station, where he's linked to Fire Flash Ridge, and Dr Graham. The mystery is soon elucidated, as Windmill is a nickname, his records are filed under his real name Adam Preston!
In no time he is responding to treatment. The condition is brought on by excessive alcohol consumption, which explains his "raving" about the bomb
Flying Doctor Menu
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African Patrol (1957)
starring John Bentley as Inspector Paul Derek.
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Much as I like John Bentley, I have to confess this is probably the worst filmed series of the era. I think what's worst is his forced American accent, which he rather enjoyably for us, occasionally forgets.
John Bentley later claimed:
"We had far more adventure behind the camera than we ever recorded on film. African Patrol
is one of the most dangerous assignments I have ever had."
One example was when filming was close by a herd of elephants.
"One of the bulls started to trumpet. With my gun in my hand, I had to time
it just long enough for the camera to get a shot of the elephant charging,
but still leaving me time to jump into the car. And then the engine stalled!"
The company Gross-Kasne filmed all the stories on location in Kenya.
However one viewer complained to TV Times (edition 146 Midlands region) that a van was seen in the series with a Nottingham
registration KAL. He was rather mystified, in view of the statement that the series was filmed entirely in Africa.
The answer is given that this KAL registration was also a local one in Kenya.
The location shooting gives the series the merit of authenticity, unlike its counterpart, White Hunter, but it conveys an atmosphere of amateurishness, that might be acceptable if the acting were more enthusiastic- as it is you feel the burden of having to produce 39 stories
was all too much for the production crew and the actors, not to mention the banal scriptwriters.
My favourite episode of ones I've seen: #29 Hell Hath No Fury
Drama Menu
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17 "Shooting Star"
Inspector Derek is at the airport to oversee the arrival of Zodiac Films' big star Ray Gilbert (David Oxley), an obnoxious feller who "takes pleasure in needling people," even the illustrious inspector whom he addresses as a "boy policeman." Remarks Collins, his press agent, "someday, someone's going to kill him." How right he is!
The big star is united with his team- director Victor Bennett introduces his leading lady Miss Susan Barry (Monica Stevenson). "I am the star of this picture," he pompously tells her, in his long flowing satin dressing gown.
On location there's an "explosive" atmosphere as Derek pays a casual visit. A large light from a gantry drops almost on top of Gilbert, who accuses the director of trying to kill him. Motive- Bennett's wife left him for Gilbert. "I'd like to see him dead," admits Bennett, whilst denying he had anything to do with the falling lighting.
Another accident, as a runaway truck demolishes Gilbert's tent. Luckily, at least for Gilbert, he wasn't inside. Another suspect might be Frank Vincent, an old pal of Susan's, who regards the star as "a bighead with no brains." But then, nobody seems to like him at all.
Gilbert is shooting a scene on a lake, paddling his canoe as we see film of some crocodiles- "he's not going to be lonely-" even though they never ever seem to get anywhere near him. "The boat's sinking!" Bullets rain across the lake at the distant crocs whilst Inspector Derek paddles furiously to the floundering star. Gilbert moves ne'er a muscle he's so calm, it's done extremely unconvincingly.
Shooting has to cease on the film as Derek examines the canoe. It doesn't need a Sherlock Holmes to notice the six holes drilled in it. Film of the proceedings shows everyone on shore exhibiting concern except for one person, and that's sufficient for Inspector Derek to make his arrest
African Patrol Menu
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5 "The Baboon Laughed"
“Lay off my wife,” Raymond Larsen (Conrad Phillips) is warned by bully Robert Gibson (Peter Dynely-sic-). Safari hunt leader Alan Tarleton is so worried for the safety of his expedition, that he phones Inspector Derek to tell him he's sitting on a "case of gunpowder that's about ready to explode."
Derek drives his jeep up country, but before he arrives, the feud has reached its crisis point. “He should be strung up by the thumbs and left to the cats,” Larsen is telling Gibson’s wife Helen (Dorinda Stevens) about her obnoxious husband. “We’re gonna make Bwana Gibson a very unhappy man,” Conrad Phillips utters in his best American accent. But that’s the last of his dialogue, for he is shot dead.
Rather late, Inspector Derek arrives to interrogate Gibson and his wife. As Helen has an aversion to guns, surely there is only one suspect?… As John Bentley summarises very succinctly, and very cornily, “the big question was, who fired the rifle?”
Gibson seems to have a watertight alibi, as he was with Alan Tarleton at the time. “You don’t like him do you?” Derek asks Alan. “As much as I do a cobra,” Alan replies.
The men’s animosity had centred on Helen, who is suddenly chased by a ferocious leopard. She ends up in its jaws (presumbaly it’s a tame one actually!) but Robert strangles it. Later she is quite open with Inspector Derek, explaining that Larsen had been Gibson’s ‘secretary’ but more than that, as his boss had sought to best him at every opportunity, giving him “unmerciful beatings.”
After examining the area where Larsen had been shot, Derek tells us “I was ready to make my arrest.” The killer would have had to be a pretty competent marksman. But when Derek discusses it with Alan Tarleton, he learns Gibson, whatever he liked to boast, was not much good with a rifle. So Derek returns to the scene of the crime with Helen. By a simple trick, he gets her to shoot, despite her proclaimed abhorrence of guns, at a charging lioness. As a dummy is chucked at their feet she kills the studio prop. That persuades her to admit she killed Larsen, it was because he was threatening to leave. Unlikely, you must admit!
African Patrol Menu
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7 "Bad Samaritan"
There’s poor Inspector Derek trudging through the lonely bush country. He’s all in. Then he is aided by the man he is pursuing, Brooks Todd (Peter Dyneley). When Derek regains consciousness, he’s lying in the European Hospital.
”I owe him my life,” breathes Derek to Alan Tarleton sadly. And the policeman’s repaying that kindness by sending Todd to the gallows! In his bed, the inspector relates how he had been called to an up-country trading post to investigate the murder of a man named Ward. Todd had had a feud with him, and it was “inevitable” that such bad blood would end in death. Todd had since disappeared, but where to?
In the Massai Basin area, Derek learns Todd’s buddy, pilot Basil Jones has been seen. So Derek drives there, and finds Todd clearing a landing strip. He’s arrested and taken back to Nairobi. But that is not possible, for there’s some bad luck, Derek’s jeep has conked out. It’s a matter of an 82 mile cross country hike. With Todd handcuffed they walk on, past rhino and elephant, until a snake bites Derek on his leg. Todd removes the poison and bandages Derek up, and doesn’t even escape. He insists on sticking around to ensure the injured Derek returns safely to Nairobi, and doesn’t fall victim to any prowling lion.
In the heat they continue slowly on, at night they rest. The “noble” Todd admits he will get away, once he knows Derek is safely back at base. Thus Derek ends up willing his prisoner to run away, but as he won’t, it is Derek who totters away one morning by himself. Yet “the decency of the man” rescues the ailing Derek from a rather skinny looking leopard.
Now from his hospital bed, Derek is resolved to testify in Brooks Todd’s favour at his trial. But that’s no use, for he learns Todd has died from the snake venom he sucked out of Derek’s leg. Here's an absurd cop-out for an ending, as Alan Tarleton consoles our inspector, "as I see it, the whole decision was made by Somebody much bigger and wiser than all of us."
African Patrol Menu
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29 "Hell hath no Fury"
At a swish outdoor cocktail party, Inspector Derek congratulates Delphia Collins (Gene Anderson -here credited as Jean Anderson) on her engagement to Teddy.
One of her four previous fiances Tom (Raymond Young) doesn't believe she loves this "stuffed shirt." He shouts at her "you're not going to marry anyone but me."
Del's sister Anne (Nancy Poe) is so worried, she asks Paul Derek to help: "she doesn't care about anything or anybody." It's not just Del's recurring headaches, she's been involved in two traffic accidents recently. But Del's widowed father (Kenneth Edwards) puts it all down to youthful high spirits, though he's evidently over indulging her.
Inspector Derek becomes professionally involved when he sees Del, alone on safari, a lion charging at her. She seems oblivious of any danger, and after Derek rescues her, she explains, "just wasn't my time." They chat about her latest fiance to get the push, Teddy. "Del, why don't you tell me what's bothering you?" She won't talk.
But Tom recounts to Derek how she'd broken off their engagement after a trip to London. No explanation. "Everything she's done lately, makes me think she doesn't care about anything or anybody."
On Route 79, there's an automobile accident. Del is killed. Her car had been doing over 100, but it's murder! Derek spots a tyre with a bullet hole. "Why should anyone want to hurt her?" asks Tom.
The tragic truth now comes out. Her father wearily explains that when in London Del had been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour, "speed took away the pain which steadily was growing stronger." Finally that pain had been unbearable: "I pray every night I won't wake up in the morning." As she'd "suffered enough," her father had fired the bullet at that tyre. (A good shot he must have been at that speed.) "Now she's where there's no such thing as pain."
Here's a sombre tale of mercy killing. Derek has to arrest him, though he confidently affirms to Anne that her father won't end up in jail.
