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词条 Dangerous Assignment
释义

  1. Series premise

  2. Radio series

      Summer 1949 series    Episodes    1950–1953 American series    Episodes    1954 Australian series  

  3. Television series

      Production    Episodes  

  4. Critical reception

  5. References

  6. External links

     Logs  Script  Streaming  Radio  Television 
{{short description|American television series 1949–1953}}

Dangerous Assignment was an NBC radio drama starring Brian Donlevy broadcast in the US 1949–1953, a syndicated television series distributed in the US 1951–52 (also starring Brian Donlevy), and an Australian radio series broadcast in 1954-56 as remakes of the original American radio scripts.

Series premise

"The Commissioner" sent US special agent Steve Mitchell to exotic locales all over the world, where he would encounter adventure and international intrigue in pursuit of some secret. Each show would always open with a brief teaser scene from the episode to follow. After the intro, Steve Mitchell would be summoned to the office of 'The Commissioner', the regional head of an unnamed US State Department agency created to address international unrest as it affected U.S. interests. "The Commissioner" would give background information, explain the current situation and tell Steve his assignment. Steve's cover identity, in almost all his adventures, was that of a suave debonair foreign correspondent for an unnamed print publication — his assignments invariably involved deceit, trickery, and violence, all tied together into a successful resolution by the end of the episode.[1]

Radio series

{{Infobox radio show
|show_name = Dangerous Assignment
|image =
|imagesize =
|caption =
|format = Spy
|runtime = 30 minutes
|country = United States
|language = English
|television = Dangerous Assignment
|starring = Brian Donlevy
Herb Butterfield
|creator = Brian Donlevy
|producer =
|first_aired = July 9, 1949
|last_aired = July 8, 1953
|num_series = Four years with a weekly broadcast
|num_episodes = 167+
|audio_format = Monaural
}}Dangerous Assignment started out as a replacement radio series broadcast in the US on the NBC radio network in the summer of 1949; it became a syndicated series in early 1950. Reportedly, star Brian Donlevy himself was the one who brought the show to NBC.[1]

In the American radio shows, Donlevy was both the protagonist within the action and the narrator, giving the show "a suspenseful immediacy."[1][2] The only other regular actor on the radio shows was Herb Butterfield, who played "The Commissioner." Many stage and screen actors appeared as guest-stars including, among many others, William Conrad, Raymond Burr, Paul Frees, Jim Davis, Dan O'Herlihy, Richard Boone, and Eddie Cantor.

The Australian series was begun as a result of the popularity of the American series—scripts from shows already broadcast in the US were re-done with Australian actors in 1954. The Australian producers re-created and broadcast thirty-nine episodes from 1954 on.

Summer 1949 series

The radio show started out as a seven-week summer replacement series broadcast on NBC Saturdays 8:30–9 PM EST. It premiered July 9, 1949; the last episode was on August 20, 1949. A character portraying the Commissioner's secretary, 'Ruthie', was played by Betty Moran — it is hinted that there was some romantic history between Ruthie and Steve Mitchell.[3]

Episodes

The seven episodes[3] were each twenty-five minutes long:

  • Thropp Foundation Stolen Relief Supplies, set in Messina, Sicily, was broadcast July 9, 1949.
  • Investigate Malayan Star Line Sabotage, set in Saigon, French Indochina, was broadcast July 16, 1949.
  • On Safari for Nigerian Manganese, set in Nigeria, West Africa, was broadcast July 23, 1949.
  • --Title Unknown--, set in Mexico City, Mexico, was broadcast July 30, 1949.
  • Investigate Millionaire Murder Conspiracy, set in Paris, France, was broadcast August 6, 1949.
  • Smash Illegal Alien Smuggling Ring, set in Masimbra, Portugal, was broadcast August 13, 1949.
  • Recover File No. 307, set in Zurich, Switzerland, was broadcast August 20, 1949.

