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The plot of this episode really stretches all semblance of logic. The East Germans put pressure on the professor to get him to come work for them. They kidnap his grandchild and arrest his wife for murder. However, when he finally crosses over, they persist in persecuting his wife and don't give the kid back? That just seems unrealistic. Considering they needed him to be able to work for them, did they honestly believe a man of his age would be able to take the mental strain of his entire family being persecuted? "My wife and grandchild are as good as dead, let me work on this scientific formula!" It was a cheap way for the writers to show the communists had no honor, but also to ensure a happy ending. In reality it doesn't seem plausible. There were hundreds of prisoner exchanges between the West and Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. This persecution for persecution's sake plotline really didn't work. Submitted by DellaMason
Despite what the episode summary says, Della does not go to Germany with Perry and Paul. She is in the episode, just not in Berlin. Submitted by Neil Van Zile, 07/07/2014
Sussane Cramer as Gerta is the definition of "chewing the scenery" in this episode. She overacts throughout, but her performance in the climax of the episode is completely over the top, and I find it hard to watch. Submitted by Neil Van Zile, 07/07/2014
+ Her performance in TCO A Place Called Midnight ('64) as Greta Koning - war orphan & protector of the Corps of Engineer Lt. in love with her - was more moving/even touching. Mike Bedard 2.23.15.
East German leader Stromm refers to his country as "the People's Republic": a phrase associated with "Communist China"/the PRC in Nov. 1965. The "Democratic" Republic of EAST Germany & the "Federal" Republic of WEST Germany were Re-Unified in Oct. 1990: the COLD WAR ended on Christmas Day 1991 when Mikhail Gorbachev Disbanded the Soviet Union. Mike Bedard 2.24.15, TCOTFF shown on MeTV.
+ That "People's Republic" thing was annoying. Submitted by catyron, July 30th, 2018
That staircase set has magically crossed the Atlantic and appears as the hotel lobby. The phone booths have no glass in the doors and are labelled 'telephone', not the German 'telefon'. These "international intrigue" episodes are the least satisfying. The skimpy production values and highly improbable plots just don't work. DOD 3/25/18
What were they thinking ?? The writers that is: having earlier navigated the Cold War (ep171) and a European investigation (ep219, albeit w/o an actual trial) someone apparently came up with the (not too) bright idea of putting the concepts together...this time with an actual trial. And so we have the most implausible premise the series would offer: that Perry could not only argue a case in a (hostile) foreign country - of whose courts he would have little if any knowledge - but do so in a language of which he had never spoken even a word. If the IMF had been given this assignment, they would have passed it up !! Head shakingly by Notcom, 061416.
+ Head-shaking indeed: Lucky for Mason that the judges' English was so good. But this episode seems to borrow heavily from the outstanding 1965 film The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (based on the 1963 John Le Carre novel). The plots are not at all similar, but both show a lot of the east-west border in Berlin and "Checkpoint Charlie" (the PM producers actually managed this pretty well). More to the point, the movie had a trial scene, copied to some extent in this episode, although ours took place in a sterile granite-lined courtroom, while the movie's was in a rustic hall decorated with a lot of deer antlers.
P.S.: I checked the release date of the movie, and it did not come out until December 1965. This PM episode aired in November. Maybe my inference is all wrong, but they are just too similar to be coincidental. JohnK, 19 February 2018