African Patrol Menu
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30 "No Place to Hide"
Farmers are facing an economic crisis as a result of a virus, and flocks are having to be culled. One of those suffering is Jim Stevens (Kevin Miles) who can't repay his loan from moneylender Charles Sidram. He is foreclosing on Jim's farm amongst others. Despite Jim's plea for an extension, Sidram's "associate" Philip Gynos (Raymond Young) warns "if you can't repay when due, there's no sense in prolonging the inevitable."
Jim gets so angry he utters rash threats against Sidram, a very stupid thing to do, for Sidram is later found murdered. It's Glynos who discovers the body of his employer.
Inspector Derek is quick to spot the likely link of the foreclosures and Sidram's death- it doesn't need a Sherlock Holmes to do that. First to be interviewed is Jim, except he's not at home. His wife Stella admits she knows Jim is the murderer. But she doesn't seem that distraught- either she's a poor actress or she has something to hide. The actress is a very young Zena Marshall, so let's assume it's the latter.
The case because less clear when Inspector Derek learns Sidram had been suffering from an incurable disease. He had only a month at most to live. A doctor tells the puzzled inspector: "his loss will be felt for many years." The philanthropic Sidram had donated generously to a hospital, and Sidram's attorney likewise sings his praises. Perhaps Inspector Derek will need to emulate Sherlock after all!
It turns out that it was Glynos who was enforcing the foreclosures, behind his boss' back. Derek takes a dislike to this smooth shark and finds out he had once been engaged to Stella. In fact she is still in love with him.
Jim is having a showdown with the two of them. Glynos stands by smiling, as Stella draws a gun on her husband. "I don't understand," says poor Jim. They enlighten him.
"Drop that gun!" interrupts Inspector Derek, just in time. Unlike Sherlock, he needs that gun.
African Patrol Menu
Drama Menu
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White Hunter
starring Rhodes Reason
This announcement began each episode:
"True stories that actually happened, as told by the greatest of the African white hunters."
It was claimed that all the scripts were submitted to the Kenyan government
because of the political and social problems current in that country (TV Times No 151 p15).
The producer was Bernard L Schubert, and the series was distribued by ITP, later to become ITC.
In Film Review for 1953/4 there is a reference to Herman Blaser who "with Brunel and Bartley, is making a series of Jungle films in their well-known series The White Hunter." However all the tv stories I have seen are dated 1957, but the fact that some were made at Twickenham and others at Halliford Studios might suggest the films were made in 2 batches.
Also in 1957, Rhodes Reason made a feature film Man-Eater in which he played a white hunter named John Hunter, as in this series, although the personnel on the film were otherwise entirely different.
Film Drama Menu
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3 "Inside Story"
Hunter is asked to take ace journalist and photographer Sherman Wick (Phil Brown) and his assistant Martha (Barbara Shelley) to interview a tribal chief Arusha (Cy Grant) who is a Cambridge graduate. It’s a long journey to the foot of mountains where Mao Mao terrorists still hide out.
There’s some ‘previous’ between Wick and Arusha, for the reporter had written a rather unbalanced report earlier, about Arusha whilst an undergraduate, and it’s evident that this time it’s going to be similar. At the village, he is determined to see the place as a concentration camp, refusing to accept Hunter’s explanation that the fence round the village is to keep out any marauding lions, and those who wield guns are there to protect tribesmen from the wild beasts. He also photographs a lion hunt in which the animal is hunted and killed.
Feelings against Wick are running high in the tribe, and one breaks in to his tent to steal the camera, but Hunter stops him. Wick blackmails this man into taking him into the mountains so he can get some good pictures. This sparks off a full scale search for the idiot, whom they eventually locate. “You’ve worn out your welcome,” Hunter warns him. This leads to a fight, and Wick gets what he deserves.
”Wait till this story gets to the stands,” the vengeful Wick promises. His slant will be “Cambridge education chief amuses himself killing a senile lion,” and other misrepresentations of photos he has taken. “And you’re supposed to be reporting the facts,” comments John Hunter ironically.
In his epilogue, Hunter informs us that “fortunately…. Martha gave the true inside story of Arusha.” In her account, she exposes Wick’s hypocrisy.
White Hunter Menu
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12 "The Trophy"
Atimbu, John Hunter's gun bearer, is beaten up by a white man who adds the warning "I'll settle with John Hunter later." He's a rival hunter, Doug Gordon (Robert Cawdron) who has sworn vengeance on the pair because they had testified against him in court. He does indeed follow up his threat and attacks John, right in front of his latest clients, Bill and Laurie West (Charles Stapley and Jill Melford).
Hunter is taking them to photograph African wild life, "at least it's a change from shooting them with a gun." Gordon trails them, having been commissioned by the slippery Kern to find a big trophy. The pair bide their time following Hunter's group, until there's something decent to shoot.