1950–1953 American series

The Summer 1949 series was very well-received, but NBC had no room for a new series in its Fall 1949 schedule.[1] The radio show finally did return to the airwaves on February 6, 1950, in the 10:30 PM Monday timeslot formerly occupied by The Dave Garroway Show (originating from Chicago and syndicated nationwide), which was moved an hour later to 11:30 PM. The show moved over the next three years to Wednesday nights, then Saturday nights, then Tuesday nights, and then finally ended its run during its last few months in 1953 back on Wednesday nights.[1] Some of the sponsors included the Ford Motor Company, Wheaties cereal, Anacin painkiller, Chesterfield cigarettes, and the RCA Victor record label, but the show, for the most part, was sustained solely by the NBC network for over half of its entire run with promos for other NBC shows. The series ran every week from its premiere date until the last show was broadcast in the US on July 8, 1953.

The second year of the radio series and the first (and only) year of the television series were concurrent.

Episodes

There are at least 160 episodes in the 1950–53 American radio series.[3] Episode titles became fairly standardized, starting with a verb, and describing the assignment: Find Szabo and The Briefcase, Keep Chromite Mine Operating, Intercept Dr. Korvel Before Opposition, etc.

1954 Australian series

As the American radio series ended its last year, negotiation and production began for an Australian radio version. Produced by Grace Gibson Transcriptions, this version of Dangerous Assignment re-did 52 episodes of the full American run, with Lloyd Burrell playing Steve Mitchell — this radio series was broadcast in Australia in 1954 to 1956 and the following years.[4]

Television series

{{infobox television
|show_name = Dangerous Assignment
|image = Suzanne Dalbert-Brian Donlevy in Dangerous Assignment (The Key Story).jpg
|caption = Brian Donlevy & Suzanne Dalbert in the TV series Dangerous Assignment, episode "The Key Story"
|genre = Spy
|picture_format = Black and white
|runtime = 30 minutes
|creator = Brian Donlevy
|developer = Brian Donlevy
|starring = Brian Donlevy
Herb Butterfield
|theme_music_composer = Basil George ("Buzz") Adlam
Von Dexter
|company = Donlevy Development Inc.
|executive_producer = Harold E. Knox
|director = Bill Karn
|editor = Maurice Wright
Edward Schroeder
|cinematography = Lester H. White, A.S.C.
|country = United States
|network = NBC
|distributor = NBC-TV Film Division
|first_aired = September ?, 1950
|last_aired = June ?, 1951
|num_seasons = 1
|num_episodes = 39
|list_episodes =
}}

A syndicated television series named Dangerous Assignment was broadcast in the US in syndication (but mostly on the NBC television network) in the 1951–52 television season.[5] Donlevy formed a production company to convert the radio show to a television show — but, no TV network would invest in the series, so, instead, he produced thirty-nine episodes with his own cash and sold them to individual stations nationwide in First-Run Syndication (though NBC did aid in the distribution)[6] — price per episode ranged from $5 to $2000, depending on the population and demographics in the buyer's region.[7]

Production

Production credits:

  • Assistant Director: William McGarry
  • Production Supervisor: Frank Parmenter
  • Assistant Director: William McGarry
  • Production Designer: George Van Marter
  • Set Decoration: George Milo
  • Film Editor: Edward Schroeder, A.C.E.
  • Wardrobe: Charles Keehne
  • Sound: Earl Snyder
  • Makeup: David Newell
  • Casting: Harvey Clermont
  • Production Assistant: Edward Denault
  • Special Effects: Harry Redmond Jr.

Episodes

All episodes starred Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell and Herb Butterfield as "The Commissioner." Robert Ryf wrote most of the scripts. Among the more famous guest stars were Hugh Beaumont, Paul Frees, Elena Verdugo, Harry Guardino, Lyle Talbot, John Dehner, Michael Ansara, Jim Davis, and Strother Martin, many of them appearing as different characters in different episodes.

