Wed 1 Apr 2020
A TV Episode Review: DANTE “Dante in the Dark.†(1961).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[4] Comments
DANTE. “Dante in the Dark.†NBC, Four Star Producions. 13 Mar 1961 (Season 1, Episode 22.) Howard Duff (Willie Dante), Alan Mowbray, Tom D’Andrea, Bert Freed. Guest Cast: Marion Ross, Troy Melton. Created by Blake Edwards. Director: Richard Kinon.
This late in the season – it lasted only for one and 26 episodes – there was no attempt by the screenwriter or director to fill in any of the general background for the series, but starting with this one, as I did, it was easy to fill in some of the gaps. Howard Duff plays Willie Dante, owner of a nightclub called Dante’s Inferno, and while he and Det. Sgt. Rickard (Bert Freed) obviously know each other well, the relationship is very much a rocky one.
Which comes into play as a major theme in “Dante in the Dark.†When a customer is gunned down in front of his club, the police are very reluctant to tell either him or the dead man’s fiancée anything about the case, or even to let the young woman (a most definitely not very matronly Marion Ross) see the body. Even more strange is that the police allow a previously unknown cousin take the body for disposal to a crematorium without telling her.
All is eventually explained, and it’s a torturous and interesting path getting there, but the good old boys joking around at the end seems even more forced than usual. No matter. It is always good to see Howard Duff in action. I only have to close my eyes and here the sound and cadence of Sam Spade’s voice on the radio with no difficulty at all.
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NOTE: For much more background on the series, including a mention of this particular episode, see Michael Shonk’s in depth overview of the show posted here much earlier on this blog.
April 2nd, 2020 at 9:22 am
I did not recall the exchange with Michael, but that was fun to read, and exciting.
April 2nd, 2020 at 9:38 am
To tell you the truth, I’d forgotten Michael’s post myself until I’d finished my much shorter one. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it and that he’d even mentioned the one I talked about.
I don’t believe that there’s been an official release on DVD, but the complete series is available on a collector-to-collector basis from many of the usual sources, which is how I acquired mine. The shows in my set were taped from the Nostalgia Channel, which I doubt even exists any more. The picture quality is OK, but I have a feeling that the first minute or so was trimmed, as it starts right away with the shooting. An synopsis on IMDb suggests that it may have begun with a celebration scene for the newly engaged couple inside the night club.
Other episodes are available for viewing on YouTube, but I haven’t found this one there.
April 2nd, 2020 at 4:35 pm
Quite a few episodes of this are available on YouTube as well as the original Dick Powell/Regis Toomey episodes that inspired the series as a rotating series on FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE.
Most of the Powell episodes have Dante trying to deal with some crisis without Toomey shutting down the illegal casino in the back of the club (which most episodes ends up getting closed), the Howard Duff series has Dante a bit better of a citizen.
April 12th, 2020 at 9:14 pm
[…] reviewing one of the episodes of Dante starring Howard Duff, I found that Alpha Video had released four of […]