Monday, May 28, 2018

TV review - "Playhouse 90 - Forbidden Area" (1956) **1/2

The first episode of the legendary Playhouse 90 has some heavyweight talent - adapted by Rod Serling (pre Twilight Zone but still famous for Patterns), directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Charlton Heston, Diana Lynn, Vincent Price, Charles Bickford, Victor Jory, and Tab Hunter.

Hunter was known as a pretty boy star at the time but is very effective as a Russian sleeper agent. It's about a Russian invasion of the US.

There's probably a bit too much going on here... it's a whole invasion of the US, with Hunter just a part of it. It would've been better off just focusing on Hunter trying to fit in. He provides the best moments, killing a fellow soldier, and also the final confrontation with Heston.

The romance between Heston and Lynn isn't very good - he molests her, she falls in love. He looks impressively bad ass though with that eye patch (it's tied in with the story - means he can't fly). Vincent Price is a little oddly cast as a Pentagon boffin but Charles Bickford perfect as a tough type.

It's overly ambitious - and not quite believable this is how Russia would attack the US. Smaller and more focused on Hunter and Heston would've worked better. John Frankenheimer directed.

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