{{Episode list
# Episode Name Original air date
EpisodeNumber=1Title=The Alien Smuggler StoryAltTitle=Alien Smuggling RingFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to Portugal to help a friend, a gangster-turned-informer, investigate a scam that supposedly smuggles political refugees into the United States.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=2Title=The Submarine StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve tries to discover the identity of the leader of some gunrunners.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=3Title=The Displaced Persons StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Refugees on a ship bound for a new home are terrorized by an unknown saboteur.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=4Title=The Memory ChainFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve Mitchell is assigned to smash a spy ring that works only by word of mouth.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=5Title=The Manager StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve, in Stockholm to investigate a college professor who is running secrets from the United States, meets a European scientist desperate for the safe return of his kidnapped son.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=6Title=The Key StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=In the Swiss Alps, Steve is sent to find a document that proves the leader of a country friendly with the United States didn't commit suicide, but was murdered.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=7Title=The Bhandara StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=In Bombay, India, Steve tries to clear an imprisoned American citizen charged with sabotage.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=8Title=The Salami StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve accompanies the head of an American plastics company to a conference in France.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=9Title=The Pat and Mike StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to an African jungle to stop a man causing trouble between local shamans.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=10Title=The Lagoon StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=In Africa, Steve tries to locate two missing agents sent there to find a powerful germ culture.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=11Title=The Italian Movie StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=In Rome, Steve tries to recover a roll of film stolen from a movie company.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=12Title=The Blood-Stained Feather StoryAltTitle=Order of the Sacred DoveFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=In Cairo, Steve tries to dismantle the Order of the Sacred Dove, a dangerous secret society of assassins.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=13Title=The Burma Temple StoryFall, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to Burma to find out the truth behind the death of a newspaper correspondent who had been posing as a political refugee.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=14Title=?Fall, 1951}}ShortSummary=?
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=15Title=South America -- The Sunflower Seed StoryDecember, 1951}}ShortSummary=In South America, Steve tries to clear an American citizen accused of the murder of a man heading a major political party.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=16Title=The Caboose StoryDecember, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve must find out if an old girlfriend, now a dangerous spy, is behind many recent acts of sabotage in Japan.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=17Title=The Missing Diplomat StoryDecember, 1951}}ShortSummary=In Barcelona, Spain, Steve must retrieve records of top-secret conversations from a European diplomat who has disappeared, along with his daughter.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=18Title=The Briefcase StoryDecember, 1951}}ShortSummary=Steve must discover who is trying to sabotage a meeting in Paris between representatives from the United States and three Eastern European countries.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=19Title=The Civil War Map StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve goes to Richmond, Virginia, to find out why a foreign agent has stolen a 90-year-old Civil War map.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=20Title=The Piece of String StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In Panama, Steve must find out who has been stealing dynamite.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=21Title=The Iron Banner StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In Greece, Steve, investigating how a man dead for six years could have recently been murdered, discovers a cast-iron swastika with details on Hitler's secret bank accounts.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=22Title=The Dead General's StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In the Balkans, Steve poses as a journalist to locate a murdered general's secret documents before enemy agents can get them.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=23Title=The Parachute StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve parachutes into Eastern Europe to search for a confession that will clear the U.S. in an international scandal.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=24Title=The Paris Sewer StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=The sewers of Paris lead Steve to the underground quarters of a spy ring.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=25Title=The Atomic Mine StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve uses a Geiger counter to find a bomb-carrying killer aboard a speeding train.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=26Title=The Bodyguard StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In Paris, a bowl of cold stew gives Steve a clue to a political assassin's identity.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=27Title=The Art Treasure StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In Mexico, Steve is in search of Hapsburg art treasures hidden by Nazis.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=28Title=The Blue Chip StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve, posing as a criminal, infiltrates a counterfeiting ring in a Macao casino.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=29Title=The Red Queen StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=In Singapore, Steve searches for $1 million cache of rubber stolen from the United States.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=30Title=The Knitting Needle StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=On an airflight to Rome, Steve protects a journalist who is about to write articles about a criminal organization that controls voters and elections in Italy.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=31Title=The Assassin Ring StoryAltTitle=Kill The KingWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to the Middle East to prove that the United States has nothing to do with the assassination of the king.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=32Title=The Decoy StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=While Steve is occupied smuggling a wounded U.S. attache out of Eastern Europe, an international opportunist masquerades as Steve Mitchell.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=33Title=Death in the Morgue StoryWinter, 1952}}ShortSummary=A morgue in Morocco is Steve's headquarters as he probes sabotage at an American air base.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=34Title= The Stolen LetterSpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve is sent to South America to expose a plot against the U.S.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=35Title=The Venetian StorySpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to Venice to find and buy back a vital part of the agency's code machines.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=36Title=Berlin -- The Black Hood StorySpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to Berlin, Germany, to recover confidential papers stolen from a diplomatic courier.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=37Title=The Archeaological StoryAltTitle=Desert PatrolSpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve travels to Trans-Jordan in the Middle East to find and protect a missing goddess.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=38Title=The Perfect Alibi StorySpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=A political informer's murder in Rome leads to the discovery that an unknown opportunist is impersonating Steve.
}}{{Episode list
EpisodeNumber=39Title=The Mine StorySpring, 1952}}ShortSummary=Steve is smuggled into a slave labor camp In Eastern Europe to get vital information.
}}

