HONG KONG "Lady Godiva" 1961
Rod Taylor headlines this 1960-61 series as a newsman who is stationed in Hong Kong. Taylor is constantly in trouble with various shady types who are always involving him in their troubles. It usually takes several round of fisticuffs, a dead body or two and a gun battle before things get settled. This is the 19th episode.
This one begins late at night with a man checking into a low end Hong Kong hotel. The man enters his room and finds Philip Ahn waiting for him. Ahn steps out of the shadows and unloads a shotgun in the man's face, then leaves. The murder barely makes the news, though reporter Rod Taylor writes a small piece. It seems that the dead man, Roy Dean, and he had been reporters in Korea during that war.
Several days later, Taylor gets a call from the U.S. telling him that the owner of his magazine, Dina Merrill, will be arriving the next morning. Merrill, Taylor and the dead man, Conrad, had all been war correspondents in Korea. Miss Merrill and Taylor had also been an item for a while. Merrill had married the late owner of the Taylor's newspaper.
Taylor and his pal, Hong Kong Police Inspector, Lloyd Bochner are both at the airport to meet Merrill. It appears that Merrill has government pull and wants info on the late Conrad's death. It seems that Merrill had given Conrad 250,000 dollars to set up a foundation to help refugees fleeing Red China.
Taylor, who never liked Conrad, had always considered him a low-life rat in a good suit and not to be trusted. The rub here is that Conrad had withdrawn the cash from a Hong Kong bank the day he was killed. "Where is the cash and who has it?" Merrill wants to know. Police Inspector Bochner tells her that the crime has not been solved and that this is the first he had heard of the cash.
Merrill asks Taylor and Bochner to join her that evening for dinner at her residence. Taylor offers to drive her out to the place. Their talk about old times in Korea etc is suddenly interrupted as a car pulls up alongside and a gun is pointed at them. Taylor swerves into the ditch as the gunman fires several rounds as he roars past. Neither Miss Merrill nor Taylor are injured.
At the house, Taylor gets on the horn and calls up Inspector Bochner to fill him in on the attack. Taylor is not sure who the gunman was after. That evening, Merrill, Bochner, Taylor and Merrill's aide, Dan Tobin sit down for dinner. The newly hired cook and waiter serve the soup and the conversation begins. Several minutes in, and Merrill starts to get woozy, then collapses. A doctor is summoned and it is found that her soup was laced with arsenic. The cook and waiter have vanished.
The doctor informs Taylor and Policeman Bochner, that she will be fine by the next day as she had not taken a fatal dose. Bochner has several Policeman stationed around the house. The two men then head to town to explore the possible reasons for the two attacks. They bang brains for a while then decide to call it a night.
Taylor heads down to the cheap hotel where Conrad had had his head blown off. He wants to have a look around. Just before Taylor enters the hotel, the same car as before, whips up and stops. More shots ring out just missing Taylor but hitting the room clerk just inside. The car now roars off again.
This is starting to get annoying to say the least for Taylor and company. Taylor now tells Inspector Bochner that the only connection he can come up with, is that both Merrill and he knew the dead man. Discussing this with Merrill the next day, she mentions Conrad's best pal, Philip Ahn. Conrad and Ahn where like peas in pod, with sloppy reporting and a bit too free with the booze consumption.
Taylor hits the bricks looking for Ahn. Through the liberal passing out of bribes, and a few grabbed suit collars, he runs down Ahn's address. Taylor finds the man packing up a suitcase for a trip. He leans heavy on Ahn for some info, but is soon confronted by the barrel of a shotgun. Some quick two step and few solid punches has this turn of events rectified. Some "forceful interview" tactics are applied and Ahn begins to spill. But not for long it turns out, as a shot rings out from the hallway.
The shooter flees out into the night with Taylor in hot pursuit. The chase ends up in a Buddhist Temple with Taylor tackling the runner. Said runner turns out to be the supposedly dead Roy Dean. The whole thing was a scam between Conrad and his buddy, Ahn, to bilk Miss Merrill out of the cash. They had hired a look a-like sailor off the docks with a story about needing help to move. Once in the room, the man was killed and Conrad's id planted on him. The shotgun blast to the face did the rest. The attacks on Taylor and Merrill were to try and scare them off the trail.
This is a pretty good episode and it had me guessing till the end. The director, Robert Florey was an old hand at this noir type entertainment. His big screen film noir include, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK, DANGEROUSLY THEY LIVE, DANGER SIGNAL and the excellent, THE CROOKED WAY.
Also behind the camera is the twice Oscar nominated cinematographer, Philip Lathrop. He also handled the lensing duties for 61 episodes of the popular series, PETER GUNN.
Rod Taylor headlines this 1960-61 series as a newsman who is stationed in Hong Kong. Taylor is constantly in trouble with various shady types who are always involving him in their troubles. It usually takes several round of fisticuffs, a dead body or two and a gun battle before things get settled. This is the 19th episode.
This one begins late at night with a man checking into a low end Hong Kong hotel. The man enters his room and finds Philip Ahn waiting for him. Ahn steps out of the shadows and unloads a shotgun in the man's face, then leaves. The murder barely makes the news, though reporter Rod Taylor writes a small piece. It seems that the dead man, Roy Dean, and he had been reporters in Korea during that war.
Several days later, Taylor gets a call from the U.S. telling him that the owner of his magazine, Dina Merrill, will be arriving the next morning. Merrill, Taylor and the dead man, Conrad, had all been war correspondents in Korea. Miss Merrill and Taylor had also been an item for a while. Merrill had married the late owner of the Taylor's newspaper.
Taylor and his pal, Hong Kong Police Inspector, Lloyd Bochner are both at the airport to meet Merrill. It appears that Merrill has government pull and wants info on the late Conrad's death. It seems that Merrill had given Conrad 250,000 dollars to set up a foundation to help refugees fleeing Red China.
Taylor, who never liked Conrad, had always considered him a low-life rat in a good suit and not to be trusted. The rub here is that Conrad had withdrawn the cash from a Hong Kong bank the day he was killed. "Where is the cash and who has it?" Merrill wants to know. Police Inspector Bochner tells her that the crime has not been solved and that this is the first he had heard of the cash.
Merrill asks Taylor and Bochner to join her that evening for dinner at her residence. Taylor offers to drive her out to the place. Their talk about old times in Korea etc is suddenly interrupted as a car pulls up alongside and a gun is pointed at them. Taylor swerves into the ditch as the gunman fires several rounds as he roars past. Neither Miss Merrill nor Taylor are injured.
At the house, Taylor gets on the horn and calls up Inspector Bochner to fill him in on the attack. Taylor is not sure who the gunman was after. That evening, Merrill, Bochner, Taylor and Merrill's aide, Dan Tobin sit down for dinner. The newly hired cook and waiter serve the soup and the conversation begins. Several minutes in, and Merrill starts to get woozy, then collapses. A doctor is summoned and it is found that her soup was laced with arsenic. The cook and waiter have vanished.
The doctor informs Taylor and Policeman Bochner, that she will be fine by the next day as she had not taken a fatal dose. Bochner has several Policeman stationed around the house. The two men then head to town to explore the possible reasons for the two attacks. They bang brains for a while then decide to call it a night.
Taylor heads down to the cheap hotel where Conrad had had his head blown off. He wants to have a look around. Just before Taylor enters the hotel, the same car as before, whips up and stops. More shots ring out just missing Taylor but hitting the room clerk just inside. The car now roars off again.
This is starting to get annoying to say the least for Taylor and company. Taylor now tells Inspector Bochner that the only connection he can come up with, is that both Merrill and he knew the dead man. Discussing this with Merrill the next day, she mentions Conrad's best pal, Philip Ahn. Conrad and Ahn where like peas in pod, with sloppy reporting and a bit too free with the booze consumption.
Taylor hits the bricks looking for Ahn. Through the liberal passing out of bribes, and a few grabbed suit collars, he runs down Ahn's address. Taylor finds the man packing up a suitcase for a trip. He leans heavy on Ahn for some info, but is soon confronted by the barrel of a shotgun. Some quick two step and few solid punches has this turn of events rectified. Some "forceful interview" tactics are applied and Ahn begins to spill. But not for long it turns out, as a shot rings out from the hallway.
The shooter flees out into the night with Taylor in hot pursuit. The chase ends up in a Buddhist Temple with Taylor tackling the runner. Said runner turns out to be the supposedly dead Roy Dean. The whole thing was a scam between Conrad and his buddy, Ahn, to bilk Miss Merrill out of the cash. They had hired a look a-like sailor off the docks with a story about needing help to move. Once in the room, the man was killed and Conrad's id planted on him. The shotgun blast to the face did the rest. The attacks on Taylor and Merrill were to try and scare them off the trail.
This is a pretty good episode and it had me guessing till the end. The director, Robert Florey was an old hand at this noir type entertainment. His big screen film noir include, THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK, DANGEROUSLY THEY LIVE, DANGER SIGNAL and the excellent, THE CROOKED WAY.
Also behind the camera is the twice Oscar nominated cinematographer, Philip Lathrop. He also handled the lensing duties for 61 episodes of the popular series, PETER GUNN.