Rufus, a giant elderly lion is their game. Whilst Bill prepares his camera to shoot, Gordon and Kern ready their guns. Luckily Hunter spots them and fires in the air to frighten what they jibe is "his pet lion." They try several times more to no avail, and decide to use more drastic methods. A deer caracase is bait for Rufus, and to lure Hunter's men away, Gordon ties up Laurie, who's left behind in camp, and hides her in the bush. Hunter finds her just in time to prevent her being bitten by a snake, but with the field clear, Kern purrs "there's the lion now...." His shot only wounds the poor animal, so they follow him ready to claim their trophy when it's too weak to attack them.
Hunter catches up with them and orders them to put the lion out of its misery. Scared of yet approaching the wounded beast, Gordon runs and it's left to Hunter to perform the last sad rites.
Epilogue- Bill West's footage becomes celebrated, and it is used as proof against Gordon and Kern, ensuring they will never hunt again
White Hunter Menu
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13 "Web of Death"
There were these two uranium prospectors, Dr Elvin and Jack Palmer (Peter Illing and Peter Reynolds). Their target is a disused copper mine in West Tanginyka, abandoned for fifty years, which they believe might contain pitchblend.
They enlist John Hunter's services, planning to kill him when they have found the mine.
En route Maria Conti (Jeanette Sterke) joins the group. She had been walking from coast to coast on foot, alone, and Hunter knows she is in great danger from the wildlife so he orders her “you’re coming with me.”
Palmer falls for her, but then disappears, and is found dead.
The rest of the group travel on, and find the overgrown mine. Inside, a geiger counter helps find some uranium.
Suspecting Dr Elvin’s foul plan, John Hunter and Maria agree to keep a close watch on Elvin. Except when they are kissing of course.
Whilst John sleeps, Elvin creeps up with a knife. Maria shoots him “through the heart.” Then this “smart girl” proposes she and Hunter keep quiet about their discovery, and the deal is sealed with a kiss. But he’s not that daft, knowing she intends to keep that mine for herself, and Hunter finally sees through her loving advances, and realises she has planned the death of both the prospectors. He promises her “I’m taking you back myself.” She won’t allow that, and draws her gun. A spider happens to drop on her to thwart her well and truly. Sudden end to story.
In his pompous conclusion, Hunter tells us: "The justice of the jungle takes many forms. I would never have thought my life would be saved by a spider."
White Hunter Menu
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14 "Pegasus"
After four months on safari, John Hunter can now sleep "in a real bed." But he's immediately awoken by Trevor Harrison (Trevor Reid) with orders to be in his office in ten minutes. There, Hunter is introduced to Dr Howard Sheldon (Arthur Lawrence) who had masterminded the Pegasus satellite project, which has now made a forced landing somewhere in the Aberdare Forest. Hunter is needed to help Sheldon locate the satellite urgently.
Sheldon is a determined man, but also a sick one, and he nearly falls victim to a raging river, but not, thanks to Hunter's quick action. Journalist Marge Wilson (Patricia Roc) barges in to the expedition, and after a tiring search the three are taken prisoner by a tribe who threaten to land their captives "in the cooking pot." These benighted savages have found Pegasus, worshipping it as "their god who came out of the sky." (Just remember that this series is, allegedly, based on true happenings!)
When a tribesman dies, evidently after exposure to a dangerous chemical on board the satellite, it looks black for the trio. But whilst the dead man is being buried, Hunter breaks out of their makeshift prison and with Sheldon, retrieves top secret equipment on board Pegasus. The tribesmen spot they have escaped, but the superstitious fools believe their prisoners have been devoured by their god. (Another reminder- these stories are supposed to be based on true tales.)
White Hunter Menu
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17 "The Lonely Place"
In Somali country, "a world of desolate and lonely places," District Officer Rankin (Andre Morell) is preparing for a siege. The heat has clearly got to him, as, when John Hunter and his survey exploration team draw near, they're greeted by a volley of machine gun fire. Anyone who comes near his waterhole gets similar treatment.
Hunter dodges the bullets, climbing into the fort. He tries reasoning with Rankin who's there alone with his daughter Margaret, but it's impossible. "Mr Hunter is the man who killed your mother," Rankin tells her. "You're insane," responds Hunter. After a fight, Hunter tries to make Margaret see the truth.
Local tribesmen, deprived of their waterhole, are getting restless. They gather outside the fort, taking prisoner the man left in charge of Hunter's party. Hunter parleys with them- he has until High Noon to hand Rankin over to them in exchange for their prisoner. The deadline passes, Rankin rambling on, reliving the day his wife died in an earlier siege. "His mind's gone," Hunter tells Margaret sadly.
Hunter decides to play along with Rankin's fantasy. The two walk out of the fort to face up to the tribemen. In a nice twist, the natives see he's gone bonkers, and now worship Rankin as "a holy man." Thus the stand-off ends peacefully.
"It wasn't easy to take their holy one away from the Somalis," Hunter explains in his epilogue. But surely no harder than swallowing this story.
White Hunter Menu
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31 "Moment of Truth"
After three months with two "shoot-'em-up-boys," John Hunter is so pleased to be able to relax with his girl Carol Rutledge (Dorinda Stevens). "You look awful" she tells him, so he smartens himself up in the bath, only to be interrupted there by Andy Stevenson with a request to help a tribe who are being attacked by lions.
John just has time for a mamba with Carol, but even this is interrupted by old colleage Pete, who insists on introducing John to his son Denny (Tim Turner) and Barbara his fiancee (Jennifer Jayne). Denny is now ready to take over his father's safari business, though Barbara would rather have him closer to her.
For the experience, Denny joins John on the quest for the Man-Eater. He kisses Barbara goodbye, and she repeats her desire for him to stop hunting: "I don't want a hunter, I want a full time husband." She knows a farm where they could settle together. As he can't give up hunting, she returns his engagement ring.
That afternoon the expedition reaches the decimated village. It's been a nightmare ever since this man-eating lion has lead a pack which has been attacking villagers. "He's a big one," Hunter notes, after examining the paw marks.
Three of the lions are shot by nightfall: "a good day's work," says John. But Denny hasn't enjoyed the thrill of the kill.
There's more shooting next morning before the tracks of "the big boy" are spotted. Denny shoots, but only wounds the beast. It's up to him to finish it off. "You got 'im!"
Yet Denny admits to John he "was scared stiff." Advises Hunter by way of encouragement: "a careful hunter stays alive." However, Denny has now realised hunting is not for him, he's going to turn his hand to farming.
Safari over, Carol greets John Hunter with a kiss. Oh dear, Pete's still there, to interrupt! But they do see Denny and Barbara reunited. Perhaps the story could have been titled Girls of Two Hunters.
White Hunter Menu
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35 "Voodoo Wedding"
John Hunter is taking his pal Bob (Robert Shaw) out on a stag night, even though his wedding to Sally (Gene Anderson) isn’t for two weeks. Her “rejected suitor” Fred (Edward Judd), is her oldest friend, but she has now found true love with dear Bob.
”There can be no wedding,” her servant tells her. He says she is married already. Actually, he has misinterpreted her childhood friendship with Fred, but the fact is “you make the witch doctor’s spirit angry.”
With Bob away in Los Angeles collecting an elephant, Sally has a nasty experience one night, as smoke pours into her bedroom. She collapses. Bob is rushed to her hospital bed. Apart from diagnosing “she’s pretty sick,” the baffled doctor can’t explain what’s wrong with her. But Hunter has “just an idea” it’s voodoo. Dr Waring however is quite unconvinced.
So John Hunter knows what to do. He orders a search be made for the servant, who has disappeared. He is eventually found and states Fred is himself a witch doctor! Why? “He wears beads.” Jealousy of Bob would seem to be a big part of it too. It’s enough to start Bob and Fred on a fight, which ends with a fatal stabbing. Accidental of course.
Bob returns to Sally’s beside. She’s now being fed intravenously. “Another authority” is brought in, to exorcise her, a genuine witch doctor who performs his chants despite opposition from Dr Waring. Soon the spell is broken.
”You’ll be all right.”
”Bob, what happened?”
”Nothing at all,” replies Bob.
”I can’t believe it,” gasps the doctor. Nuff said.
White Hunter Menu . . . To Film Drama Menu
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O.S.S.(Office of Strategic Services)
starring Ron Randell as Frank Hawthorn, who described the stories thus: "a violent series. Those spy guys didn't play games. It was life or death for them every time."
A successful pilot was completed in January 1957, leading to the complete series being filmed later that year.
It was about "the exploits of the Office of Strategic Services in Axis-dominated Europe."
The stories were based on true incidents and all the characters, apart ironically from Randell's, were based on actual people.
The producers were given as American 'Buckeye Corp' (LSQ Prods & Flamingo), and eventually OSS was distributed by ITC.
