The Bells Toll at Noon
Wmkoenig
Excellent episode, one of the best of the later shows. Top marks all around
for director Jack Lord, scripter Charles Larson and composer Morton Stevens.
Rich Little hasn't done that many dramatic roles but he's great here as the
mentally disturbed Johnny Kling, driven off the deep end by the death of a
young woman he loved.
An oddity. When Kling shoots the Milton Seltzer character, his silencer
works OK. In the climatic scene, the silencer doesn't work at all. But at least
they put the silencer on an automatic, where it at least had a chance to work.
I wonder if this show were made today whether Warner Bros. and Time Warner
would permit use of clips from movies like "The Public Enemy," "White Heat,"
and "The Roaring Twenties"? When this episode was made, Warner Bros. did not
own its own film library from 1948 and before (it was sold during a financial
crunch). Normally, you'd expect there to be some copyright notice of the films
in the end titles but none is shown here.
FYI, The pre-1948 Warner Bros. library was bought by MGM, whose film library
in turn was purchased by Ted Turner. Warner Bros. didn't get the library back
until Time Warner purchased Turner's company with stock (making old Ted Time
Warner's biggest shareholder).
Bill K.
NHunter539
Rich Little used to be quite popular. Too bad you don't hear much about him
any more. He did a good job in this episode.
I liked McGarrett telling the guy at the beginning "Don't get snotty with me
pal".
Loved the scene in the motel with the old recording playing "I'm Forever
Blowing Bubbles". Very eerie. Even had McGarrett spooked.
Jack Lord did a wonderful directing job with this.
Nancy
Black227
>Jack Lord did a wonderful directing job with this.
Yes, he had talent as a director, maybe even a bit more as an acto--, and he
was a good actor. It's too bad he didn't seem to get to do a lot of that after
Five-O. I remember reading somewhere that directing is what he wanted to do,
after Five-O but maybe shortly thereafter was when his illness started.
There was one scene, when Rich Little comes to 'off' the second man that Lord
lingered the camera on a particular painting. One of his, perhaps?
Barb
Capeloto
Perhaps I didn't hear this correctly, but was the Milton Seltzer character
described as 41 years old whn Five-0 was trying to locate him? He sure looked
a heck of a lot older trhan that!
Jim