The Five Best Swashbuckler Films

One of the challenges with listing “swashbuckler films” is that they form a wide genre that defies easy categorization. Yes, a swashbuckling picture must be adventurous in spirit and include some swordplay. However, that definition cuts a wide swath, so one could include tales of knighthood, pirates, samurai, surf-and-sandal epics, and Vikings. To keep my list size to a scant five (that's the "5 Best" rule!), I omitted the latter three groups and focused on classic films from the sound era only. I expect some disagreements (principally from Douglas Fairbanks fans and those bemoaning the inclusion of only twoFlynn flicks...yes, his films could have dominated the list). But, hey, disagreements generate discussion and that’s a part of loving movies, right?

1. The Adventures of Robin Hood – One of the greatest films of all time with one of the greatest casts ever assembled. It has action, humor, romance, and a marvelous hissable villain in Basil Rathbone. Errol Flynn was never more dashing and Olivia de Havilland is the consummate screen heroine. The climatic swordfight is so entertaining that I missed the continuity glitch for many years (watch Basil’s sword magically move between shots). It is, quite simply, the ultimate swashbuckling film.

2. Scaramouche - Stewart Granger is marvelous in a role that Errol Flynn would have played ten years earlier. Janet Leigh, who has never looked lovelier, exudes charming innocence and Eleanor Parker gives a delightful performance as the fiery red-headed Lenore. She and Granger have a natural chemistry that makes their scenes together sparkle. The famous MGM production values are very much on display; the colors are vivid, the costumes ornate, and the set design impeccable. You’ll swear that the thrilling climactic swordfight (maybe the longest in film history at 5:35 minutes…and my personal favorite) was filmed in a real Parisian theatre draped in gold, red, and white.

Basil Rathbone and Danny Kaye in The Court Jester.

3. The Court Jester – Yes, it’s a comedy, but it’s such a spot-on spoof of swashbuckling films that I think it qualifies as one itself. In a rare role worthy of his talents, Danny Kaye gets to sing, dance, use funny voices, contort his expressive face, and excel at physical comedy (such as walking in magnetized armor).The Court Jester also includes Danny’s most famous routine—the one that involves the pellet with the poison in the chalice from the palace, the vessel with the pestle with the brew that is true, and (finally) the flagon with the picture of a dragon (which is used for the brew that is true after the vessel with the pestle is broken). And did I mention that Danny and Basil Rathbone engage in the funniest sword duel in the history of cinema?

4. The Mark of Zorro – I’ll probably get in trouble for listing the Tyrone Power version and not addressing Doug Fairbanks (but I am consistent with my rules). Taking a page from Leslie Howard’s acting class, Tyrone does a fine job of playing the fop who is a fine fencer. His close quarters swordfight with Basil Rathbone (there seems to be a trend with him) is one of the more realistic duels—and it’s an entertaining one, too.

5. The Sea Hawk – There's little similarity with Rafael Sabatini's novel--and it should have been shot in color (by this point, Jack Warner thought Flynn was too big a draw to waste money on color). Still, The Sea Hawk is a first-rate swashbucker with Errol in top form as an English privateer who plunders Spanish ships while Queen Elizabeth looks the other way. The Sea Hawk reunites much of the Robin Hood team, including director Michael Curtiz, composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and performers Claude Rains, Alan Hale, and Una O'Connor. Errol's big swordfight with baddie Henry Daniell even recalls Robin Hood, right down to Curtiz's marvelous use of shadows.

Honorable mentions:  Ivanhoe, The Crimson Pirate, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Scarlet Pimpernal, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Captain Blood.

DVD Spotlight: Fireball XL5

Fireball XL5 holds a special place among Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation TV series. It was the first to be shown in the U.S. and the only one to be broadcast on network television. I was among the youngsters that watched Anderson's space adventure on NBC on Saturday mornings in the mid-1960s. With its intricate miniature sets and sci fi themes, it stood apart from the cartoons and live-action repeats (e.g., Fury) that filled the juvenile TV schedule. (For a description of Supermarionation, see our post on Stingray.)

On March 10th, Timeless Media Group will release all 39 episodes in glorious black and white. The DVD boxed set also includes: audio commentaries on two episodes; a twelve-minute interview with series creator Gerry Anderson; a documentary on the colorful Fireball XL5 comic strips; and a nine-page publicity brochure that accompanied the series' original broadcast in 1962 (shown at right).

Set 100 years in the future, Fireball XL5 chronicles the adventures of blonde-haired Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol Fleet. The XL5 is a 300-foot spacecraft with crew quarters, a lounge, a research laboratory, and weaponry. The nose cone of the XL5--known as Fireball Junior--detaches from the mother ship and can be used for landing on other planets. Steve's fellow crew members include: Doctor Venus (voiced by Sylvia Anderson); Professor Matthew Matic (who sounds like Walter Brennan!); and Robert the Robot (voiced by Gerry Anderson through a voice box).

Doctor Venus.

Venus is a doctor of "space medicine" and, as the brochure describes it, possesses a "Continental accent." She was the first of several prominent female characters in Anderson's children's TV series, setting the stage for Marina and Atlanta in Stingray and Lady Penelope (also voiced by Sylvia Anderson) in Thunderbirds.

The Fireball XL5 missions range from escorting important alien leaders to summits to restoring plant life on an alien planet to foiling espionage plots devised by the notorious Mr. and Mrs. Space Spy. Other XL ships appear in some episodes, such as when Steve and crew rescue Fireball XL7 in "Space Magnet." There are also additional recurring characters, to include Commander Zero, Lieutenant Ninety, and Venus' sometimes-telepathic pet Zoonie the Lazoon.

