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Reviews
Cadfael: The Holy Thief (1998)
Fine use of religious elements and several mysteries for Cadfael to solve
Perhaps not Cadfael's strongest effort as a detective but fascinating nonetheless as near-continuous rain, thunderstorms and rising waters threaten to swamp Shrewsbury and environs. There was some fine interplay between Derek Jacobi and the guest stars - an arrogant lord exerting his property rights, an equally arrogant prior in search of a favor, yet another novice hearing voices and seeing visions and a slave girl with an angel's voice.
One unusual thing about the episode was it began with a voice-over narration. I'd have thought that by the start of this final season of Cadfael, viewers would have enough sense of the time and place to render the narration superfluous. A minor quibble -- very distinct shadows on the ground in some scenes where it was absolutely pouring rain.
A complaint - background music that became intrusive, perhaps because rather than the instrumental music, this episode featured a lot vocal music. At times it went on long enough to appear to be substituting for dialog or scene changes. The music was lovely and the voices superb but the end result was noisy what with the storms, the sloshing around, the wagon and horses, etc.
The Time Tunnel: The Death Trap (1966)
Right city, wrong conspirators
Yes, there was a plot to assassinate President-Elect Abraham Lincoln as he travelled through Baltimore on his way to Washington, D.C. and his inauguration. And yes, Allan Pinkerton and his operatives foiled the plot, a bit of detection that helped reinforce Pinkerton's reputation as a detective. But nearly all John Brown's disciples had been killed in the raid on Harpers Ferry some 15 months earlier, or tried and executed. By Feb. 1861, the five who escaped or others who'd not been at Harpers Ferry would hardly have risked capture in Baltimore, a hotbed of Southern sympathizers, for an assassination attempt which could as easily have backfired. The Nov. 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln had already been received by the slave-holding states as tantamount to a declaration of war; who knows what the reaction to Lincoln's death prior to the actual start of hostilities would have been by wither side -- regardless of who pulled the trigger or set off the bomb.
I found the responses of Doug and Tony to Abraham Lincoln surprisingly muted; sure they were concerned about proving their innocence, but I expected a bit more awe that they were in his presence. Ditto for the crew back at the Time Tunnel. Are the general and the scientists getting jaded about seeing the giants of history in front of their eyes? Also the show should have provided a better explanation for the Tunnel's momentary jump to the actual Lincoln assassination in 1865. As the episode played out that foreshadowing seemed unnecessary, especially as it was presented inaccurately -- Maj. Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris were in the box along with the Lincolns and the shooting took place while the theater was darkened for the play onstage. We can read Thomas Mallon's novel, Henry and Clara, for a highly readable and detailed account in a work of fiction; but the 1966 writers also had access to numerous works about Lincoln's assassination (one of the most written-about subjects in U.S. history).
The guest cast was uniformly good and the script was closely focused on the situation in Baltimore. General Kirk and the scientists seemed to have much less screen time than in the other episodes I've seen. Their one extended scene (with the boy who was transferred along with the ticking bomb) seemed concocted mostly to give the actors something to do. The choice of R.G. Armstrong to play Allan Pinkerton was inspired -- Armstrong closely resembles photographs of Pinkerton taken in the early 1860's except that the actor is much taller than the detective was. In an 1861 photo held by the Library of Congress, Lincoln towers over Pinkerton and General McClellan who stand on either side of the President. Since McClellan's nicknames included "Little Mac" and "Young Napoleon" the famous detective must have been on the short side, too.
Amazingly, after 11 episodes in which Ann wears what appears to be the same drab tweed dress under a white lab coat, she finally gets a new outfit -- a blouse with a ruffled collar and a skirt (both in a vivid shade of green) -- underneath the lab coat.
Still, attempting to present real historical figures - Pinkerton and, particularly, Abraham Lincoln - was a risky move. It's one thing if Michael Rennie doesn't match the Titanic's actual Captain Smith but another to tamper with the Lincoln image and persona. So the show's producers, writers and director deserve credit for making the attempt even if they changed the sympathies and motives of the would-be assassins.
The Time Tunnel: Massacre (1966)
Neither dramatic nor visually accurate
If only Time Tunnel had stayed with the formula used in The Last Patrol or the story about the eruption of Krakatoa, this episode might have been more successful. Instead Massacre tries to increase the drama of the story and the visual effects on screen and fails to do either.
Rather than Tony and Doug getting caught up in the flow of the actual event as participants (which they did in both the aforementioned episodes), most of the episode has the pair trying to convince the Indians and the Cavalry to call the whole thing off. Any viewer with a bit of knowledge about the American West knows the Battle of Little Bighorn happened, so dramatic tension is destroyed, not created.
Likewise, the visual effect is negated by an unnecessary bit of borrowing. Viewers are treated to scenes taken from a fairly big-budget movie Western. Result -- the original scenes shot for Time Tunnel look like home movies. Worse, all geographical veracity is lost since the "borrowed" material takes place in the desert Southwest. Surely there must have been someplace nearby with a broad grassy field (and without mountains or an ocean) that could have been used? Add to this the dreadful wigs and the hazel and blue eyes of various actors playing Indians and this episode is the worst of the first ten I've now seen.
Emergency!: Audit (1973)
Times Have Changed
Early in Audit there's a minor subplot where Gage and DeSoto, driving back from the hospital, are waved down by a woman running into the street. They follow her into the parking lot of a small shopping center where she insists they rescue a toddler, wrapped in a blanket from the back seat of a locked automobile. A crowd of women have gathered around the car, but nobody knows who the mother is or what store she's gone into. One woman is certain the child has been on the back seat for at least an hour. Spurred on the the demands of the crowd, Johnny uses a coat hanger to pop the lock and the women quickly disperse, leaving the paramedics with a very unhappy toddler.
At this point, the mother comes ambling out to the car with her hair in curlers and a yellow plastic wrap around her shoulders. She gives Johnny and Roy a piece of her mind for breaking into her car and yells at them for frightening her child. They back away, without getting a chance to explain but appear abashed and apologetic.
It's surprising how well Emergency has held up for more than 35 years now but this is a situation that would play out very differently today. Leaving children unattended in cars has led to criminal charges and the need to convince parents to stop using an automobile as some sort of playpen remains.
Emergency!: The Professor (1973)
Roy's mystery female admirer named
This episode begins with Chet informing Roy that a girl's been trying to reach him on the phone. Naturally Johnny wants to know all and eventually Roy explains he'd helped extricate her from a wrecked automobile on Johnny's day off. Just around the midpoint of the episode - while Roy and Johnny are chatting with Dr. Early - the girl calls Rampart ER. Dr. Early hands Roy the phone telling him that Susan Saint John would like to speak to him.
After I watched on Hulu, I went back and found the scene again to be certain I hadn't misheard the name. Susan Saint John was a very popular actress in this era and was starring in another NBC series, McMillan & Wife, produced by Universal (which distributed Emergency!).
It's remotely possible that the writer just liked the name and used it but more likely Emergency! was saluting another NBC/Universal show (a subliminal reminder to viewers to tune in Sunday night for McMillan & Wife?). A third possibility that occurs to me is that Bobby Troup forgot the name of the girl and renamed her with the first female name that popped into his head.
In any case, it's an amusing bit trivia in a particularly taut and well-written episode. Set against the serious nature of the Professor's illness and the various other calls the paramedics handle, Johnny's ongoing teasing of Roy about his female admirer and lack of charisma provides a welcome leavening of humor.
Emergency!: The Stewardess (1975)
Could Have Been Better
Perhaps it's my bias but I would prefer more episodes of Emergency that handled hour-long stories, rather than multiple paramedic calls. This one came pretty close, with a dramatic mid-air heart attack. Plus John's attempt to establish a relationship with a stewardess he meets on the flight from Sacramento to LAX provides a unifying thread from beginning to end.
Alas, rather than setting the story up, it starts in mid-flight as John bores the woman with tales of heroic rescues he's performed. Until one of the passengers needs medical attention she thinks he's made the stories up as a way to make a pass at her. The rest of the first 1/2 hour is devoted to treating a passenger suffering a heart attack with the plane's first aid kit, retrieving their regular equipment from the baggage compartment and establishing communications with Rampart. Gates and DeSoto get to treat the victim first on the plane and then in an ambulance en route to Rampart. Then the ER staff take over and the paramedics off to 2 more not very interesting calls before the final credits roll.
I liked the way progressively more sophisticated treatments from the plane's very limited first aid kit to working in a well-equipped ambulance to hospital emergency room were shown. But, sadly, the writers gave up an interesting chance to show the guys' reactions to each other under slowly increasing tension. It would also have been a good episode in which to demonstrate their interactions with the flight crew, the passengers (where did they all disappear to during the medical emergency and why wasn't there a seat-belt announcement before landing?), the other paramedics and ambulance driver, and the hospital staff.
I can understand that Emergency did not have a huge budget for guest stars. OTOH, an episode that gave guest cast a chance to say more than a few lines and act might have been improved the show. As it was Emergency opted for its "extra with a few lines of dialog" approach to supporting cast.
If You Could Only Cook (1935)
A screwball comedy with a few unexpected twists
Quite a delightful movie! I started watching expecting a rip-off of My Man Godfrey and wound up being entertained by its twists and turns. Herbert Marshall and Jean Arthur made a great pairing opposite the gangsters with hearts of gold and the corporate execs who were timid in business matters but very quick to make social judgments.
I thought the opening was an actual wedding because of the decor of the room, the large number of onlookers and the semi-formal attire worn by the men. The bride in a black suit momentarily surprised me but I figured it was a Depression era economy. It was only when the organist made his joking comment that I realized it was a rehearsal.
This was a fun introduction to a director whose name was unfamiliar but whose work I'd enjoyed in the past. Seeing it on MeTV (WBME) with a single commercial block about 2/3's of the way through added to the enjoyment.
My only question -- did Americans of this era and class really speak with such mid-Atlantic accents? Everybody sounded like modern BBC announcers. It wasn't until Jim met Joan that characters began speaking in American accents.
77 Sunset Strip: Designing Eye (1961)
Jeff takes on fashion design piracy amid a parade of swimsuit models
Swimsuit and sportswear manufacturer, Surf 'n Sun, hires Jeff Spencer to discover who is stealing their new designs. By the time they show the new line to department store buyers, a rival firm has already sold them the same items. Jeff enlists the aid of Kookie (seen tossing boxes down chutes as well as keeping watch from closets at Surf 'n Sun) and Suzanne as a model at the rival firm, Rainbow Modes, to help catch the design pirates.
Roscoe wanders through the episode as comic relief, showing off his latest winnings at the race track and handling the switchboard in Suzanne's absence. Stu and Rex put in a brief appearance at the end, meeting in Jeff's office to learn how the case was resolved and how Roscoe's big day at the track went.
An entertaining if superficial look at the world of early 1960's fashion design, manufacturing and theft, this episode spends more time on runway shows and models' dressing rooms than creating suspense. Fans who like to see Kookie and Suzanne away from the office will enjoy it.
IMDb's cast list was incomplete so I added names of series regulars who appeared but was unable to catch the names of the actors who played Polly, a S 'n S model, or RM's Cliff Jarrett when the list of guest appearances flashed so rapidly at the end of the episode.
Route 66: Where Are the Sounds of Celli Brahms? (1963)
Aquatennial in the Twin Cities makes for a light and humorous episode for Todd and Linc; great guest stars add to the fun.
The light-hearted tone of this episode recalls the Season 3 Classic, "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing." This time it's a duo of actors people probably didn't expect to see together again -- Horace MacMahon and Harry Bellaver. Naked City had ended its run the previous May and here were those trusty cops transferred from NYC's 65th Precinct to the Upper Midwest.
The opening is great - the grouchy PR Director (Bellaver) for the Miss Downtown Minneapolis beauty contest stops several cars crossing a bridge into the city to select the millionth car. Surprise -- the Corvette is the lucky winner visiting this year's Aquatennial (a real Minneapolis festival first held in 1940.) Linc's driving so he gets honored with the job of judge at the beauty contest.
One reason why the harassed PR man is so grumpy (as he tells Linc in a later scene) is that he never expected to be in publicity; he always wanted to be a cop. Linc tells him that's funny, he looks just like a cop and asks if he hasn't seen him before - a bit of dialog that will slip by anybody who's never seen Naked City (like me until I discovered it on ME TV a couple of months ago. Route 66 and The Untouchables I remember from elementary school days but I must have left Naked City to the grownups.)
Todd sleeps through the whole meeting on the bridge. When the guys arrive at the Sheraton-Ritz Todd has to be ready to work for acoustic engineer Tammy Grimes (obsessed, zany, and gorgeous in Chanel-like suits). She's trying to convince the President (the marvelously dour MacMahon) of an acoustical engineering firm looking for a new Vice President for his company that she's his woman.