Show200
Nice touch When Armand shoves Phillippe down into the snow, Phillippe looks up with snow caked behind his eyeglasses! jfh 18Jun2020
+ Was McCallum actually a heartthrob a few decades ago as the Summary describes? He’s kind of cute, but…. Submitted by gracenote, 3/11/2011.
++ I think so, Gracenote. I remember when he was on 'The Man From UNCLE' and the girls did indeed swoon over him. These were mostly pre-teen, or early teen aged girls, but he was VERY popular among that set. And he still has a following as Ducky on 'NCIS' Submitted by Rickapolis 09/26/2012
+++ Oh, Yes! As Illya Kuryakin, Napoleon Solo's sidekick on The Man from U.N.C.L.E, a part 180° removed from Phillippe, he was definitely on the A-list of heartthrobs of the mid-60's. My dad was a huge fan of the show so I can remember firsthand. I was too young to be truly swoony, but old enough to appreciate his charms. Sidenote: there is a main boulevard in Palm Springs that for years I thought was named for DM, but one of the early pioneers in the area had the same last name. OLEF641 7/3/21
++++ Another confirmed Ilya Kuryakin fanatic here. During the Man from U.N.C.L.E. days, my sister and I had 2 separate memberships in the David McCallum Fan Club, as we couldn’t bear to share the treasured photos of our idol. SoCalSis 2/28/2023
McCallum was sometimes referred to as "the fifth Beatle" because he was so popular (and had a mop top like the Beatles did). Remember, in The Man From UNCLE he didn't wear glasses and play a hapless wimp, but a secret agent who could take care of himself. His popularity I think came as a surprise to the producers of the show, who thought he'd just be a minor character at first. He reminds me of Leonard Nimoy on Star Trek, whose popularity overshadowed that of the main star, William Shatner. Neither McCallum or Nimoy had that leading-man quality, but I think that helped endear them to a lot of people. Submitted by scarter, 3/30/2015
+ Another example that immediately comes to mind is Henry Winkler in Happy Days. Added by H. Mason 3/30/15
McCallum's cringeworthy "French" accent comes and goes throughout this episode, from sentence to sentence. Couldn't he have instead played, for example, a gormless Glaswegian? He could have met other characters in the bookstore. But he's still going strong, now with 220+ weekly episodes as Ducky. Also, a hearty hello to Coleen Gray, who turned 90 on October 23! Submitted by masonite, 12/4/12.
Sorry, but the idea of murder by avalanche is a bit wacky.
DODay 1/11/18
Once again, an airplane, a thermos, coffee, and barbiturates make a dangerous combination. I wonder if the Thermos Manufacturers Association ever lodged a complaint -- in the universe of Mason they're as dangerous as guns or fireplace pokers. JohnK, 7 March 2022.
Hallmark Movie Channel has apparently restored commercials to the original break points. For a week or two, they had been cutting for commercials in mid-scene. Submitted by MikeM, 9/26/2012
Why is this episode TCOT Fifty Millionth Frenchman? Phillipe (and isn't Philippe a much more common French name?) tells Perry and Paul (around 35:27 on the 2012 Paramount DVD), "How could I admit that I am not like those 50 million other Frenchmen who know all about women?" Phillipe sounds more to me like the 50,000,001st Frenchman. lowercase masonite, 3/22/16.
+ The problem with the semantics is actually much worse than that: although the writers were presumably trying to allude to the 1930ish Play/movie (an allusion which must have been already a stretch in 1964, but is totally lost today) they overlooked the fact that while France has Fifty-Million Frenchmen - i.e. inhabitants - only half of them are men. But would the title TCOT Twenty-Five Millionth - or Twenty-Five Million and First - Frenchman have worked ??? Probably not. Submitted by Notcom, 033116.
++ The term "50 million Frenchmen" is taken from one of Sophie Tucker's better known "racy" (at least for the time) songs. DODay 1/11/18
+++ The song "Fifty Million Frenchmen" was a jazzy hit in 1926-27 for both Ted Lewis and Sophie Tucker, the play was a hit in 1929, and the movie was released in 1931.
Quotes
Phillipe: Please pay attention Mister Mason
Perry: I will do my best.
This is one of my least liked episodes. I found the phony French accents annoying. However, the show seems to have a more modern vibe in hair styles. It is getting well into the 60's now. Submitted by Perry Baby 9/21/16.
+ A grimly bad script and bad French accents make this a lame show. And look at the number of writers: "Teleplay by Robert C. Dennis, Jackson Gillis, and Samuel Newman' Story by Robert C. Dennis." That many names is generally a sign of a troubled plot and screenplay. Submitted by catyron, June 3rd, 2018
++ Did I say that #171/TCOT Two-Faced Turn-A-Bout was my least favorite episode? (I did.) I was incorrect. This is my least favorite episode, so bad that I completely blocked it from my mind! Ninette's cutesey cringeworthy dialog and David McCallum's hopeless miscasting AND badly written dialog are the low points of a mediocre script. OLEF641 7/3/21
> In the months ahead you may discover your mind has blocked more than you realized !! 😉
Notcom 070321
Divorce: Seems to me in several other episodes that Perry has said that he doesn't handle divorce cases. Kilo 9/11/2018.
After the crash, Andy shows to Perry an empty pill bottle (26:34 on the 2012 Paramount DVD). Why wouldn't Perry have mentioned the pill bottle to the DA, before the preliminary hearing, as a possible way to have had Armand ingest the barbiturates? I didn't see any proof during the hearing that the barbiturates had to have been in the coffee. lowercase masonite, 3/22/16.
+ As becomes clear during the episode, Ninette and Armand worked together to con Phillipe out of the $5000. During the trial, however (at 46:15 on the 2012 Paramount DVD), Perry called the con a badger game. Wikipedia's description of the badger game is here. I don't see how the chump Phillipe was involved in a badger game. Ninette convinced Phillipe to hand over the money apparently in return for a promise to marry him later. He could have sued for a "breach of promise" suit, I suppose, had such a suit been possible. Speaking of which, that suit is in the entertaining 1975 movie Love Among the Ruins, which takes place in the Edwardian era. lowercase masonite, 3/22/16.
++ I'm going to speculate here, and I think Perry's comments about the 'badger game' was his take on it, not necessarily what the Rovels' were up to. I wouldn't put it past the poisonous Ninette to use Armand's finding her and Phillipe together as a way of squeezing cash out of him, if it came to that. Oh, when a man doesn't think with his brains ... Submitted by MikeReese, 4/9/2016