Fri 4 Jun 2010
A TV Review by Mike Tooney: KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE “Four into Zero.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[6] Comments
“Four into Zero.” An episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre (Season 2, Episode 15). First air date: 18 February 1965. Jack Kelly (as Charles Glenn), Robert Conrad (Gary Kemp), Joe Mantell (Frankie Shields), Jesse White (Emil Glueck), Martha Hyer (Caroline Glenn), Sue Randall (Jane Crane), Ronnie Dapo (the boy), Hollis Irving (the mother), Murray Alper (the conductor). Teleplay: Don Brinkley. Story: Milt Rosen. Director: Don Weis.
When most of us talk about “making money,” we usually mean collecting a paycheck from an employer. Four men, however, are planning to make money — quite literally..
The four are: Emil Glueck, an expert printer; Frankie Shields, an ex-acrobat with a drinking problem; Gary Kemp, a handsome playboy who knows how to wheedle information from young women; and Charles Glenn, who doesn’t really need to steal since he’s married to an incredibly wealthy woman, Caroline. Glenn chafes at the situation, however, and feels he has something to prove by masterminding this caper.
To get the inside information he needs, Glenn has assigned Kemp to date Jane Crane, who works in a large bank in Chicago. From Kemp, Glenn learns that the currency printing plates for a South American country have recently been crafted and are due to be shipped to that banana republic on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles.
The plan is simple: Get aboard the train, “borrow” the plates and run off a million dollars’ worth, return the plates as if nothing had happened, and convert the money to American long green at prevailing exchange rates. Piece of cake.
However, while a plan might be simple in conception, it isn’t always easy in execution. The unexpected sometimes occurs, and that’s when one’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances is called for.
Among the unanticipated developments: the presence on the train of a railroad inspector on holiday; that nosy little boy who manages to catch sight of Shields when he’s doing his acrobatic thing; Jane’s determination to find out why Kemp, her fiance, has apparently abandoned her and gone missing; the loose nails that roll out of sight; and that falling whiskey crate.
The question is: Can this collection of oddballs pull off this caper, or will they soon be cooling their heels in federal prison ….?
Despite the stated desperation of some of the characters, as viewers we never really feel it. Nevertheless, the caper itself is fascinating to watch, and the ending is surprisingly upbeat.
Jack Kelly (1927-92) previously appeared in “The Name of the Game” (reviewed here). Martha Hyer (b. 1924) was in “Crimson Witness” (reviewed here). Robert Conrad (b. 1929) is best remembered for The Wild, Wild West (1965-69), but he had a P.I. series, Hawaiian Eye (1959-63), a short-lived spy series, A Man Called Sloane (1979), and gave Lt. Columbo a hard time in “An Exercise in Fatality” (1974).
Joe Mantell (b. 1920) is a versatile actor; he can do comedy or drama, and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Marty (1955). Jesse White (1917-97) almost always played it for laughs, but you could find him acting seriously on occasion (e.g., Witness to Murder, 1954); still, he has an unforgettable moment in Harvey (1950) when he’s reading the definition of a “pookah.”
June 4th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
This is one I recall quite well, which is surprising since I last saw it sometime in the mid eighties.
Conrad also played D.A. Paul Ryan in three made for television films and did another spy series, ASSIGNMENT VIENNA as well as a good pilot film THE ADVENTURES OF NICK CARTER based on the original character and not the paperback Kilmaster series.
After MAVERICK Kelly was a regular on GET CHRISTIE LOVE and in seven episodes of THE HARDY BOYS as Harry Hammond.
Hyer’s most interesting film may have been DIE HERREN DER WELT (MISTRESS OF THE WORLD) a German film directed by William Dieterle and released in two parts originally, a sort of technicolor serial with Carlos Thompson, Lino Ventura, and Michele Presley in an international chase involving Hyer’s father’s secret invention. It’s available on the gray market as a single film in English and worth watching as an attractive oddity. She also guested five times on BURKE’S LAW — which may be a record.
June 5th, 2010 at 2:06 am
David
You’re right about Jack Kelly being one of the continuing characters in GET CHRISTIE LOVE. I’d never remembered him in that series in a hundred years, even though I watched it every week.
But all I’ve seen since then is the pilot film, which is available on DVD *very* cheaply. Some of the series episodes may be available on the gray market, but while I’ve been meaning to, I haven’t yet.
Some good news about that Martha Hyer film, MISTRESS OF THE WORLD, is that I’ve seen it for sale on the Movies Unlimited website. Never thought much about it — as I recall, it comes up when you’re looking for schlocky sci-fi movies like THE BLOB — or you can search for it directly.
In fact, I think I’ll go take another look myself.
June 5th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Can’t say MISTRESS OF THE WORLD is exactly a good film, but the mix of old fashioned serial elements, a little sci fi — if not science fiction, nice location work, international stars, a touch of docu noir style, a bit of pre Bond Bondian stuff, a super villain, and the conclusion in a jungle temple, adds up to an interesting film.
Hyer is the daughter of a more or less mad scientist and Carlos Thompson and Lino Ventura the international agents assigned to help her track down his invention and prevent the bad guys from using it.
Though the plot is nothing like Fritz Lang’s dyptrich THE INDIAN TOMB and THE TIGER OF ESCHANAPUR, it resembles them in the attempt to do an old fashioned serial in color with an international cast.
Not surprising as both Dieterle and Lang were German directors who came out of the German Expressionist and serial tradition, went to the states, and returned to Germany late in their careers, more or less to their roots. Both the Dieterle and Lang films were made in the period from 1958 to 1960, around the time the Germans were also making the Karl May Winnetou films that helped create the spaghetti western and the Edgar Wallace and Dr. Mabuse films.
Like the Lang film the production values aren’t bad and the faces well above the quality you might expect, and the pulp and serial aspects make for an interesting film.
June 6th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
The plot of this episode brings to mind a very funny movie called WHO’S MINDING THE MINT?. That had Jim hutton as an employee of the place where they print up U. S. Currency accidentally destroying a sheet of money. So he plans to sneak in and print up a replacement sheet but a cast of very funny fellows who help him want him to print up a few extra sheets for themselves. Cast includes Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Bob Denver, Walter Brennen,Victor Buono, and Jamie Farr. Directed by Howard Morris.
June 7th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I saw this episode on MEtoo … yesterday.
I hadn’t seen it before and didn’t know what to expect. Imagine my surprise to watch a serious caper turn, slowly but surely, into a comedy! For that, credit is due to the writer, Don Brinkley (Christie’s dad, in case you didn’t know).
It was also nice to see one of my first boyhood TV-crushes, Sue Randall (aka Beaver Cleaver’s teacher, Miss Landers). This may have been one of her last acting appearances before an auto accident put an early end to her career.
If you ever get a chance to see WHO’S MINDING THE MINT?, you might note a similar plot point shared by the two: both capers have to moved up a day earlier than planned, thus setting off multiple complications. Other than that, completely different stories, each entertaining in its own way.
October 5th, 2010 at 8:22 am
Sue Randall died at age 49 of lung cancer, not in an auto accident.