Five Fingers (TV series)

Five Fingers is an NBC adventure/drama series set in Europe during the Cold War loosely based on the 1952 film 5 Fingers, starring James Mason and Danielle Darrieux. It ran from October 3, 1959, to January 9, 1960.

Five Fingers
Written byRichard Berg (teleplay)
Ludwig Carl Moyzisch (nonfiction book, ''Operation Cicero'')
Directed byAndrew McCullough
Montgomery Pittman
Lamont Johnson
StarringDavid Hedison
Luciana Paluzzi
Paul Burke
Country of originUSA
No. of seasonsOne-half
No. of episodes16
Production
Producer(s)Martin Manulis
Herbert B. Swope, Jr.
Production location(s)Europe
Running time60 minutes
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 3, 1959 –

January 8, 1960

David Hedison starred as Victor Sebastian, an American counterintelligence officer with the code name "Five Fingers". Luciana Paluzzi played Simone Genet, Sebastian's singer client and romantic interest. Paul Burke played Robertson, Sebastian's contact man.[1]

Five Fingers itself was based on the book Operation Cicero (1950) by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch and on the memoirs of Elyesa Bazna (I Was Cicero, 1962). Bazna was something of an antihero in real life (as was his counterpart, Ulysses Diello, in the Hollywood film); the television series transformed the character from a World War II-era mercenary Albanian into a Cold War era heroic American. Sebastian posed as a Communist to gain information on party activities. His public cover was that of a theatrical booking agent for clubs and cafes throughout Europe.[2]

Episodes and guest stars

Episodes and notable guest stars include:

Two additional episodes, "A Shot in the Dark" (Neile Adams and Joanna Cook Moore) and "Counterfeit" (Cesar Romero), were unaired.[4]

Production notes

Martin Manulis and Herbert Bayard Swope, Jr., son of legendary journalist Herbert Bayard Swope, were the producers of Five Fingers.[1]

Hedison recalls on his website that he was preparing to come to work for the seventeenth episode of the series when he was notified that the program had been cancelled without warning. Five Fingers was particularly popular in Australia, but was not on the air long enough in the United States to attract a sufficient following to survive even a full season.[5] The series did have a brief syndicated run on local stations in the United States (like KGMB/Honolulu) despite the short number of episodes[6]

Manulis produced Five Fingers in association with 20th Century Fox Television.[4] He also produced the CBS sitcom, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–1963) starring Dwayne Hickman. Five Fingers aired at 9:30 Eastern on Saturdays opposite two half-hour western series, Richard Boone's Have Gun - Will Travel and James Arness's Gunsmoke on CBS and the second half of ABC's The Lawrence Welk Show.[7]

UK theatrical runs

In 1961 in the UK, 20th Century Fox used eight episodes as supporting films for circuit releases of their main features:-

  • "Counterfeit" (BBFC "U" cert Nov. 14 1960) Supporting North to Alaska, National circuit release Jan. 1st 1961.
  • "The Moment of Truth" (BBFC "U" cert Feb. 23rd 1961). Supporting Five Golden Hours, National circuit release Mar. 12 1961.
  • "The Emerald Curtain" (BBFC "U" cert Mar. 20 1961). Supporting All Hands on Deck, National circuit release May 7, 1961.
  • "Shot in the Dark" (BBFC "U" cert May 29, 1961). Supporting Return to Peyton Place, Rank circuit release June 26, 1961.
  • "Thin Ice" (BBFC "U" cert Jun. 1 1961). Supporting Wild in the Country, Rank circuit release Jul. 30 1961.
  • "Dossier" (BBFC "U" cert Jul. 25 1961). Supporting Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, National circuit release Aug. 28 1961.
  • "The Judas Goat" (BBFC "U" cert Oct. 3 1961). Supporting The Queen's Guards, Rank circuit release Oct. 22 1961.
  • "Temple of the Swinging Doll" (BBFC "U" cert Nov. 13 1961), Supporting Francis of Assisi, Rank circuit release Dec. 3 1961.

The Rank release played at the prime Odeon and Gaumont cinemas. The National release played at Rank's secondary outlets, although at this time it still was allocated the odd decent booking.

gollark: THERE IS NOT NECESSARILY GOING TO BE A RELEASE.
gollark: It's not yet Cavesunday.
gollark: Waiting, I think.
gollark: Hopefully AP times will go down.
gollark: Wow.

References
  1. Alex McNeil, Total Television, New York: Penguin Books, Inc., 1996, 4th ed., p. 288
  2. "Five Fingers:Summary". TV.com. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
  3. "Episode List of Five Fingers". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
  4. "Five Fingers". Classic Television Archive. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
  5. "Five Fingers with David Hedison". DavidHedison.com. Retrieved March 2, 2009.
  6. Honolulu, Hawaii (July 2-6, 1962) from Radio-Info Messageboard
  7. McNeil, Total Television, appendix
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