Sun 25 Mar 2012
A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: BLUE LIGHT (1966).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV Drama[33] Comments
BLUE LIGHT. ABC, 1966. Rogo Production in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Cast: Robert Goulet as David March. Christine Carère as Suzanne Duchard. Created by Walter Grauman and Larry Cohen. Executive Producer: Walter Grauman. Executive Script Consultant: Larry Cohen. Producer: Buck Houghton. Theme: Lalo Schifrin. Music Supervision: Lionel Newman.
Blue Light is a forgotten TV spy series that, while not the equal, is worthy of mention with other TV spy series such as I Spy and Mission: Impossible.
Before the Nazis began their advance across Europe, America put eighteen sleeper agents inside Germany. One was American journalist David March. Only the few American government officials behind the Blue Light organization knew the truth, while the rest of the world believed March had betrayed his country and all he loved to join the Nazi war effort. In one episode March learned the woman he loved had committed suicide because of his support of the Nazi cause.
Occasionally the Nazis used March as a spy, but his usual role was writing and broadcasting propaganda. His underground contact was Suzanne, who fell in love with March as she posed as French Gestapo agent who hated him.
Considering the creative talent behind Blue Light, it is not a surprise the series was a gritty WWII spy drama with nourish touches. Larry Cohen is best known for his genre films such as Black Caesar, It’s Alive, and Maniac Cop. He also created the TV series Branded, Coronet Blue and The Invaders.
Walter Grauman is one of television’s iconic directors (Untouchables to Murder, She Wrote). He also won the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service as a fighter pilot in WWII Europe. There is an excellent interview of Walter Grauman by Stephen Bowie at the Archive of American Television. (Follow the link.)
The series did not pull any punches. Episodes featured dramatic examinations of moral issues as well as surprising twists and great action. March did not just knock out the guard as most TV good guys would. Instead, March did not hesitate to kill the guard with a knife in the back.
There were few easy solutions to the many choices March was forced to make. In one episode he was forced to choose between some citizens who had escaped a Nazi labor camp or getting a top secret Nazi weapon to the Allies in England.
Known more as a singer, Robert Goulet was surprisingly believable as David March, double agent. On the other hand co-star Christine Carère proved to be a liability to the series and weaken the possible romantic subplot. The guest stars included some of the best TV characters actors of the 60s, especially European actors on their way to America. (See the episode index below.)
The production was shot overseas at Bavarian Studios in Munich, Germany. According to an interview of Robert Goulart in Stars & Stripes (2/16/66), Blue Light was the first American TV series filmed in color in Europe.
The music soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin and others (including Pete Rugalo, Mullendore and David Gruson) was a special delight. Listen to episodes such as “Sacrifice!†and “Agent of the East†and you can hear occasional hints of Schifrin’s future work in Mannix and Mission: Impossible.
Blue Light had the potential to be something special, but it was limited by its half hour format. While the short time kept the action moving, it eliminated the opportunity to further develop the characters. The villains were often underdeveloped and weakened by the speed March outsmarted them.
It is best to watch the episodes in order. The first four episodes told the story of David March’s mission to destroy a top secret Nazi weapon base in Grossmuchen, Germany. “Return of Elm†and “The Secret War†are based on events in earlier episodes.
The first four episodes were linked together and released as I Deal in Danger (1966). I have not seen the movie version, but it is available on DVD. The series itself is available only in the collector-to-collector market.
EPISODE INDEX —
“The Last Man” (1/12/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Werner Peters, John Ragin, John Alderson. â— The Nazis know about Blue Light, an American undercover spy ring of eighteen agents. Seventeen have been killed. Now, Captain Elm is out to get rid of the man he believes to be the last man of Blue Light, American journalist now Nazi propagandist David March.
