Murray Kash Movies

Most Inspector Clouseau fans regard The Pink Panther Strikes Again as the best of the clumsy Parisian detective's "comeback" films of the 1970s. Driven insane by the stupidities of Clouseau (Peter Sellers), ex-inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) transforms into a master criminal. Kidnapping the inventor of a death ray, Dreyfuss threatens to use the demon device indiscriminately unless Clouseau is offered as a "sacrifice." A hunted man, Clouseau is forced to adopt one transparent (but hilarious) disguise after another. He is rescued from being incinerated by Dreyfuss when Soviet spy Olga (Leslie Ann Down) falls in love with him and strives to protect him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This British programmer was filmed on the cheap in Yugoslavia, with an American star, Robert Ryan, to secure U.S. playdates. Ryan plays an American journalist who views with alarm as a dictator (Stewart Granger) runs roughshod over the citizens of an unnamed Balkan country. The news hound puts together enough incriminating evidence to topple the dictator from power. The problem for Ryan lies with staying alive long enough to make his findings public--a chancy prospect once the powers-that-be frame the journalist for murder. The Crooked Road was adapted from The Big Story, a novel by Morris West. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The British series Space Patrol (not to be confused with the earlier American series of the same name) was the creation of noted children's book author Roberta Leigh. Leigh had started in television in the mid-'50s when she co-produced the adaptation of one of her books into the series The Adventures of Twizzle. Her partner in that venture was Gerry Anderson, whose then-struggling animation studio, A.P. Films, was the production company for the series. Space Patrol was set in the year 2100 and told of the men and women of that service, from Earth, Mars, and Venus, and their efforts to explore and keep peace within (and sometimes outside) the solar system. The characters were all portrayed by highly articulated marionettes, moving amid very elaborate sets, supported by superb (for the time) special effects and a highly memorable electronic music score. The hero of Space Patrol was Captain Larry Dart (voiced by American-born Dick Vosburgh, future author of the Broadway hit A Day in Hollywood, a Night in the Ukraine), the commander of Galasphere 347 and its two-member crew, consisting of Husky (voiced by veteran character actor Ronnie Stevens), a Martian engineer with a usually insatiable appetite, and Slim (voiced by Libby Morris), a lithe Venusian communications expert.

Their ships, called galaspheres, were top-like in construction, spinning to create artificial gravity within and capable of accelerating to speeds of tens of thousands of miles an hour in deep space. As Space Patrol members, their primary job was exploration and investigation, not enforcement, but their assignments sometimes required them to go into action against individual wrongdoers or invading ships. Their commanding officer, based at Space Headquarters on Earth, was Colonel Raeburn (voiced by American-born Murray Kash), who, aided by his hyper-efficient Venusian secretary Marla (voiced by Libby Morris), sent out the galasphere fleet on its assignments. Supporting them on the scientific side was the whimsical, eccentric Professor Haggerty (voiced by Stevens) and his daughter Cassie (also voiced by Libby Morris). The crew's adventures took them across the solar system, from Mercury to Pluto, and also, on rare occasions, into contact with alien races from other star systems.

Leigh and her co-producer, Arthur Provis, tried to retain as much scientific accuracy as possible for the context of the stories. Toward that end, contacts from outside the solar system and -- even more so -- voyages there, were treated as rare and extraordinary occurrences. In the course of the crew's ordinary duties within the solar system, the series followed the rules of orbital mechanics. Even with the capability of accelerating to (or decelerating from) tens of thousands of miles an hour, the solar system is a huge territory, and as the quarters of a galasphere were very cramped and not overloaded with creature comforts, the crew would have to go into suspended animation for anywhere from ten days to many months, depending upon the position of their destination relative to Earth, and visa versa for the return trip. Their fundamental mission was peaceful, and their main weapon in case of trouble was the plastiform gun, which immobilized and imprisoned malefactors, but did no lasting harm.

The series lasted 39 episodes, produced on an amazingly low budget and shot in black-and-white. Space Patrol/Planet Patrol had the bad fortune to go into production around the same time as a rival space-oriented series populated by marionettes, Fireball XL5, produced by Leigh's former partner Gerry Anderson, which had the advantage of being distributed by Sir Lew Grade's organization and was sold to the NBC network in America. Lower-budgeted but more cleverly written and much more inventive visually, Space Patrol was syndicated in the United States under the title Planet Patrol to avoid confusion with an earlier long-running live-action science fiction series. It became the top-rated children's program in many of the markets in which it was broadcast, including New York City. It was rerun in America until 1967, and in England until a year or so after that, and then disappeared from the air, principally owing to the fact that it had been filmed in black-and-white. It disappeared from the minds and memories of most American viewers, and even in England was long forgotten (or else confused with Fireball XL5). Among those who did remember the series, however, was future Babylon 5 producer/creator J. Michael Straczynski, who made no secret of his debt to the earlier science fiction series.

In the late '90s, episodes of Space Patrol turned up in England, in 16 mm, with many in dubious states of preservation, and began getting distributed on VHS tape under the auspices of the legitimate owner. Eventually, all episodes -- including two in 35 mm -- were located, and masters of varying quality (some excellent, some less than excellent) were prepared. A series of VHS tapes, several featuring bonus interviews with Leigh and many of the surviving participants (and interviews with fans such as Straczynski) surfaced in the late '90s, and a DVD containing a handful of episodes also appeared. The promise of a DVD set of the entire series was made, but it was then delayed for two years, until late 2003. As of the early 21st century, there are active websites devoted to the series, its characters, and its jargon. The cast members report receiving fan mail from now-adult fans of the series (some to their initial bewilderment, over a project from 40 years earlier), and Space Patrol/Planet Patrol is better known than at any time since 1964. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, a gambler tries to win his fortune at the racetrack. While there he finds himself duped by a beautiful blonde con artist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Released to video as Pattern for Plunder, the British Bay of Saint Michel top-bills Hollywood's Keenan Wynn. A group of ex-Army commandos are reunited several years after the war. Their former leader has it on good authority that the Nazis have hidden a huge treasure somewhere in Normandy. Employing their wartime tactics and strategies, the male protagonists -- together with distaff aide Mai Zetterling -- "invade" the coast of France and set about searching for the booty. Bay of Saint Michel was reissued at the height of the "007 craze" as Operation Mermaid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bandit of Zhobe is what actor Hans Conried once described as a "western in burnoose." Victor Mature plays the title character, one Kasim Khan. Cutting a swath of terror and pillage through India, Kasim Khan pauses only to romance the romanceable Anne Aubrey. Khan's principal foes are the British, who have wiped out his family--or so he thinks, until set aright in the final scenes. Anthony Newley co-stars as a comedy-relief British tommy, behaving as though he's just wandered in from another movie. Bandit of Zhobe was coproduced by Albert Broccoli, on the verge of bigger and better things as one of the mentors of the James Bond series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a Yankee rocket scientist stationed in Great Britain becomes an undercover investigator when he suspects that his laboratory base has been infiltrated by an enemy spy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Time Lock is a textbook example of how a talented director and cast can do a lot with a little. Lensed in Canada, the story gets under way when a child is accidentally locked in a bank vault. The vault's time-lock isn't set to open for another 63 hours -- by which time, of course, the child will have suffocated. One expert after another tries to open the lock, to no avail. Finally, an appeal for help over the local radio station yields salvation. Though the film works best as an ensemble effort, Robert Beatty emerges as the star of the proceedings in the role of a no-nonsense vault expert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British detective yarn, a Yankee sleuth teams up with Scotland Yard to catch the culprits behind a successful counterfeiting ring. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this location-filmed domestic seriocomedy, Rosanno Brazzi and Glynis Johns play an accountant and his new wife, honeymooning in Monte Carlo. With the casino in full view and ready for action, the couple would be remiss if they didn't give the gaming tables a try. Besides, Brazzi is certain that he's worked out a "system." Sure enough, the couple's marriage suffers mightily as the lure of the casino becomes stronger than their devotion to each other. Based on a story by Graham Greene, Loser Takes All was remade in 1990 as Strike It Rich, with Robert Lindsay and Mollie Ringwald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide