Secret File, USA

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Television series
Original title Secret File, USA
Country of production United States
original language English
year 1954/55
length 30 minutes
Episodes 22nd
genre thriller
production Arthur Dreifuss
Bobby Rosenboom
music Hugo de Groot
camera Jack Whitehead
occupation

Secret File, USA is a US agent - television series from 1954-55 in the Dutch co-production that also science fiction contains elements. It was shot in black and white . The Director led Robert Alda , the same time the main role of the Secret Service - officer Major took William Morgan. As far as is known, the acts of all 22 episodes are set in Europe . It is unclear, although the series was shot mainly with Dutch actors, whether it was aired in the Netherlands itself.

Models, structure and content

The alleged model for Secret File, USA was apparently the US TV series Foreign Intrigue (TV series) by Sheldon Reynolds , which was made in 156 episodes in Swedish co-production between 1951 and 1955 . Here too, as far as is known, the scenes are all located in Europe. Practically parallel (1954–1958) Passport to Danger was produced, in which Cesar Romero is globally active in the role of secret agent Steve McQuinn; The producer was Hal Roach .

Each episode begins with the intro : Secret File USA - A warning to all enemies of America at home and abroad who are planning acts of aggression. This is the story of the gallant men and women who penetrated and are still penetrating enemy lines to get secret information necessary for the defense of the United States. This is the story of one of our nations mightiest weapons. Past, present and future, if necessary - The American Intelligence Service.

The episodes each ended with credits that were moderated by Robert Alda himself:

... and I am once again Major Morgan, engaged in the shadow war against oppression. Let all aggressors beware!

Episodes

As far as is known, 22 episodes were produced, of which only the first four have been edited on DVD so far (2012) :

1. Mission Assassin

Morgan is deployed to Italy , where a communist organization intends to blow up an international conference by killing a prominent politician. Morgan contacts former Italian resistance fighters he worked with during World War II and prevents the assassination attempt.

2. Mission Chopin

3. Firebird mission

Major Morgan is informed in Munich by his superior, Colonel Sturk, that Czechoslovak agents have stolen the formula for the American nuclear fuel Helium X-47. This enables them to launch their own missile plane four months before the US missile. This should absolutely be prevented; Morgan is supposed to destroy the missile in Czechoslovakia.

Morgan contacted in Munich the German rocket pilots Willy by beating (played by the Dutch jazz - guitarist Thom Kelling , 1922-1968). Von Schlappen is the only person who has flown a rocket plane so far and is ready to offer his services to the highest bidder. Since Sturk and Morgan do not trust him, von Beat is not supposed to actually hire them for the act of sabotage . He receives 10,000 dollars that he goes for a few months in a hospital and does not take the public. He allegedly suffers a serious accident that is launched in the press, for example in the West German newspaper Die Welt (insertion of a front page with the headline: WILLY VON SCHLAGEN SERIOUSLY INJURED ). Instead of Schlagens, Morgan is hospitalized with a face bandage and what appears to be an operation. After the "operation" the alleged beating looks like Major Morgan. Von Schlagen / Morgan is approached by Czechoslovak agents in a café , drugged with a drink and kidnapped to Czechoslovakia. A professor , the head of the missile program there, forces him under threat of death to make himself available as a pilot for the test flight. He is also put under pressure by the American defector Dr. Lang ( Wanda Rotha ), a staunch communist and rocket expert.

At the start, Dr. Long without Beat / Morgan noticing, the rocket so that the launch is prevented. The professor suspects von Beat / Morgan of sabotage and threatens to hand him over to the secret police. Dr. Lang agrees to start over and control von Schlagen / Morgan.

Then both re-enter the rocket. Von Schlagen / Morgan deposited a ballpoint pen prepared with glycerine and a time fuse on a switch console . Both leave the rocket plane unseen and watch from a shed how the professor and guards enter the rocket and it finally explodes.

Back in Munich, Colonel Sturk Morgan explains that Dr. Long as a female agent was prepared for the long term and she only pretended to take on the role of defector.

4. Mission M

Morgan is deployed in Amsterdam, where an underground communist organization wants to ruin the Dutch currency by importing counterfeit money .

5. Antwerp Mission

6. Mission AWOL

7. Mission Berlin

8. Mission Can Can

9. Mission Copenhagen

10. Danube Mission

11. Mission deadline

12. Mission Hansel

13. Istaahan Mission

14. Navik Mission

15. Mission Passport

16. Mission Reaper

17. Mission Rhino

18. Scandinavia Mission

19. Mission traitor

20. Mission Wagon-Lits

21. Mission Windmill

22. Mission Vienna

literature

  • Michael Kackman: Citizen Spy. Television Espionage and Cold War Culture , Minneapolis, MINN 2005.
  • Wesley Britton: Spy Television , Westport, CONN 2004.
  • Ders .: The Encyclopedia of TV Spies , Duncan, OK 2009.
  • J [ames]. Hoberman: An Army of Phantoms. American Movies and the Making of the Cold War , New York 2011.
  • Tony Shaw: Cinematic Cold War. The American and Soviet struggle for hearts and minds , Lawrence, KAN 2010.
  • Ders .: Hollywood's Cold War , Edinburgh 2007.
  • Thomas Doherty: Cold War, Cool Medium. Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture , University of Columbia Press 2005.
  • James Schwoch: Global TV. New Media and the Cold War, 1946-69 , University of Illinois Press 2009.

Web links