“Target David March” (1/19/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Edward Binns, Hans Reiser, Geoffrey Frederick. â— With Elm gone, March still needs to convince some Nazis he is loyal to the cause before he can be assigned to the top-secret weapon base in Grossmuchen. Meanwhile a British officer has sent in three commandos to kill the American traitor David March.
“The Fortress Below” (1/26/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Eva Pflug, John van Dreelan, Peter Capell, Manfred Andrae. â— March gets the assignment he wanted, the top-secret weapon base. The base is buried 200 feet underground and while nearly impossible to sneak in, it is even harder to get out. Unable to sneak any weapons in, March must figure out how to destroy the base.
“The Weapons Within” (2/2/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Eva Pflug, Horst Frank, Alexander Allerson, Dieter Eppler. â— The naïve female German scientist who had agreed to help March’s blow up the base has second thoughts when she is faced with causing the death of her friends at the base.
“Traitor’s Blood” (2/9/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Jerry Ayres, Henry Beckman, David Macklin. â— March visits his younger brother being held in a Nazi POW camp. His brother had lied about his age to join the Army and prove he was not a traitor like his brother.
“Agent of the East” (2/16/66). Teleplay by Donald S. Sanford, story by Larry Cohen. Directed by James Goldstone. Guest Cast: Jan Malmsjo, Dick Davalos, James Mitchell. â— To keep the plans for a heavy water plant from Nazi scientists, March must get to a captured Russian spy being held in Gestapo headquarters.
“Sacrifice” (2/23/66). Teleplay by Dick Carr, story by Larry Cohen. Directed by William Graham. Guest Cast: Larry Pennell, Barry Ford, James Brolin. â— The Nazis want March to convince a kidnapped All American hero to talk. An Allied bomb hits the Gestapo jail trapping March, the hero and two Nazis underground with no hope of rescue.
“The Secret War” (3/2/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Roger C. Carmel, Kevin Hagen, Gail Kobe, Fred Holliday, Gilbert Green. â— Two Russian agents, who knew the Russian agent from “Agent of the East,†threaten to expose March and Suzanne if he does not work for them instead of the Americans.
“Invasion by the Stars” (3/9/66). Teleplay by Jack Turley, story by Curtis Sanders. Directed by Gerd Oswald. Guest Cast: Francis Lederer, Curt Lowens, Jason Wingreen. â— Allies need Operation Sea Lion, Hitler’s planned invasion of England, delayed. March attempts to convince Hitler’s astrologist to advise Hitler to postpone the invasion.
“The Return of Elm” (3/23/66). Written by Larry Cohen. Directed by Robert Butler. Guest Cast: Werner Peters, Malachi Throne. â— Elm, the villain of “The Last Man†episode, is back. The one Nazi who knows March is an American agent, Elm escapes a British POW camp. Knowing the Nazis believe he is the traitor, Elm returns to Berlin to kill March and clear his name.
“Jet Trail” (4/6/66). Written by Dan Ullman. Directed by James Goldstone. Guest Cast: Philippe Nicaud. Tony LoBianco, Lamont Johnson. â— March poses as an American OSS officer to help the French resistance recover a top secret German jet engine from a crash.
“How to Kill a Toy Soldier” (4/13/66). Written by Merwin Bloch and Roger E. Swaybill. Directed by Leo Penn. Guest Cast: Michael Shea, Donald Losby, Greg Mullavey. â— An 11-year-old Nazi witnesses March kill a courier for the plans to every rocket site in Norway. March faces the choice of killing the child or exposing himself as a spy.
“The Deserters” (4/20/66). Writer: Curtis Sanders. Director: Gerd Oswald. Guest Cast: Ken Lynch, Stuart Margolin, George Backman, James Davidson. â— The Germans send March into battle posing as an American soldier. He is to learn what direction the Allied forces will take on the Italian front. A Gestapo agent travels with March to watch him.