In the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson TV series chronology, Fireball XL5 followed Supercar (1960-61) and preceded Stingray (1964-65). It builds on some of the elements from Supercar, specifically the emphasis on a fantastic vehicle, the elaborate launch sequence, the presence of a pet (Supercar had Mitch the Monkey), and even some of the plot lines (e.g., espionage is a recurring plot theme in many Anderson series).

The terrific XL5 launch sequence--the highlight of the opening credits.

However, Fireball XL5 was also influential in its own right, introducing several concepts that permeate later Anderson shows. It established the concept of a global organization that protects the Earth (which was even carried over into Anderson's nifty 1970 live-action series UFO). It eliminated the necessity for a child character and, as mentioned earlier, introduced one of the first television sci fi heroines in Doctor Venus. It also may have introduced the "oxygen pill," which allowed the XL5 crew to breathe in outer space without suits. This use of oxygen pills preceded the 1964 sci fi film Robinson Crusoe on Mars, in which Friday used them to breathe on Mars. (Of course, the pills had a practical application for the puppeteers on Fireball XL5--the marionettes didn't have to be put into space suits!)

Robert the Robot.

Composer Barry Gray, who first began working with Gerry Anderson in 1956, composed the music. The show's end credits feature his song "Fireball" (aka "I Wish I Were a Spaceman"), which was recorded by Australian singer Don Spencer as a single. It's the only song from an Anderson TV series to reach the U.K. record chart, peaking at #32 in 1962.

Although the colorful Stingray remains my favorite Supermarionation series, the Fireball XL5 boxed set is a must for fans. The image and sound quality are excellent and it's an enjoyable series. So, as Steve tells Venus in the opening credits: "Let's go!"


Click here to view the Cafe's unofficial trailers for Fireball XL5, Stingray, and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Timeless Media Group provided a copy of the XL5 DVD set for our review.

Who Is Nina Van Pallandt?

In the Ellery Queen episode "The
Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs."

Recently, we were watching an episode of Jim Hutton's TV series Ellery Queen (1975-76) and one of the guest stars was Nina Van Pallandt. I remembered her instantly, but wondered how many people were familiar with the occasional actress's intriguing life story.

Born Nina Moller in Denmark in 1932, she first gained fame as half of Nina & Frederik, a singing duo. The two specialized in folk and calypso songs, though their first big hit was the Christmas carol "Little Donkey." It reached #3 on the United Kingdom record charts in 1960 and their debut album, Nina & Frederik, hit #9 in the UK. While the duo was popular in Europe, they failed to find an audience in the U.S.

Frederik van Pallandt was a baron, so when the couple wed in 1960, Nina became Baroness van Pallandt (she later capitalized the "V"). Nina and Frederik had three children, but separated in 1969 and eventually divorced in 1975. In the meantime, Nina became romantically involved with author Clifford Irving.

Irving had gained some fame with a 1969 book called Fake!, which was appropriately subtitled The Story of Elmyr De Hory, the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time. That may have given him the idea for one of the greatest hoaxes of the 20th century. In the early 1970s, Irving convinced his publisher McGraw-Hill that he was working with Howard Hughes on an autobiography. Irving had forged documents which backed up his claim--and which were confirmed as genuine by handwriting experts. The hoax eventually unraveled and Irving and his accomplices, to include his wife Edith, confessed and were sentenced to prison. (Interestingly, both Irving and De Hory appeared in Orson Welles' pseudo-documentary, and final film, 1973's F for Fake.)

Nina Van Pallandt was not involved with the hoax, but her connection with Irving thrust her into the public spotlight. A 1972 article in LIFE magazine called her the "radiant survivor of the Hughes hoax." It also noted: "When the Hughes storm broke, she blushed becomingly and agreed with her manager who called it the 'opportunity of a lifetime.'" She wrote a 1973 autobiography, starred in her own nightclub act, and revived her acting career (she had appeared previously in a handful of Danish films and on British television).

With Elliott Gould in The Long Goodbye.

Her most substantial role was as the female lead in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973). She played Sterling Hayden's trophy wife, with Elliott Gould on hand as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. She followed it with TV guest star roles, to include Ellery Queen.  Her later film appearances included Quintet (1979), another Altman film that starred Paul Newman and Bibi Andersson, and American Gigilo (1980), with Richard Gere. She retired from films in the late 1980s.

It's worth noting that in 2006, Gere played Clifford Irving in The Hoax, a film adaptation of Irving's book about his Hughes scam. Julie Delpy played Nina Van Pallandt in the film.

Nina Van Pallandt, who turned 82 last year, keeps a low profile these days. In researching this article, I was surprised to learn that comedian Richard Lewis had a four-year relationship with her. In his 2000 autobiography The Other Great Depression, he calls her "the most stunning, sensual, earthy-looking woman I had ever seen."

Sadly, life didn't turn out well for Frederik van Pallandt. He and his second wife were murdered in the Philippines in 1994. According to some sources, he had become involved with an Australian crime syndicate.

Abbott & Costello Meet the Frankenstein Monster...and Dracula...and the Wolf Man*

Lou sits on the Frankenstein Monster.

Ask a classic movie fan to name their favorite comedians and I suspect only a few would list Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. More likely answers might be Chaplin, Keaton, and the Marx Brothers. And yet, the legacy of A&C is significant. They are often credited with singlehandedly saving Universal from bankruptcy in the 1940s. The duo was a Top 10 box office attraction for almost a decade and their comic routines influenced countless other comedians. Heck, the “Who’s on First” sketch from The Naughty Nineties has played in a continuous loop in the Baseball Hall of Fame for years.

Lou writes a note...not realizing who's
in the background.

