Thu 5 Apr 2012
A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: HONG KONG (1960-61).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[24] Comments
HONG KONG. ABC / 20th Century Fox. 1960-61, 26 episodes at 60 minutes each. Cast: Rod Taylor as Glenn Evans, Lloyd Bochner as Chief Inspector Neil Campbell, Gerald Jann as Ling. Created by Robert Buckner. Executive Producer: William Self.
The series currently is not available on DVD. I have viewed six episodes of the series. More are available in the collector-to-collector market.
Hong Kong is another unjustly forgotten treasure from television’s past. The series, with its black and white film and quality talent behind the camera, created an atmosphere reminiscent of film noir.
Among the writers were Jonathan Latimer (novel: Headed for a Hearse; film: The Glass Key, 1942; TV’s Perry Mason) and Sam Ross (Naked City). Herbert Hirschman (Perry Mason) produced many of the episodes.
But it is the list of directors that is truly impressive, Walter Doniger (Bat Masterson), Paul Henreid (Alfred Hitchcock Presents), Ida Lupino (Have Gun Will Travel; The Hitch-Hiker, 1953), Fletcher Markle (Jigsaw, 1949), and Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke, 1967).
The cast performed well, with Rod Taylor (Time Machine, 1960) starring in his first TV series as Glenn Davis, hardboiled reporter and ladies man. Lloyd Bochner (Twilight Zone) was perfect in his breakout role as the very British Neil Campbell.
A hidden treasure, all by itself, was the movie quality soundtrack done by future Oscar winner Lionel Newman. Take a listen.
Sadly, ABC was determined to waste the quality series on a suicide mission against NBC’s ratings hit Wagon Train. The Indians had a better chance. However, ABC, 20th Century Fox and powerful sponsor Kaiser Industries (who also sponsored Maverick) strongly supported this series.
In Broadcasting (4/11/60) ABC President Treyz claimed Hong Kong was the “most expensive weekly one-hour series in the history of ABC, and I believe, in the history of the television medium.â€
Hong Kong was about the adventures of World Wide News’ foreign correspondent, Glenn Davis. Glenn drove a great car, a white convertible. He was a close friend of British Chief Inspector Neil Campbell. In early episodes Glenn hung out at Tully’s, a restaurant run by Tully, a shady character with helpful contacts (Jack Kruschen).
The ratings for the series were disappointing from the very beginning. Hong Kong‘s premiere episode (9/28/60) finished third in its time slot to NBC’S Wagon Train and CBS’ second place Aquanauts (later called Malibu Run). (Broadcasting, 10/3/60)
Despite rumors Hong Kong was to be cancelled at mid-season, sponsor Kaiser Industries continued to support the series after some changes were made by the 20th Century Fox’s new Vice President in charge of TV Production, Roy Huggins (Maverick). (Broadcasting, 12/12/60)
Glenn found a new place to hangout. Tully’s was replaced by the Golden Dagger, a supper club run by Ching Mei (Mai Tai Sing). The Golden Dagger featured popular singers (including Julie London, Anne Francis) for the occasional love interest of the week and added more music to the series.
What didn’t change were the fistfights, mysteries, and romance to appeal to all types of viewers, but who continued to watch Wagon Train.
ABC tried Hong Kong at 10pm (preempting Naked City) on January 25, 1961. The ratings were a success with a 42.1 share but lower than Naked City‘s usual 43 share. And the episodes at 7:30pm continued to fail in the ratings against the competition. (Broadcasting 1/30/61)
Thousands protested when the series was cancelled. Hong Kong was a success in syndication. There is a fan site for Rod Taylor that has some more about the series and its cancellation.
For those not wanting to bother with the link, the website’s highlight is a copy of a January 1962 gossipy styled article from newspaper syndicate NEA. It claimed the studio cancelled the series when “a big talent agency†that had brought the series to Fox raised their fees beyond what Fox was willing to pay. The “sponsor†was upset so Fox offered Rod Taylor a role in Follow the Sun. Taylor by then was in Italy shooting a movie for MGM.