“The Other Führer” (4/27/66). Written by Walter Brough. Directed by James Goldstone. Guest Cast: David Sheiner, Paul Carr, Jack Colvin. â— A German aristocrat seeks the Allies aid to overthrow Hitler. The Germans catch and execute the Allies’ agent sent to meet the aristocrat and send March in the Allies agent’s place.
“The Key to the Code” (5/4/66). Written by Brad Radnitz. Directed by Walter Grauman. Guest Cast: Hans Gudegast (Eric Braeden), Alex D’Arcy, Erik Holland. â— While in France to do a radio program, March and Suzanne learn the Germans have set a trap for an upcoming Allies Commando attack. The Germans have broken the underground code putting March and Suzanne at risk and unable to warn the Allies about the trap.
“Field of Dishonor” (5/11/66). Written by Jamie Farr and H. Bud Otto. Directed by James Goldstone. Guest Cast: Steve Ihnat, James Frawley. â— High-ranking Nazi General, who has long been suspicious of March’s loyalties, attempts to defect to the Allies.
“The Friendly Enemy” (5/18/66). Written by Harold Livingston. Directed by James Goldstone. Guest Cast: Mark Richman, Robert Doyle, Richard Carlyle, James Doohan, Mort Mills. â— March is ordered to kill a German scientist who is close to creating an Atomic bomb for the Nazis.
March 25th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I saw Blue Light when it first came out and enjoyed it very much, along with Coronet Blue. Sorry neither show lasted very long.
RJR
March 25th, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Like Bob, I saw Blue Light and enjoyed it. Never thought it had much of a chance but it was interesting and welcome. Goulet particularly strong. Delightfully unexpected.
March 26th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
I had to force myself not to oversell this series. I went in with such low expectations it would be easy to see the series as better than it was. But in this case this is a very good series.
Goulet could be the heroic American and in mid-line switch to arrogant Nazi. I have no idea why he never matched his performance here.
My guess as why it lasted a half season is the budget vs ratings. Shooting overseas and one of the early ABC primetime series to feature color it is likely the costs were high.
March 26th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Strangely enough, I could not find any color images to add to the review. In some ways, although I have never seen any episodes of this series, it seems as though it might have easily been filmed in black-and-white and still work as well.
Michael, I found your statement that each episode was only 30 minutes long (no more than 25 minutes with commercials) to be very telling. The overall story line seems too complicated for each week’s installment to be so short and still be effective.
I am also surprised to learn that Robert Goulet did so well in the role. I admire him greatly as a singer, but never so much before now as a serious actor.
March 26th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
The thirty minute format was its biggest flaw. While the thirty minute drama series was fading, it was not uncommon. Think RAT PATROL.
Shame really. If the characters, especially the Nazis, had been better developed this series might be remembered today as one of the best war/spy TV series of the era.
The time format and female lead were the series only serious weaknesses.
March 26th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Bill Groves did a very fine piece on this show years ago for Television Chronicles, the now-defunct magazine. According to Cohen the pilot was shot on the Fox lot and then the next three episodes were filmed in Germany, before they returned to Hollywood for the rest.
In the article Grauman recalls that one of the trades — Variety or The Hollywood Reporter — raved in its review of the pilot about the on-location filming, which of course was inaccurate. Whereas typically it’s the studio that wants filming done in LA, to keep costs down, in this case it was the creative team — Cohen apparently never event went to Germany with the crew, and at some point Grauman was so desperate to come home that he threatened to leave the show unless Fox accommodated him.
Cohen, a peerless storyteller, recalls how the writers “tried to make something of a joke in the show of [Goulet] being well-groomed in the middle of the war, and always having the best after-shave, and always looking good, because you couldn’t mess Robert Goulet up. If you threw him off of a truck, he’d get up and look just like he was ready to go out to the opera. You just couldn’t make him look sloppy or anything, and I guess he was just too good-looking for the audience to get past the good looks to the person behind it and all.”
