#SteveRandall TV ep #1.11 "The Unlucky Three" (28-Aug-52).
I just realised this is pre-filmed in New York but set in Hollywood which is an upsidedown way to make TV. #ManAgainstCrime was set and made in NY which gives it so many advantages for location work as this show can't do any location work.
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.24 "The Comedian" (09-Nov-59).
Top ep and a pristine print for once!
Rat Pack member Joey Bishop with an early TV role.
Nice seeing Carole Mathews again. Recently saw her in #ILoveAMystery Movie #1 (25-Jan-45) and #ManAgainstCrime TV e#5.06 "Man Bout is Murder" (15-Nov-53).
#RichardDiamond TV ep #3.16 "Rough Cut" (07-Jun-59).
Pretty strong ep albeit the finales of all these eps are so cookie cutter.
I didn't recognise Marcia Henderson from #ManAgainstCrime TV ep #6.06 "Algiers Caper" (05-Aug-56) or from #MartinKane TV ep #1.36 "Murder on Ice" #1.36 (04-May-50).
#RichardDiamond TV 2.16 cont'd.
When the show sticks to NY crime capers and not filler eps about truckers in the middle of nowhere it lands.
Re: the one punch endings. I can forgive #MartinKane or #ManAgainstCrime doing a one punch ending in a 1951 live TV ep but it's 1958. Things have moved on.
#CharlieWild TV 3.02 cont'd.
The ep isn't great to be fair but I'm not sure it's inferior a show than DuMont's "Rocky King, Detective". However I can see why it wasn't kept on the network while competing against very watchable stablemates on CBS #ManAgainstCrime and on DuMont #RockyKing.
#MartinKane TV ep #5.35 "The Milk Bottle Murder" (13-May-54).
There's a good ep here but Mark Stevens isn't giving me anything to interface with. If anything King Calder is carrying the show.
Stevens is like Frank Lovejoy in that poor 1956 series of #ManAgainstCrime.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr6C...
#MartinKane TV ep #4.53 "Trip to Bermuda" (25-Jun-53).
Well it's Eva Marie Saint time as she plays a beauty queen who gets murdered in Bermuda.
I just saw the 101 year old and still living Oscar winner in
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #4.20 "Exclusive" (11-Feb-53).
She's gets to do more in this ep.
#MartinKane TV ep #2.27 cont'd.
William Gargan's last surviving TV ep. So just 7 exist as some were mislabelled? I may yet dig up another.
This NBC TV show has higher production values than #RockyKing on DuMont TV. A shame CBS TV's #ManAgainstCrime has no live eps to allow a direct comparison.
#FrontPageDetective TV 1.29 cont'd.
So Donna Martell is still alive age 98!!!! So joining my other 1940s and early 1950s TV actresses who are still with us:
#ManAgainstCrime Eva Marie Saint 101
#Suspense Marilyn Erskine 99,
#FrontPageDetective Donna Martell 98
#ManAgainstCrime Nita Talbot 95
#FrontPageDetective TV 1.19 cont'd.
We meet an ex-GF of Chase's played by a fantastic actress Virginia Christine. Her character Shelly is perfect for Chase. So were this #ManAgainstCrime Shelly would be a recurring love interest like Nita Talbot's Gloria. But no Chase as has a super dull fiancé.
#RichardDiamond TV ep #1.07 "The Big Score" (12-Aug-57).
Finally a good ep!
A Bunco operating in a hotel is so #ManAgainstCrime I was delighted. Diamond goes undercover to be the mark for the scammers. I wasn't sure how the restaurant guy rumbled Diamond exactly?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARpU...
#RichardDiamond TV 1.06 cont'd.
This is why I loved #ManAgainstCrime as all its location footage in NY was authentic and glorious. To cover the fact they can't do NY we have a line that they're on (Long) Island. And the filming is at night or day for night. But this is fooling nobody.
#ManAgainstCrime Unanswered Qs:
What were the live eps like? Presumably CBS had a higher budget than DuMont's #RockyKing so were #Suspense level TV?
How many eps in S2 & S3?
In the summer eps of 1951 Robert Preston took over from Ralph Bellammy as Mike's brother Pat (see pic). What was that like?
#ManAgainstCrime Unanswered Qs
Did Gloria have an intro ep?
Is that really Jack Lord in the pre-filmed syndication credits?
What were the logo& opening credits like in the original transmitted eps?
Were the syndicated credits used in S4-5's transmission but with "Man Against Crime" swapped in?
#ManAgainstCrime End of walkthrough.
