Robert Boon Movies

This story begins in 1982, with a set of old blueprints discovered in a Minnesota auction barn. Flashing back a century or so, the audience discovers that the blueprints were drawn up by Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon), who has taken up cabinet-making as a means of establishing a legacy for his family. Alas, when he brings his handiwork to the Big City, an unscrupulous manufacturer steals Charles' cabinet design and mass-produces them. Meanwhile, the Ingalls family farm is left in the hands of Albert (Matthew Laborteaux) -- but is he up to the new responsibility? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Posing as double agent William Howard (David Frankham), Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr heads to East Berlin, there to assist in the escape of Lisa Stone (Dana Wynter), the wife of US-based Communist spy John Buchanan (Alf Kjellin). Ostensibly, Lisa is heading to America to persuade her husband to defect. In truth, however, Lisa is a loyal Party member, whose "escape" has been carefully staged--and she intends to murder Buchanan the moment she catches up to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Once more penetrating the Iron Curtain, the IMF agents attempt to rescue rocket scientist Helmut Cherlotov (Joseph Campanella), who has developed a high-tech antiballistic missle system. Unfortunately, Cherlotov, who was supposed to have defected to the West along with his wife Karen (Mala Powers), has had a change of heart, and doesn't want to leave. It is up to Rollin, posing as an East German official, to convince Cherlotov to join Karen in the U.S. Originally telecast January 14, 1967, "The Reluctant Dragon" was written by Chester Krumholz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scripted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, this episode stars 13-year-old Ann Jillian as the title character, a nonverbal young girl named Ilse Nielsen. Apparently the sole survivor of a fire, Ilse is unofficially adopted by Harry and Cora Wheeler (Frank Overton and Barbara Baxley), who cannot understand why such an intelligent child lacks the power of speech. What the viewer knows, but the Wheelers don't, is that Ilsa is telepathic, raised by telepathic parents -- and her special powers may cause her more harm than good. This 60-minute Twilight Zone episode was first seen on January 31, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Samuel Fuller skillfully intercuts footage of the German death camps with scenes from this thought-provoking drama about a forbidden, post-war love affair. David (James Best) is a G.I. stationed in Germany with the American Military Government. He falls in love with Helga (Susan Cummings), a young German woman, and she reciprocates his feelings. But their romance is not condoned by either culture and made all the more difficult because a troublesome gang of neo-Nazis is on the rampage, killing, stealing, and helping war criminals evade capture. Helga's younger brother is a member of the gang who suddenly breaks down when he attends the Nuremburg trials and sees footage on the death camps. That changes his mind and he is ready to help the American military, and maybe the relationship between his sister and David as well. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when a moderately wealthy woman named Dorothy Wagner commits suicide. It turns out that the 42-year-old woman had been robbed and jilted by con artist Carlton Reynolds (Myron Cook), who specializes in preying upon lonely, gullible women with money. The detectives are assisted in tracking down Reynolds by another chiseler (Julie Bennett) who turns the tables on the "serial jilter." This episode is based on the Dragnet radio broadcast of February 7, 1952. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four Girls in Town is essentially an excuse by Universal-International to test out several of their newer contractees. The plot is motivated by a worldwide movie talent hunt, which naturally arouses the attentions of a bevy of pretty young aspiring actresses. The four girls of the title are Kathy Sonway (Julie Adams, who'd been appearing in films since 1950), Ina Schiller (Germany's Marianne Cook, nee Koch), Maria Antonelli (Italy's Elsa Martinelli) and Vicki Dauray (Gia Scala, also from Italy but herein portraying a Frenchwoman). Conducting the screen tests is budding director Mike Snowden (George Nader), who predictably falls in love with one of the hopefuls. Some laughs are had at the expense of Universal's rival 20th Century-Fox in the person of Helene Stanton, cast as a Marilyn Monroe clone named "Rita Holloway". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This meticulous and unusually long cinemadaptation of Sloan Wilson's best-selling novel The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit stars Gregory Peck as an ex-army officer, pursuing a living as a TV writer in the postwar years. Hired by a major broadcasting network, Peck is assigned to write speeches for the network's president (Fredric March). Peck comes to realize that the president's success has come at the expense of personal happiness, and this leads Peck to ruminate on his own life. Extended flashbacks reveal that Peck had experienced a torrid wartime romance with Italian girl Marisa Pavan, a union that produced a child. Peck is torn between his responsibility to his illegitimate son and his current obligations towards his wife (Jennifer Jones), his children, and his employer. Among the many life-altering decisions made by Peck before the fade-out is his determination to seek out a job that will allow him to spend more time with his family, even if it means a severe cut in salary. The superb hand-picked supporting cast of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit includes Ann Harding as March's wife, Keenan Wynn as the man who informs Peck that he'd fathered an Italian child, Henry Daniell as a detached executive, and an unbilled DeForrest Kelley as an army medic (who gets to say "He's dead, captain"!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Friday (Joe Friday) and Smith (Ben Alexander) investigate when the body of 21-year-old Helen Corday, who has been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron, is found in a vacant lot. Unfortunately, the only clue is the footprint of a very popular brand of tennis shoe. After several dead-end interrogations and dozens of false leads, the detectives arrest Frank Larson (Stacy Harris), who has been caught in the act of attack a young babysitter. Even so, there isn't quite enough proof to put the noose around Larson's neck---obliging Joe and Frank to indulge in a neat bit of psychological warfare. This episode is based on one of the earliest Dragnet radio broadcasts, originally heard on July 7, 1949. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sealed Cargo was based on The Gaunt Woman, a novel by Edmund Gilligan. Dana Andrews stars as Pat Bannon, a Newfoundland fishing-boat captain during WW II. Coming to the rescue of an endangered vessel, Bannon finds himself in the middle of a nest of Nazi spies. Reasoning that he'll never be able to alert the authorities, Bannon takes it upon himself to scuttle an impending large-scale German submarine attack. Claude Rains is the personification of cultured evil as the head Nazi naval officer, while Carla Balenda co-stars as an innocent bystander who may well lose her life as a result of Bannon's planned heroics. Sealed Cargo was one of several moneymaking films released by RKO Radio during one of the studio's most profitable years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Striking while the iron was hot, actor/producer Mikel Conrad registered the title The Flying Saucer for copyright not long after UFOs were allegedly spotted in Washington State. Filmed on location in Alaska, Flying Saucer stars Conrad (who also co-wrote) as a secret agent, dispatched by the government to find out whether or not the UFO reports constitute a threat against American defenses. He goes on a "pub crawl" in Alaska, looking for eyewitnesses to the flying-saucer phenomenon. After a series of slow-moving complications, the agent rounds up a group of Russian spies who've been using the saucer for evil purposes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On a trip from France to Allied-occupied Berlin, a group of travelers -- a mysterious and very secretive European woman (Merle Oberon), an American agricultural expert (Robert Ryan), a British educator (Robert Coote), a Soviet Army officer (Roman Toporow), and a French official (Charles Korvin) -- all cross paths in the cramped quarters of a military train. They discover that the notion of the "Allied forces" is breaking down amid their victory in the war; they neither like nor trust each other, nor each other's countries, except where the Germans are concerned, where they share a distrust. And then they cross paths with a German VIP who makes them wonder if they've got all of the Germans pegged right. A bomb goes off, killing their newfound acquaintance, and the suspicions start anew. The mystery surrounding the victim only deepens when they discover that he wasn't who he claimed to be -- and that the army isn't saying who he was. Ryan, Oberon, et al. soon find themselves up to their necks in unrepentant Nazis and militant German nationalists who have banded together against the occupiers to destroy any chance of success for a peace plan being put forward by a visionary German (Paul Lukas). They find Frankfurt a hotbed of sabotage and armed underground resistance, with the occupying armies seemingly caught flat-footed by the plotting in their midst, which includes murder and blackmail. Berlin Express is a spellbinding mix of action, suspense, and topical political intrigue, laced with idealism and a surprising degree of sophistication, a level a wit almost worthy of Graham Greene, and an eye for suspense worthy of Hitchcock. Indeed, the film could almost be considered director Jacques Tourneur's postwar equivalent to Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). It also represents a fascinating cultural snapshot, depicting the very last moments of hope for peaceful relations with the Soviets that could be seen in American movies for decades. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide