Tom-207

I was all of thirteen when I saw this Playhouse 90 presentation. The details escape me now, though I recall that it was chilling and scary. It still leaves an impression over a half a century later. Not sure if in this era it was presented live or whether it was done on video tape, which would have been fairly new then. It was done at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, so it might have been on tape. I recall it had the same ominous feeling as the motion picture "Fail Safe," a theatrical release about the Cold War done just a few years later in 1964, and filmed at a studio in New York City, paradoxically. My ranking compares this show to TV of that era, and it would likely stand up dramatically today, even though dated technically. Shows like this are why TV's Golden Era is called the Golden Era. In retrospect, there were only a handful of this caliber.

I saw this made-for-TV film when it aired in the sixties. I was twenty at the time, and while the details escape me, it conveyed enough paranoia and creepiness to sustain a strong impression of the film for nearly fifty years now. It's basically about two people who want to leave "an organization" and discover it's a tenacious entanglement. The film also holds as a metaphor for anyone who has worked in business or government and felt trapped by their involvement.

Also lasting for nearly fifty years is my memory of being on the edge of my seat with the twists and turns of the plot. On a video web site, I found a trailer for the film that must have run as a promo for its airing on television. They filmed on location in the New York City area, which gives it a sense of gritty realism. Highly recommended if you come across it.

There's something that's just so amiable and adventurous about this documentary about a doctor from the state of Vermont who wanted to be the first to drive an automobile from the West to the East Coast. He's an amateur who buys his own vehicle and personally funds most of his other expenses as well. He's challenged by a team sponsored by an auto maker.

Somehow, Ken Burns finds just the right mix of archival and location footage to make it all a grand and very real adventure, an accomplishment given the limited resources with which he had to work.

And then there's Bud, the dog who accompanied them, and for whom they fitted his own pair of driving goggles.