The Vise Vol 1

Native New Yorkers The Danziger Brothers were producers extraordinaire! During the 1950s and early 1960s they lent their talents to Britain and during those two decades became arguably the world's most prolific independent suppliers of TV-shows and B-movies, creating nearly 100 films and in excess of 300 television episodes for the British and American market. Their longest-running creation was one-armed Detective Mark Saber but before Saber appeared on screen there was THE VISE – an anthology series featuring screenplays from a very young Brian Clemens (among others) and with Australian actor Ron Randell introducing each episode with the pensive words: "How do ya do. The story we're going to tell is about people caught in the jaws of a vise – in a dilemma of their own making!"

The 2-disc set of THE VISE – Vol 1 showcases 21 episodes from the first series dealing with murder, blackmail or simply just human greed and featuring special guests such as Laurence Naismith, Christopher Lee, Robert Ayres, Lucy Mannheim, Conrad Phillips, Jennifer Jayne, Dennis Price, John Loder, Nanette Newman, Betta St. John and many others. Unseen for over fifty years the episodes have been newly transferred from film elements especially for this Blu-ray / DVD release!

Ron Randell's opening depicts him in a lowly lit back alley slouching on a lamppost - giving the impression (he wears the same clothes throughout) that these ‘intros’ were all filmed around the same time. Well mostly that is... on a few of the last episodes Randell’s initial story precis appears to be missing and we have an anonymous voice over instead.
The stories, varied as they are, often appear rather contrived (perhaps the 25 min per episode slot had something to do with it) – occasionally so much so that it is a little hard to fathom any real credibility in the actions taken by the protagonists. Over and over again you ask yourself 'Would he or she really not have seen that coming?'
Nineteen episodes were directed by David McDonald and most of the scripts were written by Paul Tabori - the Danzigers tended to use the same in-house team time and time again, a formula preferred by other producers as well, notably for Hammer.

Obviously there is not enough space here to discuss every single episode so let’s highlight the standout ones. First up is 'Dr. Damon's Experiment' and here we have Laurence ‘The Amazing Mr. Blunden’ Naismith as the titular doctor. To be more specific, the much respected Dr. Damon also happens to be a powerful hypnotist married to then screen sex siren Sandra Dorne (are you kidding?) who is much younger and (as you can imagine) not exactly on the doctor’s wavelength. What exactly was the initial attraction? No surprises then when Dr. Damon, returning earlier than planned from a medical seminar in Paris, spots artist Charles (Brian Worth) leaving the Damon residence through a window (why would he climb out a window, seeing how the cuckolded husband wasn’t expected back until much later?). Straightaway we know that Charles isn’t just an artist commissioned with painting a portrait of Anita Damon but he’s also her younger and considerably more attractive lover. However, such betrayal of trust is not a good idea because Dr. Damon will soon be paying a visit to his wife's lover to exact his revenge – there’s no need for violence thanks to the doctor’s hypnotic skills but things don’t quite go as planned…


'Death Pays No Dividends' is an example of human greed (not to mention stupidity) what with Peter Reynolds (an actor who worked his way down) as mean little schemer Tommy who fakes his own death by murdering a hapless old tramp (a ‘substitute’ for himself) for insurance money - only to be 'had over' by his equally scheming girlfriend Julia (Eunice Gayson) – however, the denouement is so unbelievable it’s almost laughable.'

‘The Count of Twelve' fares considerably better in terms of plot credibility - ostensibly a 'Whodunnit' or rather 'Who is going to do it' featuring John Longden as rich and corrupt broker Simon Graves who sets up a scam for himself to make a quick market killing which causes a number of acquaintances to make a huge loss. Understandably all yell for revenge and in no time Graves starts to get death threats. You'll have fun trying to guess the identity of the would-be-killer! This episode also stars Enid Lorimer (as Mrs. McPhail) who was treading the boards before the First World War.
John Longden appears in another particularly good episode, namely 'The Final Column' as a newspaper head-honcho who is being blackmailed over a nasty incident by his ambitious young assistant Larry Spence (a menacing Christopher Lee) whom he had recently sacked over an editorial disagreement. Unfortunately, slimy Larry (you can see it a mile off) tries to worm his way back into the editorial hierarchy by beginning to date his former boss's daughter and even asking for her hand in marriage but it turns out that our clever Larry a bit too clever for his own good… Another little gem is ‘Account Closed’ starring the master of the disdainful scorn – we’re talking about the once inimitable Dennis Price as a crime reporter with a chronic gambling addiction who almost amasses a neat fortune by sheer chance but then… Still, he’s a real sport; I mean who else would order two tons of Grade A marmalade!

As it so goes with 21 episodes a couple of stinkers can be found, among them 'The Cruel Test' which is pretty offensive in that British Imperialism way (story being set in the Far East). However, it does feature Ian Whittaker - the real star of ‘notorious’ 50's crime drama 'Cosh Boy'. Also quite offensive is ‘Cross Channel’ in which Patrick Holt plays Charles Kleber, a French bigamist, fortune hunter and wife murderer (a smaller scale Henri D. Landru springs to mind). Naïve English woman Ellen Colman (Paula Byrne) who married to a much older man whom she no longer loves and with whom she runs a hotel in the English countryside finds out the hard way just what a murdering lothario her French paramour is. Clearly, Holt had fun with his Parisian accent though otherwise his character is full of clichés.
Most of the women in this series - as well as sporting the worst hairstyles imaginable (with one or two exceptions such as buxom Kay Callard in 'Never Let Me Know') – are either two-timing bitches or unbelievably naïve (if not hopelessly stupid altogether). We must bear in mind that this is 1950's TV but even so – it’s hardly an excuse! Nevertheless, if you don’t take these things too seriously there is a fair bit of good 'old-style' entertainment on offer here despite the fact that there are practically no locations and the same sets appear to be re-cycled.