The article also mentions the plans for a sequel called Dateline: San Francisco. In the pilot, Glenn Davis relocates from Hong Kong to San Francisco. To get Rod Taylor to agree to star, the NEA article claimed, 20th Century Fox gave Taylor a contract for three theatrical films.
The website also states that the archives of the University of Iowa Libraries has a copy “of the story for the pilot,†entitled “The Castle†that was written by Robert Blees and Dorothy Robinson (Hong Kong episode “With Deadly Sorrowâ€).
In Broadcasting (2/19/62), Dateline: San Francisco was listed as a pilot for 20th Century Fox to be produced by Jules Bricken (Riverboat) and written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (Mannix). Filming began February 12, 1962.
April 5th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
I never even HEARD about this series. It was, to my ken, never shown over here.
Well, maybe someone will make it available on DVD in the future.
The Doc
April 5th, 2012 at 7:22 pm
I remember watching it as a kid, remember Rod Taylor and Lloyd Bochner as the stars, but not the foggiest memory of plots or other details. It might have a better chance now, if someone put enough money into location filming and cast an Asian actor as star or sidekick, maybe Donnie Yen. Nowadays, I expect a Western would be at a ratings disadvantage: what a change in 50 years.
I also remember THE AQUANAUTS with Keith Larson and Jeremy Slate, and also its second iteration, MALIBU RUN, with Slate in the same role and Larson replaced with Ron Ely.
April 5th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Yep, I remember this well, and would RUN to pick up the DVD, when it comes out.
RJR
April 5th, 2012 at 10:54 pm
It is hard to explain to people who did not live in the era how different TV was. I lived in a small Kansas town with two TV stations, one was CBS, the other shared its schedule with ABC and NBC. So the chance my area station even showed HONG KONG as opposed to WAGON TRAIN was unlikely.
Clearances and promotions were an important part of a series being shown to enough people to even have a chance at decent ratings. BROADCASTING magazine mentioned a couple of local stations promotions. WTVH Peoria ILL gave clients or ad men rides from their business to a local Chinese restaurant in an “authentic oriental rickshaw” complete with man in costume pulling the rickshaw. WABC New York cute local weather girl Simon McQueen dressed up in an oriental costume to promote HONG KONG (as well as a flapper for ROARING TWENTIES). A fan wrote in with a request for the same promotion for the series NAKED CITY.
The series was in syndication world wide and as late as 1977.
Don’t necessarily buy Wikipedia’s claim the series was based on the film SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (1955), but I have not seen the pilot. It is not unusual for a TV series to have been “inspired” by a movie then follow its own way.
HONG KONG had 26 episodes, enough for a DVD, but that would be up to the studio Fox.
I saw one episode with the Tully character and preferred the Golden Dagger episodes that had a better feel for Hong Kong. It was also funny how big the credit for Roy Huggins was in those Golden Dagger episodes.
April 6th, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Faily easy to make a aguess re Soldier of Fortune. Does Ernest Gann get a credit on Hong Kong. And, was the studio Fox. The studio was Fox, don’t know the other.
An aside: I remember the show. Not bad, but Clark Gable and Michael Rennie, far more compelling.
April 6th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
There is no credit for Ernest Gann in the episodes I saw. But TV often borrows without admitting to it so not to have to pay the writer.
Yes, both were done by the same studio but not necessarily the same executives. One was 20th Century Fox theatrical division, the other 20th Century Fox television.
Barry, what you bring up are just two of the reasons I doubt the series was based on the movie.
Wikipedia seems to be the primary source of the idea. It is not the first time many have accepted a Wikipedia claim that was wrong.
April 6th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Michael:
Sure enough about Wikipedia. Fox and Ernest Gann, not so sure about. He was really in the loop on these things, not at all an outsider. Fox television and film divisions still the same corporate set up. The legal departments would be cross pollinated.
April 9th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I’ve never seen this show and unfortunately the Paley Center doesn’t have any episodes in its archives. I did find some interesting research material. Variety reviewed the show several times and was never a fan; one characteristic review compared it to “warmed over Charlie Chan — thin, predictable tales of the sinister Orient padded mercilessly to fill an hour and totally devoid of the atmosphere of the pretended locale.” I guess if you are going to call a show Hong Kong it might be a good idea to film there. TV Guide ran an article about the show — really about Rod Taylor — in its April 29, 1961 edition, calling Taylor “perhaps the most expensive star per thousand viewers in the history of television.” Not only did he own 15% of the show, but he was collecting $3,750 per episode, which apparently was a lot for the time, for a total salary of $97,500 for the season, plus his ownership stake. The article says Taylor’s temper outbursts on the set were “notorious, brief, loud, unprintable, frequent, and quickly forgotten.” The show was originally supposed to be just half an hour, but Kaiser wanted a 60-minute show to compete with Wagon Train. The ratings were, as already established, abysmal (“depressing,” per TV Guide). Taylor claims he turned down 19 series offers before taking Hong Kong, and Huggins confirms that he offered him the Jack Kelly role in Maverick.
April 9th, 2012 at 11:15 am
“Broadcasting” magazine June 13, 1960 issue reported that due to the writer strike at the time a group of actors, directors, cameramen, and others traveled to Hong Kong without any scripts to shoot exterior footage to be added in the not yet written episodes as needed.
“Variety” was right in that there is not a great feel for the city Hong Kong, but I didn’t care. It works better today without the 1960’s American view of Hong Kong. It was embarrassing enough to see the Asians obey the British as if that was their role in life. But it was the visual style of the directors and soundtrack that impressed me the most.
I need to see the pilot episode. I saw one episode (“The Turncoat” – 11/23/60) with the character Tully and was not all that impressed. It was the episodes in the post-Roy Huggins changes that I enjoyed. The setting of the supper club Golden Dagger with the club singer may not have been an original idea (PETER GUNN, T.H.E. CAT, etc) but it worked well.
The Golden Dagger episodes I watched were “The Dragon Cup” (12/14/60), “Suitable For Framing” (1/4/61), “With Deadly Sorrow” (2/22/61), “Murder By Proxy” (3/1/61) and “The Innocent Exile” (3/22/61).
“With Deadly Sorrow” was an episode where Lloyd Bochner character got the girl and Rod Taylor was in only a few short scenes. This could have been do to the production falling behind schedule or a problem with Taylor.
I doubt the sequel DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO, a sixty minute pilot, has every been shown. It would make a great extra on a DVD.
The Roy Huggins credit I mentioned in the review was full screen just after the 20th Century Fox Television logo and before the cast including star Rod Taylor. I bet he and his agent loved that.
April 9th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
I might have missed something, but I couldn’t find Dateline: San Francisco in Lee Goldberg’s book on Unsold Pilots; nor could I find a review of it in Variety. Are you sure it was actually filmed?
April 9th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
#10. David, check out page 112 in “Broadcasting” February 19, 1962.
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1962/1962-02-19-BC.pdf
It does not mention the pilot is a sequel to HONG KONG, but Rod Taylor plays a newspaper reporter in it. And the NEA article ties it to HONG KONG’s Glenn Davis. Both reported it was filming.
As you know, this was before the TV-Movie pilots started in 1969. My impression of that era were few unsold pilots were ever shown.
April 15th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
DownunderDVD offers 12 episodes of Hong Kong on 3 DVDs for $35Aust/US or 22 pounds. Price includes Express Airmail. I have not seen them but I have seen his Thin Man series and quality seems excellent. He also offers a lot more stuff which I suspect is not available anywhere else
October 29th, 2012 at 10:40 pm
#9 update:
You Tube currently (10/29/12) has all the episodes of the series available to watch. The pilot is awful with a serious spy story and a bad comedy relief story about a farm boy sailor captured by the “Reds” while he was chasing an escaped pig. The early shows are not very good, too heavy headed with the Cold War stuff and a lack of on location shooting fails to establish the locale. The older shows are good, still with some Cold War spy stuff, but with some on location shooting, and more music and atmosphere.
Both the first episode and last episode were written by Robert Buckner who created the series. Watching them is a great lesson how a series can develop and improve with time.
Hong Kong S01 E01 (1961) – Clear For Action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTVk51p0B6A
Hong Kong S01 E26 (1961) – The Runaway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?=Dkj9QlyQsKk
Looking back the series is no lost treasure but the series was a well produced entertaining show with the Golden Dagger episodes really worth watching. This is something that should be made available on DVD, even if only as a Made on Demand. But it is a shame Fox has not joined Warners in taking advantage of the MOD DVD business.
December 12th, 2012 at 10:29 am
I loved this series. Probably partly responsible for my having lived in Hong Kong for 17 years. A fascinating city, to say the least. Rod Taylor and the other actors did a great job. I love to watch the series now to catch a glimpse of the Hong Kong I would come to know.
December 12th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
#14. This used to be a rare series to find in the collectors market. But with all the episodes currently available to watch on YouTube, I suspect Collectors will be selling the full season soon.
I am sure all involved with the series would be pleased to read that they captured the look of the city.
May 16th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Absolutely adored this television series in the 60’s but the crime jazz was “Untouchable”! Please someone help me find the album. I had one many years ago and wore it out playing it for all my friends.I would damn near die for a cd, but then I couldn’t listen to it, could I? Oh I am for certain God has this one in his collection!
October 11th, 2013 at 5:46 pm
I was too young to watch Hong Kong when it screened but have caught up now thanks to You-Tube. Lot of good comments here. I can only add that the car Glenn drove is a 1962 Sunbeam Alpine Series II. A beautiful car which also happened to be James Bond’s first car in Dr No (albeit blue, not white). Lovers of Hong Kong may be interested in the new 2013 TV series Serangoon Road. It is an Australian Broadcast Corporation/HBO Asia co-production starring Don Hany and Joan Chen, among others, and is set in early 1960s Singapore. It follows a jack of all trades (Hany) who helps a widow (Chen) run her dead husband’s detective agency and Chen’s quest to find her husband’s killer. Like people have commented, “they took the suggestion” and included lots of top Indonesian and Singaporean actors in the series. It’s a fantastic drama series and certainly mirrors Hong Kong. I wonder if the 1960s series was in any way a stimulus to this series?
November 15th, 2014 at 7:33 pm
Myself, (Bob Brooks aka Bob Hirte – Tenor Sax), (Gary Shortall – Guitar) and (Ed Quinn – Drummer) All appeared in the Hong Kong Series Pilot.
We were performing on a Chinese Junk during the filming. All three of us had to jump into the LA Harbor and swim for shore. None of us were in the series but we all had a good time that day and each of us had long musical careers.
If anyone has a copy of that film I’d love to have one. bobbrookslasvegas@gmail.com
November 15th, 2014 at 8:03 pm
Bob
If you Google the phrase “Hong Kong Rod Taylor DVD” you will find several dealers offering 18 or 20 of the series’ episodes., including (I think) the pilot, which may never have aired. I can’t vouch for any of these dealers, but they don’t seem to be asking a lot of money.
November 15th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
PS. Thanks for sharing your memories!
March 27th, 2015 at 7:57 pm
Yes, i saw when i was ten in 1960 here in Montevideo Uruguay.
December 14th, 2016 at 12:12 am
The whole series -26 pisodes plus pilot-is avai;lable in great quality on YpuTube.
December 14th, 2016 at 2:46 am
It does tend to pop up on You tube every so often until someone notices and it gets removed. And boy that 30 minute pilot is so bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA1rTJL0wqk
It really is a good example how better drama series are at sixty minutes long episodes vs the half hour version.
October 26th, 2020 at 10:08 pm
Just watched an episode (S1-Ep14) of this series which, surprisingly, I had never heard of. It was OK even though it was pretty much a copy of the plot from the movie The Dark Corner (both, of course, being based on the same story).