Critical reception

The American radio show, perhaps due to the fact that it immediately preceded the blockbuster radio series The Man Called X, was extremely popular: "The program was clearly well received, was building a loyal audience for the full-hour block of foreign adventure drama it presented",[3] although some radio fans found the American radio series "not quite overcoming the absolute predictability of the stories."[1]

Radio fan response to the American television show was tepid: Seven years before "Mr. Lucky" and the "James Bond" character, Donlevy donned a dinner jacket for the TV series and attempted to look suave in his exploits, including the opening sequence during which he assumed a nonchalant pose as a dagger whizzed dangerously past his head. Other than that, the series was a bit tedious, since Donlevy was not able to portray the confident nuances of the character type that was pioneered by Cary Grant and Sean Connery later, who played a dangerous situation with savoir faire (i.e., grace under pressure); one-dimensional situations and character attributes that might have gotten by on radio were a bit hard to swallow when you saw them acted out on television; and of course, as the old saying goes, perhaps "the pictures are better" on radio.[6]

American television critics were not that much more enthusiastic: "...a television version of a pedestrian radio spy series."[8]

References

{{Portal|Radio|Television}}
1. ^Dunning, John (1998) "On the Air: Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio" Oxford University Press US, {{ISBN|0-19-507678-8}}, page 190
2. ^Field, Stanley (1958) "Television and Radio Writing" Houghton Mifflin, page 186
3. ^{{cite web|title=Dangerous Assignment|url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Dangerous-Assignment.html|website=The Digital Deli Too|accessdate=15 July 2015}}
4. ^Dangerous Assignment Ian Grieve. Australian Old Time Radio.
5. ^Brooks, Tim and March, Earl (2007) "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946–Present", Random House, {{ISBN|0-345-45542-8}}, pp. 238
6. ^Dangerous Assignment TV Show Classic TV Themes
7. ^"Syndicated Fight between NBC, CBS" Billboard Magazine, February 23, 1952 (available online at [https://books.google.com/books?id=8h0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA7-IA2 Online Billboard magazine archive] at Google Books
8. ^Erickson, Hal (2001) "Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years 1947-1987" McFarland Classics, {{ISBN|0-7864-1198-8}}, page 25

External links

  • {{IMDb title|tt0044257}}
  • Dangerous Assignment at Classic Television Archive

Logs

  • Log (and other information) of Dangerous Assignment radio series episodes from The Digital Deli Too
  • Log of Dangerous Assignment radio series episodes from Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs
  • Log of Dangerous Assignment radio series episodes from Old Time Radio Researchers Group
  • Log of Dangerous Assignment radio series episodes from RadioGOLDINdex

Script

  • Script of "Sunken Ships" episode of Dangerous Assignment radio program (July 16, 1949) from Generic Radio Workshop Script Library

Streaming

Radio

  • [https://archive.org/details/DangerousAssignment90Episodes Episodes of Dangerous Assignment radio series from Internet Archive]
  • Episodes of Dangerous Assignment radio series from Zoot Radio

Television

  • [https://archive.org/details/DangerousAssignmentTheArtTreasureStory "The Art Treasure Story" episode of Dangerous Assignment from Internet Archive]
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGjP_tUrmo "The Atomic Mine Story" episode of Dangerous Assignment from YouTube]
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFd9aNbNtBA "The Bodyguard Story" episode of Dangerous Assignment from YouTube]
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJWsWQAykvo "The Briefcase Story episode of Dangerous Assignment from YouTube]

9 : 1949 establishments in the United States|1949 radio programme debuts|1953 disestablishments in the United States|1953 radio programme endings|NBC radio programs|1940s American radio programs|1950s American radio programs|Radio programs adapted into television programs|American radio dramas

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