March 26th, 2012 at 8:20 pm
David, check the link for the interview with Goulet. It talks about the location shooting and his return to Hollywood. There is some episodes I suspected done in Hollywood, but every episode had an on air credit claiming filming was done at Bavarian Studios in Munich, Germany. What, an on the air credit that was not completely true? My faith in the honesty of Hollywood is shattered.
I need to see if I can find that “Television Chronicles” article. I remain curious about what Cohen and Grauman (I had even emailed Grauman, no answer) opinions of the series are.
As for the comment about how pretty Goulet was. It was true he looked as good as a roughed up CHARLIE’S ANGEL. But he still was convincing, especially for the era of male star actors such as Raymond Burr, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, etc.
BLUE LIGHT was a co-production between Fox and Rogo Productions. What I left out due to space and focus was Rogo was Robert Goulet’s production company, so he had a lot of power on the set. Makes me even more curious to hear the stories of Cohen and Grauman.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:37 am
Michael, Larry also talks at length about the show to Tony Williams in McFarland’s “Larry Cohen: The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker,” which I would recommend except, being from McFarland, I’m sure it is not cheap.
March 28th, 2012 at 2:24 am
Thanks for the mention, Michael. This was right at the beginning of Walter’s period as a producer for Fox during the late 60s. Frankly, I haven’t seen much of that work (which also includes FELONY SQUAD and some unsold pilots), and we had to plow through it during that interview due to time constraints. Walter is on record elsewhere about some of it, and he’s told me some stories, but it’s still a neglected phase of his voluminous career.
David, that Tony Williams book is out of print and impossible to find now, outside of a few libraries. I’ve never understood why. Even the Margaret Herrick Library doesn’t have a copy, which I would’ve thought impossible. It’s a shame, because my memory from reading it eons ago is that it’s quite thorough and good. Larry Cohen, of course, is one of the great Hollywood raconteurs (and Grauman is no slouch, either).
I guess those back issues of Television Chronicles are pretty scarce now, too. Also a shame.
March 28th, 2012 at 9:40 am
David, Stephen, or anyone else, do you remember and want to share with us any of the stories Cohen and Grauman have told about BLUE LIGHT?
My question to Grauman’s online bio with email contact was why 17 episodes. Even for half a season, 17 seemed an odd number when a full season was 39. Was there any episodes left not done? If he had answered, I would have tried for other questions (based on his answer).
My guess the biggest problem filming overseas was language and in 1966 Berlin was no Paris.
I am curious about how the female lead got cast, and was her problem more with the English language than lack of talent. I noticed she did do some French films.
Are Cohen and Grauman proud of the series or is it one they wish forgotten?
ABC was struggling with color at the time, was that a problem for them?
I am sure both men have stories that answer better questions than those.
Maybe Television Chronicles can get the magazines archive
downloaded on line or as an e-book. This researcher would be very happy.
March 28th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Michael, Send me your snailmail address to cox@rconnect.com and I will send you a photocopy of the Blue Light article in Television Chronicles. It runs about 9 pages with the episode guide. Sorry, I don’t have a working scanner.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I knew about TELEVISION CHRONICLES back when it was being published, and I may even have seen a copy. But since there was little or no hope of seeing most of the TV series they covered, I decided to save my money and stupidly never obtained copies. Emphasis on Stupid.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Randy, my email is on the way. Thank you.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:44 am
TV Chronicles was a great publication, and most of the credit goes to Bill Groves, the managing editor. Back when I was program-directing at TV Land Bill inquired as to whether we could take over the magazine to keep it going, but I could never get anyone at the channel interested in that, which was a shame (any more than I could get them interested in airing The Defenders or The Avengers instead of Mannix).
Michael, the article Randy is sending your way will answer some of your questions. The reason for the 17 episode was that Blue Light was a midseason (then referred to as “second-season”) order; the show premiered not in September but in January (on the very same night as Adam West’s Batman).
Certainly the impression I get from the article and from the Tony Williams book is that Cohen had a great time working on the show and particularly enjoyed the independence and authority that went along with the job — anyone who has followed Larry’s TV career knows that it is very, very unusual for him to stay on with a show after creating it, typically because of creative differences (like with Quinn Martin over The Invaders, or Herbert Brodkin on Coronet Blue). On Blue Light Cohen either wrote or rewrote almost all of the episodes. He seems proud of the show and pretty convinced that it didn’t work commercially because viewers had a hard time accepting Goulet in the role.
Stephen, that Williams book is available used on Amazon … for $408. You and I have already commiserated virtually over the situation regarding McFarland books, so I won’t go into it any more here.
March 29th, 2012 at 10:06 am
One of the important functions of this blog is to preserve the history of fiction, be it book, magazine, TV, or film. Once I read the article Randy is sending me, I will share it here in the comments.
I have the comments (and posts) on RSS feed. It is not unusual for someone to comment on a post from years ago. I occasionally update my posts by adding a comment even though I know few if anyone will read it.
My goal here is to have as much information as possible about the TV series, films, and books I review posted here for those interested in the subject.
What makes these comments as much fun as the posts is there is always someone out there who knows more about the subject than I do, so I always learn something new.
March 29th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Michael, I just went back and read your comment #7, in which you reference other male stars of the era, like Raymond Burr, Peter Graves, and Robert Stack. Larry Cohen actually says in the TV Chronicles article that he thought Blue Light would have had a better chance at success with David Janssen in the lead role — again, not because Goulet wasn’t good, but because audiences just didn’t respond to him as David March.
March 29th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Cohen was right, but Janssen was the best actor to ever do TV noir and this kind of drama.
I wonder if the audience then is like the audience now and never even considered Goulet as anything more than a singer. It really surprised me how believable he was as an arrogant Nazi. His performance was certainly better than the female lead, Christine Carere, who gave one of the worst performances I have ever seen. She had one emotion, emotionless.
And, you will get to see it for yourself, when I finally get enough discs together to donate to Paley (I plan to do it in bunches rather one series at a time).
March 29th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
#4 Steve, I think the reason you could not find any color photos was ABC was struggling with the color process at the time. There was an article in “Broadcasting” about the networks turning to color programs. It began with the children cartoons and was slowly moving to other parts of the program schedule. While ABC had almost fifty percent of its (what we call now) prime time schedule in color, the network was still working on the process at its own studios. The press releases may have been in black and white.
March 29th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I just recently watched an episode of Route 66 in which Janssen portrays the villain, a fisherman whose experiences in the war have left him extremely bitter. We tend to think of Janssen as a natural hero, but it was amazing to me how good he was in the role. He clearly dominated the episode.
March 31st, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Michael, I mailed the article on Blue Light from campus on Thursday morning. I included the table of contents page with the ad showing both Batman and Blue Light on the same day. I think I worked reference at the St. Olaf Library the night Blue Light was on. Batman was on two nights in a row and I always missed one of the episodes.
March 31st, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Thanks, Randy.
January 1961 ABC introduced four new color TV series, the twice weekly BATMAN, BLUE LIGHT, DOUBLE LIFE OF HENRY PHYFE and THE BARON.
BLUE LIGHT was on Wednesday nights opposite of BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and THE VIRGINIAN. I suspect that may be the real reason for no one seeing BLUE LIGHT.
But I know about working during prime time hours, I missed most of the 90s TV because of that.
March 31st, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Michael,
Yes, I worked Wednesday nights in those days and the article does mention the competition with BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and THE VIRGINIAN. I became famous locally when it became known that I was interested in comics and watched BATMAN. The Minneapolis Sunday paper did a feature article on that series with an interview with me. Life was never the same after that.
April 4th, 2012 at 11:55 am
Tip of the Hat to Randy for suppling me with the “Television Chronicles” (#5) with the article and episode guide to BLUE LIGHT written by Bill Groves.
