Wednesday 30 August 2023

THE DANCING DETECTIVE: A DEADLY TANGO (HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES, 2023)

An American police detective and a British dance teacher must work together in Malta. The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango is a charming and humorous TV movie which premiered in June 2023 on U.S. channel Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.

Constance Bailey is a tenacious New York State police detective but she prefers to work alone. She's sent to Malta where the CEO of a global ballroom dancing company was murdered on the eve of his company's corporate dance competition. Sergeant Ana Spiteri, her local liaison with Interpol, informs her that she'll have to investigate undercover as a contestant of this competition. The problem is that Constance can't dance so she must collaborate with Sebastian Moore, a charismatic and free-spirited British dance instructor who will pose as her husband.

Constance Bailey is played by American actress Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls, Party of Five), one of Hallmark's most popular stars. She did more than 30 TV movies with the network since 2010. This includes five Crossword Mysteries between 2019 and 2021. English actor and dancer Will Kemp (Reign), who co-starred in five films for Hallmark, plays Sebastian Moore. Directed by Stefan Scaini (Moriah's Lighthouse, Christmas at Castle Hart),  The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango reunites Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp after Love, Romance and Chocolate (2019) and The Christmas Waltz (2020). Kemp developed the project with Aubrey Day, who wrote the script.

The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango is a joyful, classy and highly entertaining whodunnit illuminated by the undeniable chemistry between its two talented stars. The dialogues (with nods to some classic TV sleuths) are very funny, the Malta locations are mandatorily gorgeous and the dance scenes are splendid. The choreographer of this movie is none other than Jean-Marc Généreux, the French Canadian ballroom dance champion, choreographer and judge for hit TV shows Révolution, Danse avec les Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. He also did the choreography of The Christmas Waltz.

With Bettina Paris (Barbra Stone), Natasa Babic (Mary Aston), Diego Wallraff (Largo Winch, Delta Team) as Kevin Hamilton, Peter Galea (Tom Stevens), Michela Faruggia (Jennifer Tate), Clare Agius (Sergeant Ana Spiteri), Marysia S. Peres (Judy Maxwell), Mikhail Basmadjian (Captain Kelly), etc. Produced by Leif Film Media, Tetrad Productions Ltd. and Movie House Entertainment. Produced in association with 120 dB Films. Exec produced by Michael Mc Laughlin and Danny Weber, Stephen Hays and Peter Graham, Will Kemp, Lacey Chabert and Leif Bristow. Produced by Mark Vennis, Colin Azzopardi, Borga Dorter and Agnes Bristow. Brandon Fidanque is the associate producer. Music by Christopher Guglick.

Cinematography by Russ Goozee, CSC. Edited by Paul Whitehead. Costumes designed by Luminita Lungu. Production designed by Perrine Lejeune and Cédric Van Eesbeeck. Christian Millette (Danse avec les Stars) is the assistant choreographer/dance double.  Brenda Lee Grech, a professional dancer from Malta, is the ensemble choreographer/dance double. The Dancing Detective: A Deadly Tango is a Malta/Canada/UK co-production filmed entirely on location in Malta. Produced with the support of the Government of Malta through the financial incentives of the Malta Film Commission (Screen Malta). Produced with the assistance of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film & Television Tax Credit.

https://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/the-dancing-detective-a-deadly-tango
https://a2zfilminglocation.com/dancing-detective-deadly-filming-locations/
https://www.guglick.com/
https://www.jeanmarcgenereux.com/

Monday 21 August 2023

ALLMEN: THE SECRET OF EROTICISM (ALLMEN UND DAS GEHEIMNIS DER EROTIK - DAS ERSTE, 2021)

A philosophical dandy turned art detective and his loyal butler are in trouble again, because of the former (as usual)

Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik is the fourth of a very enjoyable and stylish German feature-length comedy/detective series aired on Das Erste since 2017.

