Guest Who: All's "Welles!"

During these brisk winter months (I woke up to a 10-degree morning today!), I've been nestling in with some comfort television. One of the shows I've discovered is really pretty obscure, being that it's a 1973 British anthology and I am in the hinterlands of Ohio. If it ever ran on stations here, I certainly never knew it. But watching the series now, I've enjoyed discovering a number of "my" people appearing in episodes. (These are generally members of the 1970s disaster movie club!) Often times, my people are also you're people, too, so perhaps you'll like seeing them as well! The show is called Orson Welles Great Mysteries. A variety of classic short stories and contemporary tales were intermixed along the way. Some notable names who took part (but are not depicted below) include Jose Ferrer, Susannah York, Peter Cushing, Jack Cassidy, David Birney, Eli Wallach, Janice Rule and others. All 26 episodes are available on YouTube in pretty decent quality. 

Each episode gets off to a captivating start thanks to the dazzlingly groovy, funky string & synth theme music! Courtesy of the genius John Barry, it strikes a haunting, mildly menacing chord while allowing for a variety of situations. It can be heard here (with video quality that is not as good as the presented eps are blessed with on YT.)

Taking a page from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, each installment is introduced (and capped off at the end) by the host, Orson Welles. Radio-era zenith Welles undeniably has the voice for this...

...though one's enjoyment of his delivery may vary depending on your tolerance for his glances at the nearby cue cards.

Episode 2 - The Leather Funnel - held great things in store for me. You can see part of the title object in the foreground of this shot. The two principle stars of this one happen to be part of my formative years, as has been noted here multiple times.

Simon Ward and the great Christopher Lee had just done the wondrous The Three Musketeers (1973) together and, thanks to the cover for the tie-in paperback of the classic story, they are among the first actors I ever knew by name. Lee, of course, is legendary in The Underword for having costarred in Airport '77 (1977.)

The Duke of Buckingham and Rochefort share no scenes in Musketeers, so it was neat to see them in what is almost a two-person program.

The leather funnel of the tale turns out to be an instrument of torture from years prior!

Adding to the fun is a dream sequence/flashback in which we find this vixen and a young priest.

It's young Jane Seymour! She'd just finished playing a key role in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973.) Mr. Lee would enact the title villain the following year in The Man with the Golden Gun.

And the priest, looking for all the world like a youthful Vincent Price, is one Simon MacCorkindale making his very first (uncredited) appearance on television. 

Episode 3 - A Terribly Strange Bed - tells of this top-hatted man, a gambler in an seedy establishment, winning a bundle of money, yet too inebriated to make it home safely to his own estate. Though it's made up for later on, at first we can barely get a good glimpse of him!

It's young Edward Albert! Considering that Albert had just costarred in Butterflies Are Free (1972) and Forty Carats (1973), it's clear that this well-heeled series wasn't balking at spending money for then-popular talent. Albert eventually costarred in one of our guilty pleasures, the disaster disaster flick When Time Ran Out... (1980.)

The boozed-up Albert is ultimately shown to a room upstairs of the tavern where he woozily climbs into bed. (The tied-up scarf in the foreground contains all his gambling winnings for the evening.)

As he's about to drift off, he keeps becoming fixated on a rather menacing portrait that hangs near his bed.

His adventure is only beginning, however, as he rises to examine the picture more clearly and to retrieve his bag of loot. We just wish he'd have peeled off more of his period costume.

Episode 5 - The Dinner Party - is a contemporary tale concerning an accountant (Anton Rodgers) who is under consideration for promotion to company controller for his stuffy, conservative firm. He and his wife have been invited to a an eight-person formal dinner, during which his wife will be scrutinized for her suitability as the spouse of someone in such a high position.

Said wife is enacted by our beloved Dame Joan Collins.

Tarted-up and as common as the day is long, this role gives us an idea of what it might have been like had la Collins been pressed into service as Linda Rogo in The Poseidon Adventure (1972!) In the shot to the right,you can almost see in her expression, "What the hell happened?"

Far from making a positive impression on the other husbands and their well-to-do wives, she practically works at disappointing them as much as possible!

The plot of this is almost an inversion of Woman's World (1954) in which June Allyson, Lauren Bacall and Arlene Dahl each tried to impress their husbands' boss in order to help win him a promotion. Here, three woman look over Collins to see if she'll be appropriate enough.

It's fun to watch her be as brazenly crass as she can manage while the onlookers' mouths gape.

Needless to say, the dinner party is nothing short of a debacle.

"So that's the cat this ship is named after...?"

One of my favorite parts came when Collins' contact lens went missing in her eye and she not only used her sterling silver dinner knife as a mirror, but also told a hysterically base story about a friend of hers who'd run into a similar problem.

Episode 13 - Death of an Old-Fashioned Girl began with the body of a young woman lying on the floor dead in front of a large portrait.

Through a series of flashbacks, we find struggling artist Stephan Chase being introduced to a prestigious agent (John Le Mesurier) through his supportive wife, played by Francesca Annis.

Though Chase's horrendous blond bouf remains persistently present throughout, Annis sports several different hairstyles as the decade-long story plays out.

Having become a successful artist, Chase soon catches the eye of an admirer, Carol Lynley.

Lynley was rather fresh off the boat, literally, from portraying cruise ship singer Nonnie in The Poseidon Adventure (1972) the year before.

As the tale proceeds, it becomes clear to Annis that her husband, who she practically guided to acclaim through her support and determination, has fallen for the young blonde.

Before all is said and done, a killing has occurred, with four suspects on hand as potential murderers.

Perhaps part of it was the rather unsympathetic character, but I found Ms. Lynley to be a bit strident and overstated this time out.

For my money, Annis acted rings around her and it is she who emerges as the more memorable performer in the piece.

The wrap-up of this one was a total surprise, I have to say. The ending really makes it. I knew practically nothing about Ms. Annis except that she'd been the cougar-ish lover of Ralph Fiennes during his peak hey-day, but now I look forward to seeing her in some other projects.

Episode 18 - The Power of Fear features another one of our favorite people, Miss Shirley Knight. (At this time, she'd adopted the marital "Shirley Knight-Hopkins," which she eventually abandoned, even though she was married to her husband until he died.)

As Knight is speaking long-distance to her husband, a plumber arrives to work on a leak in the cellar.

The plumber is played by Don Murray. To say that he is insinuating and vaguely menacing is an understatement. He misses no opportunity to close in on the increasingly uncomfortable Knight as he sort of does his job.

I found this pairing to be something of a treat since the two actors would later be paired again, the next time as spouses.

Yes, in 1981 they played the disagreeing parents of Brooke Shields in Franco Zeffirelli's Endless Love! Murray left the security of Knots Landing in order to pursue movies again, though notable roles in the cinema were few and far between by that point.

His character in this story is a real piece of work and pretty creepy.

Knight, who was residing in England at the time, would soon take part in Juggernaut (1974) before coming back to the States for work on US television and the occasional movie (such as the immortal Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, 1979, which is where we first discovered and learned to adore her!)

Episode 21 - Ice Storm, was the first one of these I caught. I was in the mood for a tight little mystery and it caught my eye. It showcases Claire Bloom as the assistant to a wealthy businessman who has arranged for three associates to view some priceless manuscripts in his home that evening.

Unfortunately, her employer is soon dead of a gunshot to the head! He'd just told her that one of the three men en route to his house, where she's prepared a light buffet, is an imposter. But he never said which one!

Thus, Bloom is left to welcome three gentlemen into the house, all the while attempting to figure out which one of them is primed to steal the manuscripts. (And, as she eventually realizes, the same man has also knocked off her employer!)

All three of the guests are hawk-like in wanting to see the collection, which is locked away in a safe when they arrive.

Also on hand, possibly complicating matters, is the driver of their car.

The amateur sleuth Bloom is carefully photographed throughout with some very lovely closeups. This episode was captivating enough that it led me to seek out some of the others.

The last one I'm featuring today is episode 22 - Come Into My Parlour. It starts off with a concert pianist, draped in chiffon, plying her trade in a concert hall. 

Soon enough we see that she is Miss Dana Wynter, Cindy Bakersfeld of our beloved Airport (1970.)

Later, we find her in her luxurious hotel, having arranged for a visit from a long ago friend of hers.

The friend is revealed to be Anne Jackson. It's not long before we see that though the two had once been close pals, there was an event between them that drove a wedge between their association.

As their conversation proceeds, Jackson becomes more and more defensive and concerned while Wynter becomes increasingly agitated.

It's a great opportunity for two skillful actresses to go head-to-head for about 20 minutes, with multiple shades in their personalities coming into play.

I'm less familiar with Jackson, who did a fine job in the piece, than I am with Wynter, who I love. Like most of the ladies seen throughout this series, she's well-lit and photographed in a flattering way. Perhaps you'll check this, or others I haven't noted, out and find yourself entertained for about 25 minutes at a time.