Posted by DT out West
on 9/9/2009, 8:40 am
216.160.151.239
TV Noir of the Week: Dangerous Assignment
One of the unique trade marks of 50’s TV was every shows opening sequence showcasing some type of prop that tied into the show. Dragnet had the badge, Biff Baker had his suitcase and Mike Novak his camera. While memorable, they were all topped by the speeding dagger out of the fog thrown in the direction of Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell in 1952’s Dangerous Assignment.
While the episodes are entertaining enough the opening is clearly the most remembered segment of the show. A fog horn wails and a solitary figure attired in formal evening wear is seen partially obscured by the fog, walking with purpose on wet pavement down an ominous waterfront alleyway. Even though the shadows and fog conceal his identity the trappings of formal attire; top hat and white scarf are clearly recognizable though the heavy mist. As he nears the lone street light the face of Mitchell is now clearly seen. Under this light he momentary pauses glancing right, to perhaps get his bearings and take a drag off his cigarette. This moment is abruptly interrupted when faster than a speeding bullet a dagger whizzes within inches of his face and lodges solidly into the lamp post. The resulting look of shock, fear and disbelief upon Mitchell’s face, complete with bulging eyes and him departing stage left is unfortunately comedic which lessens the sinister effect of the dagger.
Tonight’s episode starts as many do with a shot of a beautiful Lockheed Constellation (Connie) tri-tail winging its way to some far off exotic locale and Mitchell’s voice over intoning “Yeah danger is my assignment. I get sent to a lot of places I can’t even pronounce. They all spell the same thing though, trouble.”
This time we find him on his way to Panama on the trail of some no goodniks buying large quantities of dynamite. Unseen and unmentioned in this episode is Steve’s boss “The Commissioner” for whom he takes direction as a globe trotting trouble shooter. The reoccurring role of the Commissioner is played by that ubiquitous TV everyman Lyle Talbot. Formerly a weak leading man in the 30’s, Talbot really hit his stride on the small screen in the 50’s portraying everything from Ozzie’s neighbor Joe Randolph, Bob Collin’s Air Force crony Paul Fonda on the Bob Cummings (Love That Bob) show, to the father of a classmate of Beaver’s.
Noted tonight we’re absent Talbot but we get a couple familiar faces with key roles; Hugh Beaumont, still several years prior to giving out fatherly advise to Wally and the Beav, dons military garb as Major Dean, Army Intelligence. In the role of the heavy is the rotund (talk about being built for the part) Dan Seymour, former Warner’s stock player with a gaudy list of credits that includes: Casablanca, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, and Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion.
Back to the story, it seems a pal of Mitchell’s is on the trail of someone who’s been stealing dynamite from construction companies located in Panama. What’s somewhat amusing is the companies names; The Adams, The Carson and of course The Acme Construction. Nary a name remotely sounding like anything south of the border but why worry about such details?
Of course upon arrival at his pal’s hotel room Mitchell finds he’s just been murdered and he himself barely escapes the same fate at the hands of a local henchman. While this sinister deed is not to be unexpected, the weapon of choice is decidedly not run of the mill for the killer makes use of that favorite of the South American gaucho, the bolas!
Just in the nick of time Major Dean arrives with the killer beating a hasty retreat out the window. Soon Mitchell and the Major are working hand in hand to run down the evil doers and thwart the plot to blow up one of four possible military sites.
What stuck me as strange was that none of the possible sites were the canal. Perhaps that was too obvious and the crafty writer’s intentionally shied away from such a conventional plotline and instead wracked their brains and worked their fingers to the bone in order to give us The Acme Construction Company and murder via bolas.
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