The last of the 9 live NBC eps aired 26-Aug-56.
Do I recommend?
Yes. I wanted early 1950s live TV but got none so had to make do with only filmed eps in S4-S5. But they are a great time capsule for NY but also Ralph Bellamy's Mike Barnett deserves to live on.
#ManAgainstCrime TV 6.06 cont'd.
Bar soaps what TV drama was still being made in NY in 1956? Certainly live TV was nearly done by then? But as this was NBC I don't know. I've only researched CBS TV.
Live TV gaffes: Lovejoy puts his hand through the imaginary window in the train compartment.
#ManAgainstCrime TV 6.06 cont'd.
Barnett does his usual one clever thing to win the day but really this live ep was slow and missed its beats. Maybe S1-S3 eps were too? Nobody knows.
The homage to the 1938 movie "Algiers" fully went over my head so that's my fault
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR5D...
#ManAgainstCrime TV 6.06 cont'd.
OK this wasn't great but it's hard to knock it not just because it was live but because none of the eps in the first 3 seasons all broadcast live exist. So how Ralph Bellamy coped in the live TV eps isn't known but Frank Lovejoy isn't in Bellamy's league I suggest.
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #6.06 "Algiers Caper" (06-Aug-56).
The show returned 2 years later on NBC as a live broadcast summer run that lasted 9 eps.
Now starring Frank Lovejoy.
Ironically this final ep is the only existing one in this walkthrough that went out live and is called "Man Against Crime"!
#ManAgainstCrime There was just one more ep aired, TV ep #5.38 (27-Jun-54). And that was that for Ralph Bellamy and Nita Talbot.
I guess Bellamy is best known for "Trading Places" these days.
Nita Talbot still alive at 95. She was Emmy nominated for "Hogan's Heroes" despite being in just 7 eps.
#ManAgainstCrime TV 5.37 cont'd.
I like the network of oddballs that Mike uses to trace the killer. Pity there weren't more recurring characters.
A few seconds is missing in the finale but I liked how brutal the projectionist was.
Gloria gets the last line. ❤️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJW2...
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.37 "No Place to Hide" (20-Jun-54).
Last surviving ep of the 5 series and YES it's a Gloria ep!! I didn't recognise Nita Talbot as her long 1940s hair is now some short 1954 haircut/perm.
I was afraid the stalker plotline would not age well but not I needn't have worried.
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.22 "Will o' the Wisp" (07-Mar-54).
Frank Bellamy is barely in this as it's the first ep with a co-stars in the shape of J. Pat O'Malley He only 49yo here but playing a 76yo.
I was a bit moved at the end and Barnett showed nice kindness here.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap1B...
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.15 "Terror 12 Stories High" (17-Jan-54).
Only exists in UCLA archive so isn't publicly available.
One of the main pics of this series you see everywhere is the one below. Gloria McGehee is in 2 eps and doesn't wear that outfit in ep #4.26 so that pic is from this ep so?
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.11 "Petite Larceny" (20-Dec-53).
Pretty great Christmas ep.
Unlike ep #4.31 Athena Lorde ( #ILoveAMystery) has a big role as the villain.
Chet Stratton and Rene Aubuchon again too.
Great plot, great gags!
"Geek" was a different term in 1953!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPsU...
#ManAgainstCrime TV 5.0-9 cont'd
Despite the file I watched being low res I could tell the girl was red hot. She had been a Semi Finalist in Miss America 4 years before. She is Lois Nettleton
40 years later will be the éclair woman in "Seinfeld". She's starting her 50 year acting career here.
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.09 "Murder Mountain" (06-Dec-53).
A slow burner. First half I was like what is this nonsense? But like the golf ep I missed all the clues. It ends wonderfully with Mike going ballistic with a snow plough. That didn't happen in the live eps!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWCA...
#ManAgainstCrime TV 5.08 cont'd.
One of the scammers looked familiar so I also saw her, Elizabeth York, already in:
#Suspense TV ep #3.31 "The Three of Silence" (27-Mar-51),
#Suspense TV ep #5.40 "The Dance" (28-Jul-53),
#OneStepBeyond TV ep #2.07 "The Open Window" (03-Nov-59).
#ManAgainstCrime TV ep #5.08 "Cube Root of Evil" (29-Nov-53).
I so need a 1950s show where each ep is hotel scammers. This must be the 4th ep of hotel guests running a scam. Strong ep.
It's a pity the dice guy from TV ep #4.37 didn't return but this new guy is good.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Szu...
