Dean Riesner, who contributed to the screenplays of many Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel movies in the 1970s, provides a strong war thriller teleplay for this Chrysler Theatre episode. I was especially impressed on how hard-hitting it was, compared to the limitations of traditional TV series, including "Combat!".
That's because the anthology format provides more freedom and danger than a show where beloved characters to root for come back next week, guaranteed. Riesner sets up a mission for con James Franciscus to be inserted behind enemy lines to Cannes, France in 1943 to foil a German plot to flood the market with counterfeit money -he's a convicted counterfeiter who has valuable plates hidden there from before the war, and is ordered to destroy them before the Germans can exploit them.
The stars of this story are playing deeply compromised characters: Franciscus only was out for himself, a career criminal, and only doing this patriotic mission in order to receive a cancellation of his prison sentence; he teams up with beautiful Jocelyn Lane, who has prostituted herself (more or less) to survive during the Occupation, as mistress of a corrupt Vichy police official, well-played by Leif Erickson. Leif's role is even more complicated, as he's secretly working for the resistance but just like the other two, foremost interested in self-preservation.
The clearcut baddies are led by German office Werner Klemperer, not the kindly "Hogan's Hero" role he famously had, but an evil Nazi.
There is plenty of derring-do and solid plot twists in a story that pulls no punches. I enjoyed this more than many feature films from the same period in this vein. Of special note is Lane, a striking beauty and even better actress than her contemporary Claudine Longet, who I remember most fondly from roles like this one.
That's because the anthology format provides more freedom and danger than a show where beloved characters to root for come back next week, guaranteed. Riesner sets up a mission for con James Franciscus to be inserted behind enemy lines to Cannes, France in 1943 to foil a German plot to flood the market with counterfeit money -he's a convicted counterfeiter who has valuable plates hidden there from before the war, and is ordered to destroy them before the Germans can exploit them.
The stars of this story are playing deeply compromised characters: Franciscus only was out for himself, a career criminal, and only doing this patriotic mission in order to receive a cancellation of his prison sentence; he teams up with beautiful Jocelyn Lane, who has prostituted herself (more or less) to survive during the Occupation, as mistress of a corrupt Vichy police official, well-played by Leif Erickson. Leif's role is even more complicated, as he's secretly working for the resistance but just like the other two, foremost interested in self-preservation.
The clearcut baddies are led by German office Werner Klemperer, not the kindly "Hogan's Hero" role he famously had, but an evil Nazi.
There is plenty of derring-do and solid plot twists in a story that pulls no punches. I enjoyed this more than many feature films from the same period in this vein. Of special note is Lane, a striking beauty and even better actress than her contemporary Claudine Longet, who I remember most fondly from roles like this one.