The Library of Congress added one of their pictures, 1948’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, to the National Film Registry in 2001. That’s appropriate since it’s one of the team’s finest efforts, casting them as shipping clerks Chick (Bud) and Wilbur (Lou), who receive two mysterious crates en route to McDougal’s House of Horrors. It turns out that one crate contains Dracula’s coffin and the other the Frankenstein Monster. It’s not long before Count Dracula and the Monster relocate to a nearby castle with Larry Talbot—aka the Wolf Man—and a female insurance investigator in hot pursuit.

This was Lugosi's second--and final--
appearance as Count Dracula.

The film’s premise is wonderfully wacky: Dracula has recently experienced difficulty with controlling the Frankenstein Monster, so he wants to replace the Monster’s brain. Dr. Sandra Mornay (a female mad scientist—a nice touch) has chosen Wilbur’s brain because of its simplicity. When Wilbur discovers Dracula’s plot, he quips: “I've had this brain for thirty years. It hasn't done me any good!”

Loosely structured, A&C Meet Frankenstein allows Bud and Lou to recreate some of their most famous comic routines, specifically the moving candle and the revolving door. The former goes on too long, but the latter is a stellar example of perfect comic timing. Lou accidentally discovers a secret revolving door that leads from a passageway to a room containing Dracula and the Monster. Lou returns to the passage to fetch Bud, but as they pass through the revolving door, Drac and the Monster go into the passage—so Bud never sees them. And that’s just the start of the routine. Silly? No doubt. Funny? Most definitely.

One of the film’s strengths is that Bela Lugosi (as Dracula) and Lon Chaney, Jr. (Larry Talbot) play their roles straight. Honestly, it must have been a challenge to keep a straight face in some of the scenes with Costello, such as these two exchanges:

LARRY TALBOT: I know you'll think I'm crazy, but in half an hour the moon will rise and I'll turn into a wolf.

WILBUR: You and twenty million other guys.

Later in the film, Larry approaches Lou, who has agreed to go to a masquerade ball with both Dr. Mornay and the insurance investigator.

WILBUR: I've got a date. In fact I've got two dates.

LARRY TALBOT: But you and I have a date with destiny.

WILBUR: Let Chick go with Destiny.

Lou Costello and Bud Abbott.

A&C Meet Frankenstein was a big hit for Universal and led to several spooky follow-ups: Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer (1949); Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951); Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953); and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). The first two “sequels” were well-done comedies, but the formula started to wear thin by the time the boys encountered Dr. Jekyll (though even Meet the Mummy has its moments).  After that, they only made one more film (1956’s Dance With Me, Henry) and then dissolved the team for good. Costello died three years later.

There are classic horror fans who grouse that A&C Meet Frankenstein sounded the death toll for Universal’s classic monsters. That’s simply not true. The monster movie extravaganzas House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) already proved that Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein Monster had lost much of their appeal. They could not be relied upon to draw audiences individually—only when combined together. The studio needed a different kind of creature and eventually found just that in the early 1950s with The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

By the way, it’s worth noting that the Frankenstein Monster speaks in A&C Meet Frankenstein. I believe his dialogue consists of one word…when he responds to Dracula with: “Master.” If memory serves, the Monster only speaks in two other Universal movies, the acclaimed Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1940). Glenn Strange played the Monster in the A&C movie, his third appearance after donning the make-up earlier in both House pictures. The 6' 6" Strange went on to play Sam the bartender, who worked at Miss Kitty’s Long Branch Saloon in TV’s Gunsmoke.

Abbott and Costello Meet Franenstein is certainly one of the duo’s best comedies, along with Hold That Ghost (1941), Who Done It? (1942), and The Time of Their Lives (1946). It sometimes pops up on television around Halloween, but it makes for an amusing evening’s entertainment any time of year.

* The Invisible Man makes an "appearance," voiced by Vincent Price, in the final scene.

The Movie-TV Connection Game (March 2015)

What do Travolta and Olivier have in common?

We're back with another edition of the connection game. As always, you will once again be given a pair or trio of films, TV series, or performers. Your task is to find the common connection. It could be anything--two stars who acted in the same movie, two movies that share a common theme, etc. As always, don't answer all the questions so others can play, too. There is a single best answer for each question.

1. The Apartment and Bonnie and Clyde.

2. Elizabeth Montgomery and Bette Davis.

3. Jeff Bridges and Michael Rennie.

4. Bob Hope and Don Knotts.

5. Hayley Mills and Bette Davis.

6. Jim Hutton and Ralph Bellamy.

7. Sidney Poitier and James Franciscus.

8. Carol Burnett and Vivian Leigh.

9. Laurence Olivier and John Travolta.

10. Strangers on a Train and Ride the Pink Horse.

11. Charles Laughton and James Stewart.

12. Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor.

13. Oliver Hardy and Jack Haley.

14. Cary Grant and Rex Harrison.

15. Telly Savalas and Christopher Lee.

Snack-sized Film Reviews: "Horror at 37,000 Feet" and "Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You"

Hey, something's wrong with this plane!

The Horror at 37,000 Feet. What can you say about a movie in which William Shatner gives the most credible performance? That’s the challenge with The Horror at 37,000 Feet, a 1973 made-for-TV film with a better reputation than it deserves. It makes one wonder if the film’s admirers have actually sat through all 73 minutes. The premise shows promise: An airplane departs London with a handful of passengers and cargo consisting of remnants from an abbey used by Druids for sacrificial rituals. It’s not long before the plane comes to a standstill mid-flight, the cabin temperature drops to icy depths, and possessed passengers start spewing Latin. The cast consists of TV veterans Chuck Connors, Buddy Ebsen, Roy Thinnes, Paul Winfield, Will Hutchins, and Shatner. They struggle with poorly-developed characters, bad dialogue, and inane plotting. At one point, Connors’ pilot copes with the situation by telling the stewardesses to offer free alcoholic beverages! Only Shatner rises above these ruins as a defrocked priest who ultimately takes matters into his own hands. My advice is to steer clear of The Horror at 37,000 Feet and seek out three other nifty made-for-TV terror tales:  Gargoyles (1972), Trilogy of Terror (1975), and Spectre (1977).