26 films were made:
13 "Operation Pigeonhole" - Frank has to learn sign language in order to infiltrate into Italy ahead of the Allied troops invasion at Anzio. In Rome he stays with Mario (Peter Illing) who promises to help him obtain details of German military movements. Police official Vittorio holds all the important documents, but how to break into his closely guarded building? The answer, says Frank, lies with a friend of his sign language teacher. With the aid of binoculars he lip reads the conversations at police hq and by substituting Allied carrier pigeons for the German ones, the secrets are flown to Allied command
23 "Operation Choppingblock" - A double agent brings a booby trap camera to the OSS in an attempt to lure agents to capture the cameras from the Stuttgart factory that makes them. But hip hip hooray, MI5 know it's a trap. However Frank goes on the dangerous mission anyway, accompanied by Foxy (Leslie Phillips no less): "Fraulein's takes cover!" warns Frank about him. Actually Foxy's not too overwhelmed about going himself: "I had a table for four booked ... just me and three girls!" He gives a look of bliss.
So to Germany where they are captured, but luckily only by a fugitive from the Nazis (John Gabriel). He's "nutty as a fruitcake," decides Frank, but he proves rather useful when he blows up the approaching enemy soldiers. There's a rather tedious interlude before our heroes reach their goal, the factory, alias Elstree Studios! Fortunately the relevant script has "Actung, Explosiv" written on the door which saves a lot of searching. A truck, conveniently departing the site helps the getaway. A final flourish for Foxy as he orders three red roses for the three women whom, he hopes, are still waiting for him
To Drama
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THE ADVENTURES OF TUGBOAT ANNIE
Below are the titles of the 39 episodes of this series planned in Canada from 1954, but only finally filmed there in 1957.
As it was mysteriously backed by A-R, we include details here, though the extent of A-R's involvement is unclear. But certainly
A-R's drama director John Moxey travelled to Canada for about 6 months in 1957 to
work on this series. His wife Gwen went with him.
In the title role was the exotically named Minerva Urecal with Walter Sande as Captain Bullwinkle, who enjoy a good rapport and really make the series.
The titles of the stories are listed alphabetically with numbers of US running order (thanks to Des Martin for this data).
Made by TPA, the current trade distributor is given as ITC Entertainment Group. Why not ask 'em at their Head Office in Studio City, California? "Tugboat who...?!"
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3 Annie's Chicken Farm
12 Annie and the Admiral
16 Annie finds a Baby Tug
13 Annie is a Lady
7 Annie meets a Texan
20 Annie plays Cupid
19 Annie the Smuggler
33 Annie's Big Deal
27 Annie's Inheritance
11 Annie's Retirement
35 Annie's Treasure Hunt
- Annie's Wedding
14 Ballot and Ballast
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30 Bullwinkle's Folly
23 Butler did it
22 Chinese Formula
18 Cold Congo
9 Commodore Bullwinkle
25 Community Chest Drive
28 Dedicated Delinquent
21 Getting Annie's Pig
29 Golden Fleece
15 Happy Birthday
26 High Blonde Pressure
1 Home is the Sailor
34 Lord H Bullwinkle
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- Matter of Principle
36 Medal for Annie
24 Operation Hot Cakes
8 Pizza Romance
5 Psychologist
2 Queen Annie
10 Racehorse
31 Reformation of Bullwinkle
17 Romance of Bullwinkle
37 Sixth Santa
32 Smokescreen
4 Sophisticated Annie
6 Stowaway
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Review of the only story we have seen:
17 Romance of Bullwinkle - "Knock-kneed baboon" Bullwinkle rams Annie's boat, but, unusually, apologises. With a tie, a clean shirt, it must be love- Lydia (Charmion King) is "just the greatest." But Annie spots she's a phoney, she's a smuggler working in cahoots her real lover. So Annie decides to help Bullwinkle and "excavate him from trouble" by ramming his raft to save him from the cops ... and himself. But as they are rumbled, Annie and Bullwinkle face "a load of cement round their necks" before Annie's neat trick as she exploits their Achilles heel. The punchline is Annie's to the ex-lover: "Next time you start out with a flame, be sure you don't end up with a hot cargo!"
To Drama
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The Adventures of the Seahawk (1958)
The star was John Howard, commander of a floating electronics lab, that sailed the Caribbean.
Also starring was John Lee. One of the main directors was Pennington Richards who directed stories about his first love, sailing.
The series was an independent production by Eugene Solow and Brewster Morgan and was only shown in Britain in a few ITV regions.
Thanks to Classic TV archive's informative site for a lot of this information.
In view of the personnel involved I think that this is deemed to be a UK production, though filming was done at Film Studios, Bermuda.
26 stories were made and were still being advertised in the 1990's for tv syndication. Perhaps they still are?
Review of Fiery Opal
- "The hottest show on the island" delays the sailing of the Seahawk, or more specifically it's the dance and singing act of Fiery Opal (Jeanne Bal) that distracts our captain. She asks Pliny Hawk to give her young son Jamie a lift to see his estranged dad. "She spells trouble," Pliny is warned, and so it proves as Pliny is left with "hot potato" Jamie, before Opal oddly snatches him back. They flee to San Leandro island, under quarantine from yellow fever. Pliny braves all in a chase across the interior, where he discovers mother and father bickering over the boy. Dad collapses with the fever, and maybe this brings about a happy ending- as if you really wanted to know
To Drama
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Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!
"I'm the President of the Overseas Press Club of America, and this building is our headquarters, the gathering place of the top foreign correspondents of our time, who cover every corner of the globe in their search to bring the truth to you. From their personal files, we tell the stories behind the headlines. What you are about to see really happened and the people portrayed really lived."
According to a TV Times report, the series of 13 did so well in USA
that 26 further films were planned- what happened?
The 13 films that were actually made, were screened in Britain in from June to September 1957.
Here are brief synopses of each story:
1 The Man Who Changed Faces-
Lars Hensen (Kieron Moore) is a young handsome Norwegian who submits to plastic
surgery
in order to impersonate a scar-faced Nazi officer.
2 The General's War with Scotland-
Screenplay by Leigh Vance.
In the 1930's Miss MacPherson, a missionary at Sangchow (Dorothy Alison), woos
and weds a Chinese warlord
(Eric Pohlmann) to save the lives of twelve children whom the tyrant was
going to execute to prove to the townsfolk his absolute power.
Also featuring: Ewan Roberts, John Laurie, Stanley van Beers, Michael Mellinger,
Michael Peake, Cyril Luckham
and Lee Montague.
3 The Monk of Chimay-
Screenplay by Guy Morgan.
The story of WW1 air ace Rene Fonck who by the time of the second war is a monk,
Brother Joachim (Claude Dauphin) in a small Belgian town.
Others appearing included Richard Thorp, Jack McNaughton and Ferdy Mayne.
4 Father Tiger-
see our review below.
Note- At an advance showing of the film Father Mario Borelli himself
was guest of honour.
5 My Favourite Kidnapper-
An American officer (Ron Randell) gets so far ahead of General Patch's troops
in April 1945 that he ends up in Munich, looking for Hitler himself, but ending up
surrounded by Nazis.
With Ferdy Mayne, Robert Brown, Iris Russell, and Bill Nagy.
6 The Billion Franc Mystery-
Set in the 1930's, the Nazis attempt to create a monetary scandal
to throw France off the scent of their rearmament plans. They nearly
persuade an American correspondent to spread the story that France
was double printing the numbers of six billion francs.
7 Santa in a Jeep-
Col Morgan fights the Greek Communist guerillas by distributing
socks and candy bars.
8 The Millionth Frenchman-
The millionth Frenchman to be repatriated in France after the war
(Serge Reggiani), refuses to be released from his POW camp! When he does
he insists on coming on his own terms.
With Eugene Deckers, Lionel Murton and Austin Trevor.
9 The George Polk Story-
Correspondent Helen Zotos has to fight to prove her innocence
when an American she knows is led to his death by a Greek journalist as he attempts to
interview
the Greek Communist guerilla leader.
10 The Littlest Sergeant-
A parachutist, 10 year old Ukranian boy stowaway wearing a USAF sergeant's uniform
is taken prisoner,
and adopted by an American sergeant.
With Eddie Byrne, David Hannaford, Patrick Allen, Alan Gifford, Betty McDowall,
Lionel Murton and Robert Ayres
11 The Unknown Man-
A Polish journalist (Kieron Moore) enables an imprisoned Pole to be
rescued from a Communist ship moored in the Port of London.
Also with Karel Stepanek, Leonard Sachs, Robert Raglan,
Jack McGowran and Stratford Johns.
12 Tatiana- The Tsar's Daughter-
Newsman George Herald (Paul Carpenter) meets a hospital matron (Phyllis Calvert) in
Germany who claims to be the Tsar's
youngest daughter.
With Leonard Sachs and Helen Haye.
13 Two Against the Kremlin-
Eddy Gilmore's fight to secure exit visas for his Russian ballerina wife
and children. With Ralph Bellamy and Julia Arnall.
Our review of: 4 'Father Tiger' - Naples: abandoned kids in the slums after the war, and the story of a priest's mission to reform them.
Peter Arne plays the Father, nicknamed Father Tiger, who first tries to live amongst them and then to convert a derelict church for them to live in.
"Children will always warm to open arms and open hearts," he remarks. "High pulpits are not the only ones. There is another pulpit, the sidewalk."
