Friday, 2 October 2026

THE GREAT DETECTIVES: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, THE ADVENTURES OF NICK CARTER, A VERY MISSING PERSON (ABC, 1972)

Sherlock Holmes, Nick Carter and Hildegarde Withers share an umbrella.

Late 1971, Universal Television senior vice president Frank Price proposed to U.S. network ABC the idea of a "wheel series" called The Great Detectives, in the manner of the successful NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977) produced by the company. The "wheel" format consisted in series of various durations (1) rotating under an umbrella title or stars of the same series alternating each week. At first, The NBC Mystery Movie was composed of Columbo, McCloud and McMillan and Wife. NBC had already three other wheel shows from Universal: The Name of the Game (1968-1971), The Bold Ones (1969-1973) and Four in One (1970-1971).
 
Frank Price explained that the wheel format was more expensive than a weekly series but offered variations and attracted big names who only wanted to do a small number of episodes each year (2). He added that The Great Detectives would present an array of classic literary sleuths from any period (3). Sherlock Holmes, Nick Carter and Hildegarde Withers were chosen to test the waters with three pilot films, respectively starring Stewart Granger, Robert Conrad and Eve Arden and aired by ABC between February and March 1972: The Hound of the Baskervilles (February 12, 1972), The Adventures of Nick Carter (February 20, 1972) and A Very Missing Person (March 4, 1972). Their shooting, announced in January 1972, mostly took place at Universal Studios in Hollywood (4).
 
British-born Stewart Granger (The Prisoner of Zenda, King Solomon's Mines) plays Sherlock Holmes, the creation of writer Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Before that, Granger was the lead of The Men from Shiloh, the revamped final season of The Virginian (1962-1971) (5). Dr. John Watson, Sherlock's friend, is played by Welsh actor Bernard Fox (Bewitched, Hogan's Heroes). William Shatner (Star Trek) as George Stappleton, Anthony Zerbe (Dr. Mortimer), Sally Ann Howes (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Laura Frankland, Jane Merrow (Beryl Stappleton), Ian Ireland (Sir Henry Baskerville), John Williams (Arthur Frankland), Alan Caillou  (Inspector Lestrade), etc.
 
In 19th century England, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must protect the last heir of the Baskervilles from a family curse. This adaptation of Doyle's famous novel was written by Robert E. Thompson (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) and directed by Barry Crane (Mannix, Mission: Impossible). Producer, director and Universal Television executive Richard Irving (Columbo) exec produces The Hound of the Baskervilles. Produced by Stanley Kallis (Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible). Arthur D. Hilton is the associate producer. Musical supervisor Hal Mooney picked the stock music. The main theme is from The Night Walker (1964) by Vic Mizzy (The Addams Family). Special photographic effects by Albert Whitlock. His superb matte paintings cannot save this version, hampered by cheap-looking production values and the scenario.  
 
The Adventures of Nick Carter (tentatively titled Nick Carter: Where is Evy Duncan?) is based on the character conceived by Ormond G. Smith and created by John R. Coryell for dime novels first published in 1886. In 1912 New York, private detective Nick Carter investigates the death of a friend when he's hired to find a missing woman from a rich family. Robert Conrad embraced the role of Carter as an opportunity to display his taste for action scenes and perform his own stunts, like what he did in The Wild Wild West (1965-1969). Ken Pettus, whose resume includes the latter, The Big Valley, The Green Hornet or Hawaii Five-O, wrote the script.  Paul Krasny, one of Conrad's favourite directors since his guest spots on Mannix and Mission: Impossible, helmed The Adventures of Nick Carter.  
 
Brooke Bundy plays Nick's secretary Roxy O'Rourke. With Shelley Winters (Bess Tucker), Broderick Crawford (Otis Duncan), Neville Brand (Laredo) as Captain Dan Keller, Pernell Roberts (Bonanza) as Neal Duncan, Pat O'Brien (Hallelujah Harry), Sean Garrison (Lloyd Deams), Laraine Stephens (Joyce Jordan),  Dean Stockwell (Freddy Duncan), Sorrell Booke... Produced by Stanley Kallis. Arthur D. Hilton is the associate producer. Music by John Andrew Tartaglia. The Adventures of Nick Carter is basically Robert Conrad as James West AND his pal Artemus Gordon (Carter disguises himself) in an episode of Mannix. A Very Missing Person is set in contemporary New York, where schoolteacher turned private investigator Hildegarde Withers is asked by her friend Inspector Oscar Piper to locate a young heiress. Hildegarde hires Vietnam veteran Aloysius "Al" Fister to assist her.
 
Remembered for the role of a schoolteacher in the sitcom Our Miss Brooks (1952-1956), Eve Arden is the sardonic Hildegarde Withers. A Very Missing Person was adapted by Philip H. Reisman Jr. (P.J.) from Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene, the last in the Hildegarde Withers book series (1931-1969) by Stuart Palmer. Fletcher Flora completed Palmer's manuscript after the author's death in 1968. Helmed by Russ Mayberry, the film is produced by Edward J. Montagne. Music by Vic Mizzy. Also starring James Gregory (Inspector Piper). Guest starring Julie Newmar (Batman) as Aleatha Westering and Ray Danton (Captain Westering). Co-starring Dennis Rucker (Al), Pat Morita (Delmar Faulkenstein), Ezra Stone (Judge), Woodrow Parfrey (Eberhardt) and Skye Aubrey (Lenore Gregory). A Very Missing Person is the best of the three pilots, Eve Arden and James Gregory are irresistible.
 
ABC chose not to go further with The Great Detectives and none of its pilots became series. The network opted instead for another umbrella programme, named The Men and composed of three hour-long series shown from September 1972 to April 1973: Jigsaw, Assignment Vienna and The Delphi Bureau. Created by Robert E. Thompson, Jigsaw was partly produced by Stanley Kallis for Universal Television. Robert Conrad was signed in July 1972 to star in Assignment Vienna, a MGM Television production, after Roy Scheider refused to continue beyond the pilot (Assignment: Munich). Paul Krasny directed a couple of episodes. Warner Bros. Television produced The Delphi Bureau. In France, the Première chaîne of ORTF aired The Adventures of Nick Carter on January 1, 1974. France 3 showed The Hound of the Baskervilles on June 30, 1997.
 
In 1973, Jacques Nahum (Arsène Lupin) produced for ORTF a 6 x 60-minute anthology entitled Les Grands Détectives. The series adapted literary sleuths Inspector Wens (Stanislas-André Steeman), Slim Callaghan (Peter Cheney), Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lecoq (Émile Gaboriau), Nick Carter and Auguste Dupin (Edgar Allan Poe). Two years earlier, Nahum did an adaptation of The Murders in the Rue Morgue for the Première chaîne. Coincidentally, Poe was one of the authors envisioned by Frank Price for The Great Detectives (6). In 1989, Universal and ABC launched The ABC Mystery Movie with the return of Columbo (amongst others). It was cancelled after two seasons but Columbo continued occasionally until 2003.
 
(1) Usually 75-minute episodes (without commercials). 
(2)(3)(6) American newspapers.
(4) The Hound of the Baskervilles was shot in three weeks from December 1971 to January 1972. 
(5) Produced by Universal for NBC, The Virginian was the first 90-minute western series (75 minutes without commercials). Frank Price devised its format, was the executive producer and remolded it as a wheel series for its last season.
 
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Monday, 1 June 2026

MÉLISSA (ORTF, 1968)

A man suspected of murdering his wife tries to find out the truth in a riveting mystery devised by a master of the genre.

Mélissa is a 2 x 105-minute colour French TV movie produced by ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) and presented by the Deuxième chaîne on June 29, 1968 and July 6, 1968. It is based on Melissa, a six-part television serial aired on the BBC in 1964 (1) and written by Francis Durbridge (1912-1998). This English scriptwriter began in radio in 1933. His most known creation is Paul Temple, a crime novelist and amateur sleuth. Temple solved whodunits with his wife Louise (nicknamed "Steve") in more than 20 radio serials written by Durbridge (1938-1968) (2), four feature films (1946-1952) and a TV series (1969-1971). Besides Paul Temple, Francis Durbridge wrote 20 television serials shown by the BBC between 1952 and 1980 in A Francis Durbridge Serial/Francis Durbridge Presents. He was the author of several novels and a playwright too. 
 
The work of Francis Durbridge was often remade outside the UK for radio (3) and television. Apart from France, local TV versions of  Melissa were produced in Germany (1966), Italy (1966) and Poland (1970). Mélissa was helmed by director, screenwriter and producer Abder Isker (1920-2010). He penned the adaptation with José-André Lacour and Aristide-Christian Charpentier. Born in the Kabylia region of Algeria, Abder Isker played football from 1939 to 1943 while studying law in Algiers. Fluent in English, he served as a translator during World War II. In the 1950s, Isker was a radio reporter before he fulfilled his ambition to direct for the RTF (Radiodiffusion-Télévision française) (4). He helmed different kinds of programmes and showed a taste for mystery and suspense. First on the radio with Les Enquêtes de Sherlock Holmes (1958-1960), Les Aventures d'Arsène Lupin (1960-1961) and Les Exploits de Nick Carter (1961-1963). Then on TV by filming stories of writers like Mel Dinelli (Un homme dans la maison, 1962), Frédéric Dard (La Dernière porte, 1963), Barry Thomas (Promenade en landau, 1965), Philip Levene (Les coupables, 1965) and Francis Durbridge (L'écharpe, 1966).   
 
Francis Durbridge and Frédéric Dard were Abder Isker's favourite authors. He had a long collaboration with Dard and became the French specialist of Durbridge. Mélissa is his second adaptation of a Durbridge story. Christian Dancourt, an unemployed journalist, doesn't want to go to a reception with his wife Mélissa because he's writing a novel. She leaves their Parisian appartment with Madeleine and Stéphane Auclair. In the evening, Mélissa phones to tell her husband that an important man can't wait to meet him at his house. Near the Champ-de-Mars, Dancourt asks his way to a policeman and he learns that a woman has been strangled... his wife, Mélissa. Commissaire Laurent interrogates him and doubts his version. The fact that he denies consulting a neurologist doesn't help. In the appartment, Christian finds gloves used by the murderer. Mélissa had secrets and Christian Dancourt must search for answers in Nogent-le-Roi. Singer and actress Corinne Marchand is Mélissa. After cabaret revues and films such as Cadet Rousselle (1954), Napoléon (1955) and Gigi (1958), she was cast in the operetta Pacifico (1958-1959). Agnès Varda spotted Corinne Marchand in Lola (1961) and chose her for Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962), which made Marchand famous. 
 
Christian Dancourt is played by Pierre Michaël, an actor from Belgium. Already a familiar name of the Belgian stage, he moved to Paris in 1956 and performed plays by Peter Ustinov, George Bernard Shaw, Françoise Sagan, Peter Shaffer and others. French viewers got to know him thanks to various one-off dramas. Before Mélissa, his fourth TV movie under the direction of Abder Isker, Michaël was the inspector in L'écharpe. He starred or co-starred in Fortune (1969), Pont Dormant (1972), Dossier: Danger immédiat (1977) and Symphonie (1986). Less present on the big screen, he appeared in four films between 1959 and 1972 but returned to cinema in the 1980s (5). Member of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company from 1948 to 1968, William Sabatier (Commissaire Laurent) had roles on stage until 1988, in movies and in a big number of dramas or series. He frequently portrayed historical figures, like Napoleon. William Sabatier was the dubbing voice of Marlon Brando,  Richard Harris, Rod Steiger, Howard Keel in Dallas or John Thaw in Inspector Morse.
 
Philippe Dumat made his debut in 1943. Post-war he got praises for his participations to plays by Jean-Paul Sartre and André Roussin. In 1956 Dumat joined Les Branquignols, the comedy troupe of Robert Dhéry and Colette Brosset.  With them he played Pommes à l'anglaise and in the show La Plume de ma tante, a huge hit in London. Beyond theatre (6), Philippe Dumat was a reliable character actor in films and TV productions. Not only his voice could be heard in radio plays but he dubbed Donald Pleasence, Laurence Olivier, Alec Guiness, Albert Finney,  Paul Lynde in Bewitched, John Banner in Hogan's Heroes, David Doyle, Dick Van Patten, Gargamel, Scrooge McDuck, Andy Griffith in Matlock and many others. Claude Titre (Jean-Claude Lefranc), Micheline Francey (Madeleine Auclair), Perrette Pradier (Carole Salva), Jean Michaud (Dr. Salmon), Catherine Derlat (Danièle Fontagnier) and Catherine Allégret (Aline Grazielli) are some of the other cast members.
 
Mélissa was shot in the Buttes-Chaumont studios on video and on 16mm film for the locations (Paris and Nogent-le-Roi). Francis Durbridge attended the filming in Paris (7).  Sets 13 and 14 of the Buttes-Chaumont were used between January 5, 1968 and January 15, 1968 for seven days. Location scenes were filmed  on January 29 and January 30, 1968. The rehearsals took place from December 1, 1967 to January 4, 1968 (almost every day). The theme of Mélissa was composed by Mireille (Mireille Hartuch) and sung by Frida Boccara. Between 1955 and 1974, composer and singer Mireille hosted Le Petit conservatoire de la chanson, a radio and later TV programme (helmed by Abder Isker from 1962) where she taught singing to aspiring variety artists. Frida Boccara, one of her students, reached international fame with Cent mille chansons in 1968 and she was one of the winners of Eurovision in 1969. Sound illustration of Mélissa by Hubert d'Auriol. Cinematography by Marc Fossard. Film editing by Marie-Louise Gesbert. 
 
After Mélissa, Abder Isker transposed five more Durbridge: Bat Out of Hell (À corps perdu, 1970), A Game of Murder  (La Mort d'un champion, 1972), A Man Called Harry Brent (Un certain Richard Dorian, 1973), The Passenger (La Passagère, 1974) and Tim Frazer: The Salinger Affair (La Mort d'un touriste, 1975). Philip Levene, Richard Harris and Donald Wilson are amongst the other writers he adapted. In the 1970s, the director chose to shoot his fictions entirely on video. The rest of his resume includes episodes of Maguy (1985-1983), La calanque (1987-1988) and Les filles d'à côté (1993-1995). He was also the directeur artistique et littéraire of the anthology Drôles d'histoires (TF1, 1988-1997). Selim Isker, son of Abder Isker, directed episodes of the latter. Throughout his career, Isker kept working on all sorts of programmes (culture, concerts, sports, religion, gameshows, travel...). He trained directors in Algeria, promoted Algerian singers on ORTF and produced their records. 
 
Akim Isker, the grand-nephew of Abder Isker, is the director of L'Affaire Laura Stern (2026) and L'Enfant de personne (2021). Before that he worked on Double Je (2019) or Chérif (2013-2019). Son of Pierre Michaël, Jean-Pierre Michaël is a theatre and television actor. Ex-member of the Comédie-Française (1989-2005), he starred in the first two seasons of RIS police scientifique (2006-2014). Jean-Pierre Michaël appears regularly in TV movies and on stage. He's the French voice of Brad Pitt,  Keanu Reeves or Ethan Hawke.
 
Special thanks to Rémi Carémel, who runs the excellent blog Dans l'ombre des studios..., for the filming and rehearsal dates of Mélissa. 
 
(1)  Melissa was remade twice for the BBC, in 1974 and 1997.
(3) Notably in Germany, where 13 Paul Temple radio serials were produced between 1949 and 1968. René Deltgen starred in 12 of them.
(4) The predecessor of ORTF.
(5) Pierre Michaël played in Une étrange affaire (1981), La Passante du Sans-Souci (1982), Légitime Violence (1982), L'Africain (1983) and La Diagonale du fou (1984). 
(6) Philippe Dumat also participated to Au théâtre ce soir (1966-1986), a television programme which showed pre-recorded plays.
(7) Télé 7 Jours. 
 
 
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Friday, 20 February 2026

DOCTEUR CARAÏBES (ORTF, 1973)

In Guadeloupe, a dashing doctor confronts gangsters and a mysterious adversary.

Docteur Caraïbes is an European adventure series made in 1968 for ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) and composed of  4 x 90-minute TV movies: L'Or de l'Astrolabe, Amende honorable, Le Pigeon bleu and L'Homme à l'Albatros. Each was split into 3 x 30-minute episodes. ORTF aired Docteur Caraïbes on the Deuxième chaîne from January 17, 1973 to February 12, 1973 as 12 half-hour episodes. Jean-Pierre Decourt, the director of Rocambole (1964-1965), Lagardère (1967) and five episodes of Arsène Lupin (1971-1974), helmed the series. The scenario was written by  Marcel Jullian (Le Cerveau, Les Enquêteurs associés), Jean-Pierre Decourt and Raymond Jacquet. Filmed in English and dubbed in French, Docteur Caraïbes was co-produced by Telecip and ORTF with British film laboratories Humphries Holdings Ltd and Italian company Firmfilm. 

Humphries planned to expand its activities into the production field. Man with the Albatross/The Man and the Albatross (L'Homme à l'Albatros) was chosen as the first of four Dr. Caribbean feature film versions of the TV movies due to be distributed in the UK and Commonwealth between 1968 and 1969 (1). When the Deuxième chaîne showed Docteur Caraïbes, Telecip was the successful producer of Les Nouvelles Aventures de Vidocq (1971-1974), Aux frontières du possible (1971-1974) and La Demoiselle d'Avignon (1972) with Louis Velle and Marthe Keller. Written by Louis Velle with author and scriptwriter Frédérique Hébrard, his wife, La Demoiselle d'Avignon gave the actor, playwright and writer a huge popularity (2). The same year, French viewers saw him in Le 16 à Kerbriant and L'Homme qui revient de loin (a Telecip production). He was chosen for the lead role of Docteur Caraïbes by Jean-Pierre Decourt after Jean Piat, the star of Lagardère, turned it down (3). 

Louis Velle plays Dr. Marc Saint-Jacques, aka "Doctor Caribbean", a physician-scientist working in Guadeloupe. Marc is caught in a shooting on the beach where a sailor named Jeff is targeted  by mobsters in white hats and suits (the "Sea Fleas gang") and their boss Neron. Inspecteur Philippe ("Phil"), a friend of Marc, interrogates him and Jeff. Saint-Jacques investigates on his own while Dr. Laura Méline, his new assistant, would prefer him to focus on science. Neron works for Denniger, an enigmatic millionaire. Jeff is played by Jess Hahn, an American actor settled in France. The French public watched him in numerous cinema and television productions done in Europe such as The Trial (1962), Topkapi (1964), Les Barbouzes (1964), Les Saintes Chéries (1965-1970),  L'Île Mystérieuse (1973), and many others.

English actress Suzanna Leigh (Laura Méline) was seen in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), Deadlier Than the Male (1967) or The Persuaders! (1971). Italian character actor Tiberio Murgia (After The Fox) is Tiberio, a junk dealer. Murgia and Jess Hahn were in Le Saint prend l'affût (1966). Georges Aminel, an actor of Martinican origin, plays Phil. Aminel was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1967 to 1972. Best remembered as the French voice of Darth Vader in three Star Wars movies, he dubbed Yul Brynner or Orson Welles. Denniger is portrayed by Paul Massie, a Canadian-born actor. His resume includes Orders to Kill  (1958), The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), The Rebel (1961) and roles in No Hiding Place (1961),  The Avengers (1965), etc. In 1974 Paul Massie changed careers to be a theatre professor for the University of South Florida.

Jean Négroni (Neron) was mainly a theatre actor and director but he appeared on television and in movies, amongst which Le Deuxième Souffle (1966), L'Alpagueur (1975) and I... comme Icare (1979). He was the narrator of La Jetée (1962) and the French dubbing voice of Ben Kingsley in several films. In L'Or de l'Astrolabe, Marc and Laura help Jeff and Rosa (Viviane Ventura) against Neron, who covets a treasure. The friendship of Marc and Jeff is put to the test in Amende honorable. The latter must pay a big fine for rum trafficking, though he's innocent, or he'll lose his boat. In Le Pigeon bleu, Laura is under the surveillance of Neron's chauffeur (François Jaubert), CIA agents Malan (Bill Hutchinson) and Watson (Matt Zimmerman, Thunderbirds), and a photographer (Armando Francioli). Hitchcock actress Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie) is the special guest star of L'Homme à l'Albatros as Sonia.

The other main actors of Docteur Caraïbes are Gino Lazzari (Red) and Philippe de la Cruz (Apollino). Exec produced by Robert Velin. English version produced by Donald Getz. Michel Wyn, the line producer and second unit director, later helmed La Demoiselle d'Avignon and L'Homme qui revient de loin. Music composed by Jack Arel (Aux frontières du possible) and performed by Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, conducted by Pierre Dutour. End title Sous un ciel de feu sung by Herbert Léonard. Music by Jack Arel, Lyrics by Vline Buggy (4). Cinematography by André Dumaître. Editing by Renée Lichtig (Coplan FX18 casse tout) and Peter Sykes (The Avengers), assisted with Phil Stevens, Clarin Scott and John House. Stunts by Daniel Perche. Docteur Caraïbes was shot in Guadeloupe (Pointe-à-Pitre, Deshaies...) from May to August 1968.

The expansion of  Humphries Holdings didn't turn as intended. On Docteur Caraïbes, the company is only credited for its laboratory work (not as a co-producer). A cinema version of L'Or de l'Astrolabe surfaced in French theaters in July 1970 under the title of Docteur Caraïbes. The four TV movies were released in France on VHS in the 1990s by Koba Films Vidéo (5). The 12 half-hour episodes are available on DVD since 2021 thanks to Elephant Films and its collection Les Joyaux de la Télévision. They are the best way to enjoy the entertaining Docteur Caraïbes. Louis Velle is a perfect action hero with panache and humour. Jess Hahn is an excellent sidekick. Suzanna Leigh is basically a James Bond girl of the era. Georges Aminel, Paul Massie and Jean Negroni are great. Director Jean-Pierre Decourt continued to helm important TV productions like Schulmeister, espion de l'empereur (1971-1974), Les évasions célèbres (1972), Trois Mâts pour l'Aventure (1973), Michel Strogoff (1975) or Kidnapped (1978). 

Louis Velle returned to the adventure genre with L'étrange Monsieur Duvallier (1979), a series based on the Raner novels by Claude Klotz. After La Demoiselle d'Avignon, Frédérique Hébrard and Louis Velle did Le Mari de l'Ambassadeur (1990), Le château des oliviers (1993) and Le Grand Batre (1997).

(1) Box Office, September 1968.
(2) Before La Demoiselle d'Avignon, Frédérique Hébrard and Louis Velle penned Comment ne pas épouser un millionaire (1966).
(3)  Jean Piat preferred the movie La Tour de Nesle (1968). Later Jean-Pierre Decourt offered him the lead role of Arsène Lupin but the actor turned it down too.
(4) Pseudonym of lyricist Liliane Konyn, who worked for Claude François, France Gall and others. For Herbert Léonard she also wrote Pour le plaisir (1981) or Puissance et Gloire, the end title song of Chateauvallon (1984).
(5) A subsidiary of Koba Films, the company founded by Frédérique Hébrard and Louis Velle in 1973.
 
 
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