I don't think a single strand of
Lawford's hair moves during the film.

Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You. Before NBC launched the popular Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton in 1975, it made an earlier TV movie with Peter Lawford as the literary detective. Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You (1971) was intended as a pilot for a prospective series that never materialized. It’s easy to see why, although it’s not a total disaster. Based on the 1949 Ellery Queen novel Cat of Many Tails, the plot revolves around a series of apparently unrelated NYC murders committed by a killer dubbed “The Hydra” by the press. The connection between the crimes is a clever one, but it’s revealed with almost half the running time remaining. Even worse, it doesn't take much deduction to figure out the killer’s identity (there are only two viable suspects and one is much too obvious). Unlike Hutton’s 1940s-set series, Don’t Look Behind You is a contemporary mystery and Ellery has been transformed into a ladies man. In lieu of his father, Inspector Queen (wonderfully played by David Wayne in Hutton’s show), Harry Morgan plays an uncle that works for the police department. Lawford and Morgan don’t really click and Stefanie Powers is wasted as a suspect that gets involved with Ellery. Although the teleplay is credited to Ted Leighton, Columbo creators William Link and Richard Levinson may have penned an earlier draft. In an interview on the Ellery Queen TV series DVD boxed set, William Link mentions working on an Ellery Queen movie. However, the script was rewritten while he and Levinson were vacationing in Europe. They had their names removed from it. Given the timing, I suspect he was referring to Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You.

The Five Best Ellery Queen TV Series Episodes

Jim Hutton as Ellery.

A unique literary creation, Ellery Queen is famous as both a fictional detective and a best-selling “author” (as a pseudonym for cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee). Prior to Jim Hutton's well-regarded 1975-76 Ellery Queen TV series, the sleuth did not fare well in film and television.

Donald Cook and comedian Eddie Quillan each made one EQ movie in the 1930s. In 1940, Columbia launched a modestly-budgeted film series with Ralph Bellamy as Ellery Queen. He starred in four entries before being replaced by sturdy William Gargan for the final three films. On television, Lee Bowman, Hugh Marlowe, and George Nader each starred in three different TV series in the 1950s. NBC tried to launch a new series in 1971 with Ellery Queen: Don’t Look Behind You, which featured a miscast Peter Lawford as a writer-detective with an eye for the ladies (we'll review this movie later this week).

David Wayne as Inspector Queen.

Four years later, Columbo creators William Link and Richard Levinson created Ellery Queen, a one-hour TV mystery with Hutton as Ellery and David Wayne as his father, Inspector Richard Queen. Levinson and Link borrowed an entertaining element from the early novels, in which--just prior to the climax--the reader was informed that he or she possessed all the clues required to solve the mystery. In the TV series, this was accomplished by having Hutton break "the fourth wall" and talk directly to viewers.

Link and Levinson also made one significant change from the novels. They expanded on Ellery's rather dry personality by making him occasionally absent-minded (about routine things) and a bit of a bumbler. Even if their Ellery Queen wasn't a straightforward adaptation of the novels, it still captured their spirit and also wisely set the mysteries in the 1940s. Here are my picks for the five best episodes:

Edward Andrews and Larry Hagman.

1. The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party - The only regular episode based on an Ellery Queen novel or story sends Ellery to a country estate to discuss turning one of his literary works into a play. When wealthy impresario Spencer Lockridge (Edward Andrews) disappears, Ellery suspects foul play. What's not to like with suspects dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland, mysterious packages being delivered, and a key clue involving a reflection in the mirror? Rhonda Fleming, Jim Backus, and Larry Hagman form a first-rate cast of guest stars. The only downside is that the always likable Inspector Queen (well played by David Wayne) only plays a small part.

Swofford as Frank Flanagan.

2. The Adventure of the Comic Book Crusader - Ellery clashes with a publisher who wants to turn his fictional detective into a comic book action hero. When the unpopular publisher is found shot, Ellery becomes one of the suspects. Another good cast, headed by Donald O'Connor and Lynda Day George, enhances a mystery with Agatha Christie overtones.This episode marked Ken Swofford's first appearance as larger-than-life, headline-seeking columnist Frank Flanagan. He appeared in four other episodes and later played a police detective on another Levinson-Link series: Murder, She Wrote.

3. The Adventure of the Blunt Instrument - After winning the prestigious Blunt Instrument Award for best mystery fiction, author Edgar Manning is found dead--with the trophy for his award apparently used as the weapon. Yes, there's some amusing humor in this outing, with much of it coming from people who suggest various remedies for Ellery's head cold. Many episodes incorporate clever 1946-47 references and this one has one of the best: one suspect's alibi is that he was attending a double-feature of She-Wolf of London and The Spider Woman Strikes Back, two films actually released in 1946.

A nice shot of father and son.

4. The Adventure of Caesar's Last Sleep - Inspector Queen is assigned to protect a star witness prior to a mobster's trial. With two reliable policeman stationed in an adjacent room in a hotel suite, the witness is murdered...but how? This outing features the most ingenious murder method of the 22 episodes and also squeezes in a strong subplot involving political pressure and an ambitious district attorney (Stuart Whitman). Inspector Queen solves the crime, which is a nice change-of-pace. Look quickly for Timothy Carey as a hired killer...yes, that's South Dakota Slim from Beach Blanket Bingo!

5. The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express - The publisher of the Daily Examiner arrives at work, steps into the executive elevator, pushes the button for the 12th floor, and is found shot dead on another floor. Like some of the best mysteries, the solution to this murder is a simple one--but that's the beauty of it. Ken Swofford is back as Frank Flanagan and the plot makes excellent use of the newspaper building setting. This episode was one of three directed by Jack Arnold, who is best-known for the 1950s science fiction classics The Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space, and The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Honorable Mention:  The Adventure of the Sunday Punch, a strong, well-written teleplay set in the world of boxing. Please don't make anything of the absence of episodes featuring John Hillerman as radio detective Simon Brimmer. Indeed, I thought Hillerman was a delight in all eight episodes in which he appeared.

This post is part of the Classic TV Detectives Blogathon hosted by the Classic TV Blog Association. Click here to check out the other posts.

Seven Things to Know About Thelma Ritter

1. Thelma was nominated six times in the Best Supporting Actress category--and somehow never won an Oscar. The nominations were for her performances in: All About Eve (1951); The Mating Season (1952); With a Song in My Heart (1953); Pickup on South Street (1954); Pillow Talk (1960); and Birdman of Alcatraz (1963).

2. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress (Musical) for New Girl in Town in 1958. She actually tied for the award with her co-star Gwen Verdon--the first time that ever happened. The play, a musical adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, is about a former prostitute (Verdon) hiding her past from her father. Dad's resentful lover Marthy (Ritter) quickly realizes the truth--which is bad news for Anna. Marie Dressler played the Marthy role opposite Greta Garbo in the 1931 film version of Anna Christie.

In Pillow Talk (1959).

3. Thelma Ritter had a gap of 27 years between her Broadway appearances in In Times Square (1931) and New Girl in Town (1958).

4. She attended the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City in the early 1920s. Although economic realities prevented her from graduating, she received the first AADA Alumni Award according to Axel Nixon's book Actresses of a Certain Character. By the way, her fellow AADA students included a young Spencer Tracy and Sterling Holloway.

5. Thelma's husband, Joseph Moran, was an actor, too. However, he turned to advertising in the 1930s and eventually became vice president of the ad firm Young & Rubicam. He appeared briefly with Thelma in The Proud and the Profane (1956), billed as "Marine Saying Goodbye." They were married for 38 years until her death in 1969. Her daughter Monica Moran became an actress and had a brief film career. Her son, Joseph A. Moran, was a Marine and testified in a court-martial in 1956 related to the Ribbon Creek Incident in which six Marines died in a South Carolina swamp.

With James Stewart in Rear Window.

6. On working with Alfred Hitchcock in Rear Window, Thelma once said: "You knew whether you were OK or not. If he liked what you did, he said nothing. If he didn't, he looked as though he was going to throw up."

7. Thelma Ritter was born on Valentine's Day in 1902. She was 45 when she made her film debut in an uncredited role in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She died of a heart attack in 1969 at the age of 66.

The Bewitched Continuum: An Interview with Author Adam-Michael James

There are episode guides to popular television series--and then there's The Bewitched Continuum. Adam-Michael James' new book contains plot summaries and entertaining trivia about each of the 254 episodes of Bewitched--but James doesn't stop there. He explores the "world" of Bewitched, uncovering intriguing connections and inconsistencies among the episodes. For example, in episode #190, Super Arthur, "Samantha suggests that Uncle Arthur brush up on his driving in case he’s grounded – but forgets that he was already made earthbound on her behalf in Samantha’s Power Failure (#165)." Author James also acts, wrote the book for the musical The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery, and pens a column on The Bold and the Beautiful for soapcentral.com. Amazingly, he still found time to stop by the Cafe to discuss The Bewitched Continuum: The Ultimate Linear Guide to the Classic TV Series.

Café:  You've been a Bewitched fan since age 8. What drew you to the show as a youngster and what continues to attract you as an adult?

Author Adam-Michael James.

Adam-Michael James:  Well, it’s funny--it was 1977; I can remember sitting in the den that afternoon, what it looked like, and what episode I saw [it was “I Confess” (#135)], but not why I was in front of the TV in the first place. All I remember is seeing this lady making a bucket of water appear over a man’s head and dumping it on him. From there, I was hooked. I’m sure as a child it was the people popping in and out and the spells and the sound effects that captured my imagination. I’ve only recently been able to articulate it as an adult: it’s still the magic, but not the fictional kind. I guess I saw extraordinary people doing extraordinary things, and it made me feel like I had a magic of my own, which the show clued me in to. I don’t mean witchcraft magic, but an “I can do anything” kind of magic. I guess it spoke to me and still speaks to me, living in this very rational, practical world of ours that imposes limits on us. Of course, the appeal of the show today is also a certain nostalgia, remembering deep down how the show made me feel as a kid. But that “magic within” message is still there--and, since the show was written for adults, I pick up on many more things from that perspective than I did as a child watching people disappear.

Café:  Watching, documenting, and comparing 254 episodes must have been a massive undertaking. How long did it take you to write The Bewitched Continuum? What were some of your biggest challenges?

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha.

AMJ:  I tend not to do creative projects unless they’re massive undertakings. (laughs) At least with Bewitched, I already had an intimate knowledge of the show from childhood, so it’s not like I had to discover every episode from scratch. I mean, my Dad showed me how to record the show on cassette by the time I was 10--and how to fix tapes, since I was always coming to him to fix them. So I had that heightened familiarity going in. I would watch an episode, write down anything I observed, and then go back and watch a second time to write the synopsis. Then I split the continuity and story issues into four categories: “Good!”, “Well?”, “Oh, My Stars!” and “Son of a Gun!” which are all pretty self-explanatory and of course catchphrases from the show. Deciding what to include and what to cut had its challenges. I’d say it took me about eight months to do the first draft. Then I did a two-month round of proofreading and editing before taking on Herbie J. Pilato as my editor. Herbie, as you know, started it all in terms of books about the show with The Bewitched Book. The guidance he gave me was more about changing the tone of some of my observations, because in my soap columns I’m free to be snarky, but that wasn’t something that was necessary with this project. And from there, I spent another month or so changing and cutting and moving quotation marks and making sure commas were where they were supposed to be. I would call that the most challenging. The creative process is often glorious, but editing and proofreading can get very laborious and tedious before it becomes liberating.