« Verzeihen Sie mir die peinliche Formulierung. Don John, wir sind pleite. »

Johann Friedrich von Allmen lives in Zurich. He's a bon vivant, a man of culture and taste who likes elegance and refinement. Allmen has no equal when it comes to spending his money, to the point that he squandered the family fortune and came to finance his expensive lifestyle with occasional thefts of pricey antiques. Thankfully, he turned an expertise in tracing missing artworks into a profession as the founder of Allmen International Enquiries. Though it allows him to satisfy his costly habits, his faithful Guatemalan valet Carlos does his best to moderate not without a touch of irony the flamboyant "Don John". Created by bestselling Swiss author Martin Suter, Allmen first appeared in Allmen and the Dragonflies (Allmen und die Libellen, 2011), a novel followed by five more. 

Four Allmen TV movies based on the books were aired by pubcaster Das Erste between 2017 and 2021: Allmen und das Geheimnis der Libellen, Allmen und das Geheimnis des rosa Diamanten, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Dahlien and Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik.  A fifth one, Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi, was shot this year. Those films star Heino Ferch (Nordholm, Anatomy of Evil) as Johann Friedrich von Allmen and Samuel Finzi (Flemming) as Carlos. Andrea Osvárt (Tranporter: The Series) plays Joelle "Jojo" Hirt, the daughter of one of the richest men in Switzerland and Allmen's love interest. From the second film, Isabella Parkinson joined the cast as Carlos' Colombian girlfriend Maria Moreno. Adapted by scriptwriter Martin Rauhaus (Hotel Heidelberg) from the book Allmen und die Erotik, Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik is directed by Thomas Berger (Kommissarin Lucas).

« Aus welchem Grund hätte Nikolaus II einem eher systemkritischen Schriftsteller ein Fabergé-Ei schenken sollen? »

Carlos tries to warn his employer about their financial situation but "Don John" doesn't care. Allmen and Jojo attend a reading organised by Klaus Sternwald, who brought back from Saint Petersburg a Fabergé egg offered to Leo Tolstoi by Czar Nicholas II. Johann meets Jasmin Sterner, the granddaughter of an expert porcelain seller. He decides spontaneously to steal the egg but ignores that he's filmed. Wilhelm Krähenbühler, head of security of the exhibition, does not report him to the police. Instead he wants Allmen to steal a group of porcelain pieces made by German master Johann Joachim Kändler (1706-1775). A last-minute intervention of Maria allows Allmen and Carlos to manage the impossible. The gentleman detective/philosopher visits a very modern cloister. Of course, he cannot resist a double-cross but soon he faces an even more dangerous adversary.

The fast-paced and fun Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik has excellent dialogues, a  very good cast, superb sets and great locations (Prague and Zurich). Most of the charm of these adaptations of Allmen comes from the performances of Heino Ferch (with an incredible look), Samuel Finzi and Isabella Parkinson, a talented trio. Allmen and Carlos are often compared to P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster. With Devrim Lingnau (The Empress) as Jasmin Sterner, Stefan Kurt (Cognatus Reimund), Christoph Bach (Wilhelm Krähenbühler), Kristin Suckow (Irmela), Jörg Pintsch (Klaus Sternwald), Borek Slezácek (Boeni), Roman Smejkal (Taxi driver Arnold), Joe Weintraub (All Quiet on the Western Front) as Vitzum, Roy McCrerey (Richard Hess) and Elizaveta Maximová. Jörg Pintsch played in the second and third Allmen TV movies, but in different roles.

Produced by UFA Fiction  with Mia Film (Der Zürich-Krimi) for ARD Degeto and Das Erste. Benjamin Benedict and Sinah Swyter are the producers. Karsten Kilian and Petr Bílek are the production managers. Holger Krenz and Kirsten Frehse (ARD Degeto) are the line producers. Music by Fabian Römer and Mathias Hillebrand-Gonzalez. Albrecht Konrad is the production designer. Cinematography by Frank Küpper. Editing by Lucas Seeberger. Production services in Prague by Michal Pokorný and Zbyněk Pippal for Mia Film. Allmen und das Geheimnis der Erotik is available in the U.S. and Canada as Allmen: The Secret of Eroticism, thanks to MHz Choice. The SVOD service also has the other TV films. Allmen is distributed by Beta Film.
 