From the article it is obvious everyone had fond memories of the series.
No one remembered where the title BLUE LIGHT came from, Grauman liked the title. At one point there was a discussion about changing the title, Cohen suggested naming it 13 RUE MADELEINE after the Fox movie with James Cagney. But it was decided to stay with the title.
Walter Grauman was interested in doing a TV series about a WWII spy. Cohen had just finished the script to RETURN OF THE SEVEN. The two met in Walter Mirisch’s office. They decided to work on the idea of WWII spies called BLUE LIGHT. Cohen added the format.
Cohen was quoted saying, “So I basically came up with the idea of a turncoat who goes to Germany and poses as a Nazi sympathizer, and broadcasts against the Allies, and is really a double agent.”
This is a long article so I will break the comments up in sections. Next comment: Robert Goulet’s role.
April 4th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
#23 part two: Goulet.
Walter Grauman said he was represented by the same agency as Robert Goulet, CMA. When William Self of 20th Century Fox was interested in doing BLUE LIGHT, CMA offered to do a package deal with a name, Robert Goulet. Everyone liked the idea and ABC bought it.
Cohen added. Goulet had a development fund to have scripts developed for him. So Goulet’s company paid Cohen to write the pilot. ABC liked the script so much they bought it as a series (17 episodes) without a pilot.
In #6 David quotes Cohen comment about Goulet looking too good. Cohen also said, “I guess that’s pretty well what hampered him in his career. He probably would have done better if he hadn’t been quite as good looking as he was. But he was a good actor. I thought he acted the part well.”
Part three: Production
April 4th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
#23/24 Part 3 Production.
Cohen wrote the first four scripts. The first one was shot on the Fox lot, the next three were shot in Germany. The reason he did not go to Germany was it was Christmas time and he did not want to leave his family. While the production team went to Germany, Cohen was having fun at Fox. It was a slow time for the studio so he got a great office and a chance to visit other movie sets.
“So I started the show,” says Cohen, “and I wrote most of the stories. I wrote outlines for all the stories in the show and gave them out to writers for the writers to write the scripts, but it turned out that most of the scripts weren’t very good, and I ended up having to rewrite them anyway. So it got down to finally just writing all the scripts myself. Some of them I credited to friends of mine, people I wanted to give a job to.”
What made Cohen happiest was they shot the script as he wrote them. In TV it is not unusual for actors, directors, producers, studio exec, network exec, their girlfriends or boyfriends all to ad lib or change things in the script. Cohen’s comment about this was confirmed by Brad Radnitz who wrote “The Key To The Code.” Radnitz also had fond memories of the experience.
Why the first four episodes formed a single story. Article writer Bill Groves wrote, “In the 50s and 60s, it was not uncommon for half-hour TV episodes to be edited together as features and make the rounds of the drive-in circuit…”
Cohen wrote the first four to be turned into a feature. I DEAL IN DANGER had a theatrical run. Cohen remembers seeing it as a double feature with James Garner’s MISTER BUDDWING.
Location. #6 David mentioned the critic who admire the realism of setting for the pilot that was shot in Los Angeles, but by the second episode Grauman and company were shooting in Germany.
Grauman explained why the production eventually returned to the States.
“There were two executives at Fox and one on the show…The had a ball in Germany. I was shooting 17, 18, hours a day, and Larry was writing the scripts here and sending them -There was no fax in that day, so we just got them by air (mail). And the German crews, while they were very good, were not nearly as fast as our crews, and what was happening- We started in midseason, and I was falling behind. With each show, I’d fall maybe two days, a day behind, and I could see that what was going to happen was that we were going to get to a point where we wouldn’t make our air date.”
Grauman wanted to bring the production home to avoid missing an air date and to get a rest from non-stop shooting. The Fox guys were having too much fun and fought the idea of leaving Germany.
This finally lead to Grauman cabling Bill Self (“head of Fox TV”) telling him they were falling behind and we need to return home or miss an air date. Grauman told Self that if he decided not to bring the company home that Grauman would come home without them.
Next day the company was heading back to Los Angeles.
How good was the location shooting? The series art director in Germany was Rolf Zehetbauer who would later win an Academy award for CABARET.
Next: final part: Additional notes
April 4th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
#23/24/25 Part four.
Again, thanks to Randy for sending me this and for Bill Groves writing the article. “Television Chronicles” in print and with its attempt on the web has always been ahead of its time, and is much missed.
There are some minor things I left out so if you get a chance read it for yourself in “Television Chronicles #5.
One interesting story was when the Health Department contacted all with the series to warn them they had been exposed to tuberculosis. Actor Werner Peters from episodes “The Last Man” (pilot) and “Return of Elm” had come down from the disease and would die later from it.
While the article mentions the female character of Suzanne in passing, there is no mention of the actress Christine Carere. Nor was there any discussion why the series was a half hour drama rather than an hour (my guess, budget, but the thought process behind the choice was probably interesting).
One correction of my post above. The movie version I DEAL IN DANGER was made up of the first four episodes not episodes two, three, and four.
April 7th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
For the benefit of the readers of this blog who might have missed these latest comments by Michael, I’ve combined them and posted them as Part 2 of this article separately.
I’ve also gone back and corrected the number of episodes that were used in creating the movie version, I DEAL IN DANGER.
Thanks to those who’ve left comments. They’ve all been useful and very informative!
July 12th, 2013 at 6:16 pm
In The Closing Credits Of Blue Light.
It Had
Color By De Luxe
Copyright (C) 1966
Twentieth Century-Fox
Television,Inc
All Rights Reserved
This Picture Made Under The Jurresdiction Of IATSEIA Affilliated With AFL-CIO,National Association Of Broadcasters SEAL OF GOOD PRACTICE Television Code,RCA Sound Recording.
January 21st, 2015 at 6:34 pm
Hello, thanks for a very useful article. I picked up the ‘I Deal in Danger’ DVD a while ago and am reviewing it as part of a series of reviews on forgotten war films.
Interestingly despite the comments above on it comprising the first four episodes of the series, I think it actually only consists of episodes 1, 3 & 4 as there is certainly no British commando element as per the synopsis for ‘Target David March’. This would fit with the film’s 90 minute runtime as well.
Amusingly the film has a very television style opening credit sequence which seems to comprise footage from the rest of the series, but is not the same as the series’ opening itself.
January 21st, 2015 at 7:42 pm
Tim R-T-C, leave a link if your reviews are online, I’d like to read them.
If you have not all ready found and read it, there is a follow up to this review at https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=16348
It is under I DEAL WITH DANGER.
Thanks for the kind words.
January 21st, 2015 at 8:16 pm
In case Tim doesn’t get back to us right away, here’s the link:
http://www.mondo-esoterica.net/
You can spend a lot of time there. I already have!
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Thanks for the nice comments.
I actually only heard of and picked up this film because German actor Horst Frank (who plays the base security officer) is a favourite of mine (he plays a lot of Spaghetti Western villains) and best I can tell he is actually speaking English in the part when all of his main film roles he was dubbed for.
Do we know how well the film version did? If it had done well I wonder if they might have made a sequel out of more episodes or even commissioned a stand-alone film version.
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:52 pm
The films made from TV series episodes never lost money since cost were low but since they usually played in B-movie theaters, drive-ins and overseas few got any real attention. Some series had more than one but it was rare. The only exception was MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. which did well in the movie theaters.
I doubt anyone had any interest in a second one and certainly no stand alone film. The audience had shown no interest in Goulet as a drama star.
The short life of the series killed even its syndication life. In those days before VCR, DVD, and the internet, TV series such as BLUE LIGHT was quickly tossed in some warehouse (if it was lucky to be saved at all) and forgotten.