Café:  You've come up with some fabulous lists, such as all 31 relatives of Tabitha that appear on Bewitched (to include cousins once removed such as Miranda). Which of your lists were the most fun to compile?

AMJ:  I wasn’t even going to do lists at first, but as I was going along there was such a treasure trove of biographical information and trivia, I had to include them. “Square Green Spots and Sick Headaches,” where I chronicle both mortal and witch diseases, was fun because it was fairly simple. But I think “By the Numbers” was fulfilling in addition to being fun. I really was curious to count up how many episodes Samantha *didn’t* use her powers, how many times Larry fired Darrin, how many times Endora called Darrin “Durwood,” and all that. I knew I was going to tackle that list early on, so I wrote its info in the corners of my episode notes to make the counting easier. I double- and triple-counted everything, so it’s accurate to the best of my mortal knowledge. (laughs) I found the character bios, which you mentioned, particularly fascinating as well. They were all taken from random information revealed during the show. I compile bios for characters on soapcentral.com, too, so that’s where I got the idea.

Café:  “Sisters at Heart” (#213) tops your list of the best Bewitched episodes. But what is your personal favorite and why?

A scene from "Sisters at Heart"

AMJ:  My best and worst lists are a pretty accurate reflection of my personal favorites. Of course, that’s not to say my pick for number one worst is a horrible episode; I just felt it didn’t fit the overall tone of the show. Conversely, “Sisters At Heart” (#213) does--it tackles racism and tolerance and acceptance, which was really the central message of Bewitched. Any time a show or a movie or a song can entertain, then educate without hitting me over the head, I’m all for it. Plus, I just can’t resist a Tabitha episode. Another really good episode is “Samantha’s Good News” (#168), which I suspect was intended to be that season’s finale because Samantha reveals she’s pregnant. What’s really cool about that episode is that there’s not a single mortal to be found in it! It’s the first and only time that happened. It was just a neat look into the witch world--which I think, in a lot of ways, is what intrigues fans most about the show.

Café:  Who was the better Darrin:  Dick York or Dick Sargent? You gotta pick one!

Dick York and Dick Sargent.

AMJ:  Ooh, I always get asked this! (laughs) It’s kind of a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t question because no matter which one I pick, the other fan base will be annoyed. To be honest, it’s not a particularly fair question, because Dick Sargent gets such a bum rap for replacing Dick York, when he was just doing his job as an actor, and Dick York had no choice but to give up the role because of his back injury (which he sustained making the 1959 film, They Came to Cordura). I guess given my own personal history, if I really have to pick one, I will say Dick Sargent, but only by a hair. Perhaps I sensed a kindred spirit in him at a young age, and he took over in 1969, which was the year I was born, so his Darrin’s world is more familiar to me. But that’s not to take anything away from Dick York. In fact, doing The Bewitched Continuum made me appreciate what he brought to the role even more. So maybe in the Battle of the Darrins, it would be Dick Sargent, 50.1%, Dick York, 49.9%.

Café:  You mention that many TV series today have "bibles" that serve as a reference document used for information on a series' characters, settings, and plot points. Do you have a tendency now to notice more continuity errors despite the writers' efforts to prevent them?

AMJ:  I think television dramas with continuing storylines always had those bibles; it’s just that they weren’t really necessary for sitcoms when Bewitched was on the air. It’s pretty obvious that today’s sitcoms use them: look at Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. Their episodes are self-contained, but they constantly refer to other episodes and bring back recurring characters and other elements. There’s definitely a forward motion and a sense of things being tied together. Actually, I started noticing continuity errors long before now. My book was largely inspired by Phil Farrand’s The Nitpicker’s Guide for Next Generation Trekkers, which started me on continuity in the first place. And then doing script coverage for Hollywood studios heightened my awareness of continuity, as has dissecting The Bold and the Beautiful in my columns. I’m terrible to go to the movies or watch TV with! I’m always like, “Wait a minute…” (laughs) Though I do realize shows and films have deadlines and scenes get cut, so inevitably things are going to slip through the cracks.

Café:  What do you think about NBC's announcement to produce a Bewitched pilot about Samantha's granddaughter Daphne?

AMJ:  I’d heard about potential reboots for years, where a new Samantha and Darrin would be cast, and I just cringed, because reboots tend to be awful as a general rule. With Bewitched, I always thought a continuation would be better, so I find it encouraging that that’s the direction this pilot is going. The big thing is, they have to bring Bewitched into the 21st century while being true to its roots. That’s why the Tabitha spinoff failed in the ‘70s--that show just threw out the rules set by Bewitched and did its own thing. This continuation will have to find that balance. If they need someone who knows a thing or two about the original series’ continuity, I’m available. (laughs)

Café:  Do you have any plans for future TV- or film-related books?

AMJ:  Well, I’m not thinking too far ahead at the moment, because now that The Bewitched Continuum is out, I have to focus on doing PR for it, which is pretty well a full-time job by itself. Some people say this book is only for hardcore fans, but I hope that new fans will use it as well, to get to know Bewitched better. I only know a few other shows as intimately anyway--Dynasty and V in particular--so writing about another one would be on-the-job training. Besides, I do want to get The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery back on the stage, and there’s more acting and music and videos I want to do. But you never know. I never planned to write The Bewitched Continuum until about two years ago. I think projects pick us, not the other way around. If a similar project picks me, I will be ready for it!

The Bewitched Continuum is available from Amazon and other booksellers.

Brannigan--The Duke in London

My wife and I have remarkably similar tastes in films and television. That will happen when two television production majors spend 33 years watching movies and TV series together. However, our tastes in cinema still show the influence of our pre-marriage years. Hence, I found myself recenly watching Brannigan alone. My sweetheart's lack of interest in viewing John Wayne's 1975 cop picture is based solely on the fact that it's not very good. My desire to see it was driven by nostalgia and curiosity as much as anything. I think the last time I saw it was at the movie theatre during its original release.

The plot follows police Lieutenant Jim Brannigan's pursuit of a Chicago mobster named Larkin (John Vernon). When Brannigan (John Wayne) learns that Scotland Yard has arrested Larkin, he heads to London to bring the gangster back to the States. Unfortunately, the Brits allow Larkin to be kidnapped and held for ransom. Meanwhile, a professional hitman, hired by Larkin for $25,000, has set his sights on eliminating pesky Brannigan.

An uncomfortable Richard Attenborough
in a supporting role.

Brannigan was John Wayne's second contemporary urban crime picture of the 1970s. The first, McQ, had been a modest boxoffice hit in 1974. Both films took aim at replicating the success of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies and its clones such as Charles Bronson's The Stone Killer. Like Harry Callahan, Brannigan carries a big gun, tosses off wisecracks, and challenges authority figures. Even the opening credits sequence of Brannigan, which features Jim's .38 caliber Colt Diamondback prominently, borrows liberally from Magnum Force.

Alas, from the outset, Brannigan has several factors working against it. At age 68, Wayne still convinces us he's a tough guy, but he lacks the rough edges that Eastwood and Bronson brought to their urban "heroes." The script doesn't help him either. The film's big twist is blatantly obvious from the beginning. It's also the kind of movie where the professional killer tries to run down Brannigan in a car instead of just shooting him and collecting a paycheck. 

Judy Geeson.

Furthermore, the whole "fish out of water" angle--a tough Chicago cop paired with those well-mannered British detectives--just doesn't work as executed by the cast. Richard Attenborough looks downright uncomfortable as Brannigan's Scotland Yard superior, playing the part with one of those "what am I doing doing here?" expressions. Judy Geeson, who sparkled in To Sir With Love, has little do as Brannigan's temporary partner. Her scenes are pretty much limited to admiring Brannigan (in  a fatherly way) and waiting to be rescued when the hitman finally makes his move.

Yet, despite its many flaws, I think Brannigan had the potential to be a mindless, entertaining urban thriller. One would just have to beef up the plot, recast Eastwood in the lead and Tyne Daly as his partner, and get Don Siegel to direct it. It'd probably need a different title, too--something like Dirty Harry Goes to London.

DVD Spotlight: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

The most visually impressive of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation TV series comes to video on February 10th when Timeless Media Group releases a boxed set containing all 32 episodes of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Originally broadcast in Great Britain in 1967-68, Captain Scarlet is also dramatically different from predecessors such as Stingray and Thunderbirds. The Andersons' earlier efforts were action-oriented children's shows, peppered with some semi-dramatic elements for parents who watched with their kids (e.g., the love triangle in Stingray). In contrast, world leaders are assassinated in Captain Scarlet and even the hero is killed--multiples times (click here to view our unofficial trailer).

Captain Black reminds me of George
Lazenby as 007.

The first episode establishes the premise when a security force from Earth destroys what it believes is a dangerous alien base on Mars. However, the mysterious Mysterons reveal that the base was harmless. In retaliation for this unprovoked aggression, the Mysterons launch a prolonged "attack of nerves" on Earth. The aliens possess the power to reverse matter; they can recreate an object that has been destroyed or a life form that has been killed. The "new" entity is under control of the Mysterons. They use this power to transform people into their agents and killers. Thus, Captain Black--who destroyed their Martian base--becomes one of the Mysteron operatives.

Captain Scarlet and the World President.

So does Captain Scarlet, a member of the world security organization Spectrum. During an assassination attempt on the World President, Scarlet falls 800 feet to his death from the top of an elevated car park. However, inexplicably, Scarlet recovers from his fatal injuries and becomes "indestructible." No longer under control of the Mysterons, he becomes Spectrum's "greatest asset" in its fight against the Mysterons.

Destiny Angel was modeled after Ursula Andress.

As with many of their shows, the Andersons created a richly-detailed futuristic world for Captain Scarlet. Spectrum operates from a huge, airborne craft called Cloudbase, which serves as its control center and launching pad for the "interceptor jets." It has its own acronyms, such as S.I.G., which stands for "Spectrum is green" and means an acknowledgement like "roger" or "10-4." Spectrum's operatives are known by colorful codenames names like Colonel White, Captain Blue, and Lieutenant Green (a color spectrum, get it?). The fighter pilots are all female and known collectively as the Angels. Destiny Angel is their leader and the other pilots are Harmony, Symphony, Melody, and Rhapsody. Of note, Harmony (Japanese), Melody and Lieutenant Green (both African American) were among the first ethnic regular characters in mainstream British television.

From a technological perspective, Captain Scarlet is more visually realistic than its predecessors. In shows like Stingray and Thunderbirds, the puppets had disproportionately large heads because that was the location of the solenoid motors used to sync the voice track and the puppets’ mouths (see Stingray). For Captain Scarlet, the motors were moved to the puppets’ chests. In addition to overhead puppeteers, a floor puppeteer was added for some scenes to make movements look more natural.

An Interceptor jet.

Ironically, despite the emphasis on realism, the characters in Captain Scarlet seem more wooden than in earlier shows. Part of that can be attributed to the darker nature of the series. As mentioned before, Captain Scarlet “dies” on a regular basis and other characters are shot, perish in explosions, etc. In a fast-paced, half-hour show, it just wouldn't work to go from a deadly assassination to a funny scene with Oink the Seal Pup (one of my favorite “characters” from Stingray). Still, it's a less charming series than the previous ones, even though there's no denying that the miniature sets are incredible and there's nary a dull second in any episode.