In amongst the gang is a young Richard O'Sullivan. Also with Harry Landis, Mark Mileham and Alaric Cotter.
Anthology Menu
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One Step Beyond.
Introduced by John Newland.
Brief details of the 13 British made stories-
83 'The Stranger' - A city of 50,000 one minute - the next "wallop!" An earthquake. As demolition experts flatten the ruins, a family is rescued.
They've been kept alive by an American (Bill Nagy) who sadly died before the team reached him. But one of the rescuers (Peter Dyneley) learns this man had died
escaping from jail back in 1938. He'd been on death row and had consented to donate one of his eyes to a needy 17 year old blind girl before having had his sentence commuted to life.
"Explain it?" concludes Newland, "we couldn't possibly even try."
84 Justice - In a Welsh mining village on a Sunday morn, the chapel is full. Yes, they're singing Bread of Heaven- in Welsh. Somehow, during the lively sermon, Roberts dozes off. Yet a mile and a half away in a derelict workplace, he's showing a policeman (Clifford Evans) the body of Rosie whom he admits to murdering. He's arrested as soon as he emerges from the service, yet his alibi seems watertight
86 'The Room Upstairs' - Will (David Knight) returns home to find a strange man with his wife (Lois Maxwell). "I'm a doctor!" is his explanation. She's ranting, terrified his first baby will turn out to be insane. Yet the screaming child she can hear and see is real enough....
88 'The Confession' - Those penetrating eyes and husky voice of Donald Pleasence start off this story, as an even more way out than usual DP at Speaker's Corner confesses to murder.
We hear his sorry tale. Once he'd been a rising barrister who obtained the conviction of a wife murderer. But a woman claiming to be this wife (Adrienne Corri) tells him she's still alive. Pleasence does his usual fine
study of a descent into degeneration.
89 'The Avengers' - It's 1943 in a French chateau and a German general (Andre Morell) is to throw a party in the manner of the last Marquis just prior to the French Revolution. But like the guests in the parable, the invited fail to appear. Only the priest. He'd been warned of the general's plot by his bit of stuff (Lisa Gastoni), as the party was a pretence to transport the peasants into forced labour in Silesia. But the mob masses outside the chateau, echoing the events of the Revolution when the marquis was trampled to death. And like in 1789, the general is killed. It's officially a heart attack. But adds John Newland, "every bone in his body was broken."
90 'The Prisoner' - 1945, and Ruth (Catherine Feller), a survivor of the concentration camps, will hate for ever. So her encounter with a wounded German (the archetypal Anton Diffring) is bound to end in her shooting him. But was he a figment of her tortured mind? There's no corpse in evidence, but how come he dictated a letter to her? This letter leads to the discovery of the body, which had died six years previously
92 'The Sorceror' - In WW1 a German officer (Christopher Lee) demands a labourer give permission
for telegraph poles to be erected across his land. Klaus (Martin Benson) wants to consult his animals before agreeing! The officer becomes fascinated by the
mysterious Klaus who promises to show him the future, and seeing it, he says he doesn't understand. Nor me. In his "dream" the officer wants to shoot his girl friend.
When in the cold light of day he learns she has indeed been shot, and he then discovers a bullet missing from his gun, he confesses to the crime. But how could he be guilty,
as he was 800 miles from the scene of the crime?
93 'The Villa' - Their marriage on the rocks, Jim Lowe (Ronald Lewis) and his wife Mary (Elizabeth Sellars) attend the party of industrialist Richard Hudson (David Horne). His son (Michael Crawford) has developed a strobe light that affects the brain so you "go off into another world." Says his partner (Kenneth Cope): "it's unbelievable - it's not like seeing things at all!" Mrs Lowe has a go on it to get some "peace of mind." But what she sees is a terrifying vision of a house with a man trapped in a lift, "knowing they were going to die." Her husband tries to convince her not to believe it. But then she sees an ad for the Villa Orlando and of course she has to visit the empty place, and of course enter the impressive lift. But all is well and she leaves. Her husband however follows her and upstairs he goes.... by the stairs. Then down he comes, using that lift. And of course it gets stuck.
95 'Nightmare' - Temperamental artist (Peter Wyngarde) keeps painting a girl called Claire he's never met.
His fiancee is naturally rather suspicious and calls in a doc to help this tortured soul. Interesting denouement as the artist visits Cornwall to learn the truth.
96 'Eye Witness' - Henry Soames (John Meillon) of the Boston Star reports on the Krakatoa eruption, but how did he get this scoop?
Note- others in this series were American made.
To Anthology Menu
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Ratings for each film are out of a maximum 10*
Tales from Dickens -