Tuesday 1 August 2023

THE VIRGINIAN - SEASON 3 ON DVD (ELEPHANT FILMS)

The Virginian, the classic western series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, ran for 9 seasons and 249 75-minute episodes on U.S. network NBC from 1962 to 1971. It is available on DVD (All Zone) from Elephant Films, which first released the fully restored series in its entirety from 2014, including episodes never shown on French television.

Since May, Elephant makes The Virginian available again. Seasons 1 to 3 and Seasons 4 to 6 can be bought individually or in "Le Virginien - Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3" and "Le Virginien - Intégrale Volume 2 - Saisons 4 à 6". Seasons 7 to 9 will follow in September.

The Virginian
is set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming at the end of the 19th century and centered on the charismatic and enigmatic foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, only known as  "The Virginian". The character was created by American writer Owen Wister (1860-1938) for his novel The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, first published in 1902. The book was adapted for the stage as of 1903 and four movies were made between 1914 and 1946. Wister's work raised the interest of television in the late 1950s. At the suggestion of
Frank Price, a story editor at Screen Gems (the TV subsidiary of Columbia Pictures), the company produced a 30-minute black and white pilot starring James Drury, a young actor from New York, as The Virginian. The pilot didn't sell and ended up as an episode of the anthology Decision, aired by NBC in summer 1958.
 
The western genre was very popular on U.S. television in the 1950s and 1960s. The most watched show of the 1961-1962 season was NBC's western Wagon Train (1957-1965), produced by Revue Studios, the TV arm of MCA (Music Corporation of America). The second and third most watched programmes were westerns too: Bonanza (1959-1973), also on NBC, and Gunsmoke (1955-1975) on CBS. In 1961, Jennings Lang, vice president of distributor MCA TV, sold new and old episodes of Wagon Train to ABC for $20 million after NBC refused the price proposed by MCA at the end of their five-year contract. Lang gave the executives of NBC something bigger to replace America's #1 programme... The Virginian, television's first 90-minute (with commercial breaks) western series. He asked Frank Price, who joined Revue in 1959, to write the format.
 
The network greenlit the series, to be filmed in colour (1) on 35mm and without a pilot. NBC called The Virginian "the most ambitious and costly programming in network television history" and explained that the 90 minutes allowed full character development and expanded storytelling. They promised location shooting and "at least one major guest star" every week (2). In March 1962 came the announcement that Broadway and film actor Lee J. Cobb (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront) would play the key role of Judge Henry Garth, the owner of the Shiloh Ranch. The rest of the main cast was revealed in May: four years after the Screen Gems pilot, James Drury was chosen to be The Virginian. Doug McClure (Overland Trail, Checkmate) got the role of Trampas, the fun-loving top hand of The Virginian. Gary Clarke (Michael Shayne) was given the part of Steve Hill, a young cowboy.  
 
The other regular characters announced were newspaperwoman Molly Wood, portrayed by Pippa Scott, and Judge Garth's teenage daughter Betsy, played by Roberta Shore. In May 1962, multiple production units started to work simultaneously to provide the 30 75-minute episodes planned, on a schedule requiring to make two or three episodes at the same time. Hence the variable presence of the main characters from an episode to another. With a budget estimated as much as $500,000 each on some episodes (3) and a duel vs Wagon Train on wednesdays to begin in fall 1962, failure was not an option. Long before the launch of The Virginian, NBC and Revue Studios grew dissatisfied with the work of executive producer Charles Marquis Warren on the series and decided to replace him.
 
MCA hired Roy Huggins as a consultant to assess the problems of the episodes already produced and fix them. Huggins was a novelist, scriptwriter and producer who worked for Columbia, RKO, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. For television, he created the hit series Cheyenne (1955-1962), Maverick (1957-1962) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964) (4). Roy Huggins called Frank Price and Joel Rogosin to assist him and asked director Richard L. Bare to shoot new scenes. Charles Marquis Warren remained credited until mid-season, then Roy Huggins and Frank Price officially became executive producer and producer (respectively). Hugh O'Brian, Ricardo Montalbán, George C. Scott, Bette Davis or Vera Miles guest starred in a first season which fulfilled its promises. The Virginian ranked #26 in the ratings, closely following Wagon Train which fell to the 25th position.
 
In 1962, MCA acquired record company Decca, the owner of Universal Pictures and Revue Studios was renamed Universal Television the following year (5). In May 1963, Lee J. Cobb, James Drury, Doug McClure, Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore began to work on the second season of The Virginian. New executive producer Frank Price signed freelance writer Cy Chermak as story editor. Chermak worked on The Dakotas (1963) and Bonanza (6). Produced by Jules Schermer and Winston Miller, season 2 aired from September 1963 to May 1964 on wednesdays. Wagon Train switched to colour and 90 minutes for its seventh season (7) but moved to mondays. In November 1963, NBC announced that Randy Boone would join the regular cast. This young actor and singer from North Carolina, noticed in It's a Man's World (1962-1963), first appeared as guitar playing ranch hand Randy Benton in the 20th episode of the second season.
 
An episode solved the absence of journalist Molly Wood since the middle of season 1 but without Pippa Scott. Ross Elliott recurred as Sheriff Mark Abbott from season 1 to season 7 (except for season 4). L.Q. Jones played Belden, a semi-regular character, from season 2 to the final season. Gena Rowlands, Robert Redford, Dick York, Yvonne DeCarlo, Jack Klugman, Peter Graves or Darren McGavin were some of the guest stars of a second season which ranked #17 in the ratings. Produced by Joel Rogosin, Winston Miller, Frank Telford, Cy Chermak and Gene L. Coon, season 3 aired on NBC from September 1964 to May 1965 every wednesdays. Frank Price remained the executive producer and hired actor Clu Gulager in May 1964 to play the regular role of Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker. Gulager previously played different roles in individual episodes of seasons 1 and 2 of The Virginian. Written by Frank Fenton, directed by Don Richardson and guest starring Leslie Nielsen, season 3's first episode (titled Ryker) introduces the new character.
 
Gary Clarke appeared in three episodes of the third season before the departure of Steve Hill  from Shiloh Ranch after The Girl from Yesterday (episode 9). Those cast changes required a new title sequence, with an emphasis on action (at the request of Jennings Lang). Roberta Shore and Randy Boone were credited together on a shot from their singing duet of Dark Challenge, the second episode. Katherine Crawford, who guest stars in Felicity's Spring (episode 5), is the daughter of Roy Huggins and she married Frank Price in 1965. Written by John Holloway and directed by Don McDougall, Felicity's Spring was the highest rated episode of the season. Linden Chiles plays a spoiled rich young man in Big Image... Little Man (episode 7), penned by Frank Chase and Carey Wilber and helmed by movie serials veteran William Witney. A young Kurt Russell plays in A Father For Toby, written by True Boardman from a story by Tom Seller and directed by Alan Crossland, Jr.  
 
Vera Miles and John Gavin, who both starred in Psycho (1960), play together in Portrait Of A Widow (the 13th episode). Penned by Cy Chermak and helmed by Don McDougall, Hideout (episode 18) is the remake of a western from Universal Pictures called Sierra (1950), itself adapted from  Stuart Hardy's novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom (1937) by Edna Anhalt. In We've Lost a Train, Trampas is sent to Mexico to pick up a prized bull. While at Laredo, he meets a group of Texas Rangers. Written by Borden Chase and directed by Earl Bellamy, the 30th episode of this third season served as a backdoor pilot for the comedy western series Laredo. Produced by Universal Television, Laredo ran on NBC for 56 one-hour colour episodes from  1965 to 1967 and starred Neville Brand (Reese Bennett), William Smith (Joe Riley), Peter Brown (Chad Cooper) and Philip Carey as Captain Edward Parmalee (8)
 
Peter Brown and William Smith guest starred in different roles (for one episode each) during season 3 of The Virginian before the characters of Laredo were introduced in We've Lost a Train. Katharine Ross, Robert Culp, Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Rory Calhoun, Anne Francis, George Kennedy, Adam West or Ida Lupino are amongst the other guest stars of the season. Many familiar faces appear, such as Warren Stevens, Harold Gould, Slim Pickens, Peter Mark Richman, Robert Colbert, Bruce Dern, Tom Skeritt, Leonard Nimoy, etc. Even an unknown Raquel Welch as a saloon girl in episode 1. Actor Jerome Courtland, who co-stars in A Slight Case of Charity (episode 21), became an important television director. Other writers of this 1964-1965 season include Clair Huffaker, Mark Rodgers, Jean Holloway, Howard Browne, Gabrielle Upton and Gene L. Coon.
 