Captain Blue, voiced by Ed Bishop.

The voice cast features two notable performers: Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop. Matthews was a member of the Hammer Films "repertory," appearing in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1964), and Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966). He provides Captain Scarlet's voice, doing a pretty good imitation of Cary Grant. The voice for Scarlet's sidekick, Captain Blue, belongs to Canadian actor Ed Bishop. He would later find fame as Commander Straker, the head of S.H.A.D.O. in UFO (1970-71), the best of Gerry Anderson's live-action TV series.

Timeless Media's DVD boxed set includes sharp, bright transfers of the original episodes. There are plenty of bonuses, to include: interviews with director Alan Perry, puppeteer Mary Turner, and writer Shane Rimmer; audio commentary from Gerry Anderson on two episodes; and an excerpt from an Anderson interview.

A scene from New Captain Scarlet.

Although Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ran for just one season, it continued to attract new fans thanks to syndicated repeats. As a result, in 2005, Anderson launched a computer animated series called Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. It was essentially a reboot of the original and lasted for two seasons of 13 episodes each.

So, are you ready to watch Captain Scarlet and the rest of Spectrum battle the Mysterons? I say: "S.I.G.!"


Timeless Media Group provided a review copy of this DVD set.

The Five Toughest Tough Guys of the 1970s

1. Clint Eastwood - He had already appeared as a grimacing, wisecracking detective in 1968's urban action pic Coogan's Bluff. But the 1970s established Eastwood as the decade's definitive tough guy with the first three Dirty Harry films and The Gauntlet (my personal favorite). It helps, of course, when your most famous role comes with a classic quote, as when Harry Callahan quips in Dirty Harry: "I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking: "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Bronson in Death Wish.

2. Charles Bronson - He didn't play a prototypical tough guy in his best-known film of the decade, 1974's Death Wish. It featured Bronson as a "normal guy" transformed into a vigilante killer by family tragedy. Still, he starred as more conventional tough guys in The Stone Killer, St. Ives,  Mr. Majestyk, and The Mechanic. Indeed, he may have been the decade's busiest tough guy. His best quote is actually delivered as a voiceover when Jan-Michael Vincent finds this note in his car at the end of The Mechanic: "Steve, if you read this, it means I didn't make it back. It also means you've broken a filament controlling a 13-second delay trigger. End of game. Bang! You're dead."

Wayne with a big gun in McQ.

3. John Wayne - The Duke only starred in two urban action films in the 1970s: McQ and Brannigan (which send Wayne to contemporary London to retrieve an American mobster). Neither film was stellar, but it was fun to watch the 68-year-old Duke dealing with urban scum. Plus, Brannigan features the great scene when Wayne kicks in a door and quips dryly: "Knock, knock."

Roundtree as John Shaft.

4. Richard Roundtree - While other African American tough guys also made an impact (e.g., Fred Williamson, Jim Brown), none could match Roundtree as the super cool John Shaft. Roundtree played the macho private eye in three films and a watered-down CBS TV series. The best of the bunch was the second film, Shaft's Big Score. Of course, Roundtree's character had something his contemporaries lacked: Isaacs Hayes' hip, Oscar-winning song. It memorably asked: "Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about?" (The answer is Shaft...can you dig it?)

Burt Reynolds and his trademark
1970s moustache in Shamus.

5. Burt Reynolds - His propensity for lighthearted roles eventually diluted his tough guy image. Yet, for the first half of the 1970s, he played a steady stream of likable, but still macho, types in movies like Deliverance, Shamus, White Lightning, and Hustle. Best tough guy quote (from White Lightning): "Only two things I'm scared of. Women and the police."

Honorable Mention: Roy Scheider (The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, Marathon Man).

Seven Things to Know About Glenda Jackson

1. After a stellar career in film, television, and the stage, Glenda Jackson retired from acting in 1992 and ran for a seat in the British Parliament as a Labor Party candidate. She won the election and is still serving as a Member of Parliament. Click here to visit her official website for constituents.

2. She played Queen Elizabeth in a TV series and a theatrical motion picture in the same year. In 1971, she won an Emmy for her performance in the title role of the critically-acclaimed BBC miniseries Elizabeth R. Later that year, she portrayed Elizabeth again opposite Vanessa Redgrave in Mary, Queen of Scots.

3. Actually, 1971 was a pretty impressive year for Glenda Jackson. She also won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Ken Russell's adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love. Ms. Jackson won a second Oscar in 1974 for the romantic comedy A Touch of Class. She also received two Best Actress nominations, for Sunday Bloody Sunday in 1972 and Hedda in 1976.

4. In 1989's The Rainbow, Glenda Jackson played the mother of the character she portrayed in Women in Love. Like the latter film, The Rainbow was an adaptation of a D.H. Lawrence novel by filmmaker Ken Russell.

5. She has portrayed numerous famous people in addition to Queen Elizabeth, to include: actress Sarah Bernhardt in The Incredible Sarah (1976); English poet and novelist Stevie Smith in Stevie (1978); and film actress Patricia Neal for the made-for-TV biography The Patricia Neal Story (1981).


6. Glenda Jackson was nominated for four Tony Awards for her stage performances, once in 1966 and three times in the 1980s. However, she never won! One of those nominations was for Lady Macbeth in a 1988 Broadway production starring Christopher Plummer in the title role.

7. Her only marriage was to theatre director Roy Hodges and it lasted from 1958 to 1976. Her only child, Dan Hodges, is a former Labor Party official and currently a political columnist for The Telegraph.

This post of part of the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon. This week, Kellee from Outspoken and Freckled hosts a tribute the The Actors. Click here to view the full schedule of posts.