Bernard McEveety, Richard L. Bare, John Florea, Maury Geraghty, William Hale, Richard Benedict and Leon Benson are season 3's other directors. Percy Faith (Tammy Tell Me True) composed the theme music of The Virginian. Composers Sidney Fine, Leo Shuken, Jack Hayes, Lynn Murray, Harry Sukman and Van Cleave worked on the soundtrack. The third season of The Virginian ranked #22 in the ratings. Season 5 reached the Top 10. For its ninth season, the title changed for The Men from Shiloh and a new theme music was composed by Ennio Morricone. Only James Drury and Doug McClure stayed for the entire series. The success of The Virginian paved the way for more 90-minute programmes with continuing characters, like western Cimarron Strip (1967-1968) on CBS or NBC's The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and The NBC Mystery Movie (1971-1977).

The influence of The Virginian on the television industry didn't stop there. The good reception of the first 90-minute western series during the 1962-1963 season encouraged the emergence of the "Made-for-Television movie". In June 1963, MCA and NBC signed a deal to make two-hour colour feature films specifically for the network on a TV budget. The idea was inspired to Jennings Lang because networks competed to air theatrical films. The result was Project 120 and in november 1963 NBC announced the production of Johnny North, "television's first two-hour telefilm", starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson and John Cassavetes. Directed by Don Siegel, it was judged too violent by NBC and Universal released it theatrically as The Killers. Shown in October 1964, See How They Run became the first of those TV movies, folllowed by The Hanged Man in November of the same year.

After The Virginian, James Drury did some stage work and starred in the short-lived Firehouse (1974). He guest starred in a lot of series and attended numerous western festivals and conventions. Doug McClure rotated the lead with Hugh O'Brian and Tony Franciosa in Search (1972-1973). He replaced Dennis Cole in Barbary Coast (1975-1976) after the pilot. The TV movie Satan's Triangle (1975), where he played alongside Kim Novak, is cult in France. His last regular role in a series was in Out of This World (1987-1991). On the big screen, McClure starred in The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At The Earth's Core (1976) or The People That Time Forgot (1977). MCA decided to release some episodes of The Virginian in theaters abroad to recoup some of the production costs (9). Selected episodes of The Virginian arrived on French television from 1966. 
 
The "Le Virginien - Intégrale Saison 3" 15-disc boxset from Elephant Films contains the 30 episodes of season 3, in English with French subtitles as they were never shown on French TV. Bonus material is comprised of an interview with Peter Brown and the trailers of other titles from Elephant Films.

(1) Bonanza was the first TV western to be filmed in colour. Alex Quiroga, the colour consultant of Bonanza and Robert Brower worked as consultants on The Virginian.
(2) NBC Press release (August 29, 1962).
(3) Sponsor (March 19, 1962).
(5)  MCA formed Universal City Studios in 1964 to oversee its film and television activities.
(6) Later, Cy Chermak became the executive producer of Ironside (1967-1975) and CHiPs (1977-1983).
(7) Wagon Train reverted to black and white and 60 minutes for its eighth and final season.
(8) Robert Wolders and Claude Akins joined the regular cast for the second season.
(9)  Ride a Dark Trail, the first episode of season 2, was edited with the 30th episode of the third season (We've Lost A Train, the pilot for Laredo) to form the movie Backtrack! (1969).

https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/mfp/5472590/serie-le-virginien?pid=10516775908 (Intégrale Saison 3)
https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/offer/buy/10516775909/le-virginien-volume-1-saisons-1-a-3.html (Intégrale Volume 1 - Saisons 1 à 3)
http://www.elephantfilms.com

See also: