Eliot Ness vs. the Nazi Fifth Column

Описание: 📺 Read our episode review and recap here: https://theuntouchables.co/the-otto-f...

Although "The Otto Frick Story" begins quite forcefully, it wanders around and loses focus early on. It is the only program to address the Nazi phenomenon in its infancy. The marriage of German Nazis and American gangsters does have historical precedent, but this installment, severely underplayed with three small characters and a token assault on a Jewish-owned delicatessen, doesn’t capture the epic of the scope of the drama.

Narrator Walter Winchell, like many among Desilu’s creative time, was Jewish. In his career as a radio correspondent, Winchell eagerly assailed pro-fascists, pro-Nazi, and their enablers throughout the 1930s including the German American Bund and Charles Lindbergh. Winchell's real-life assault on the Nazis in the press gives extra gravitas to his finely written concluding narration.

The Nazis did in fact host a rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20th, 1939 and this is the rally featured in the episode’s archival footage. It is the use of this footage and the attempt to intertwine the story of the Nazi Fifth Column and gangsterdom that perhaps best illustrates the show's growing tendency to stretch historical accuracy, making it seem almost Twilight Zone-esque that Ness would ever fight the Nazis.

THE OTTO FRICK STORY
Written by Leonard Kantor
Directed by John Peyser
Produced by Josef Shaftel
Director of Photography Charles Straumer
Special Guest Star Jack Warden
Co-starring Francis Lederer, Richard Jaeckel. Featuring Erika Peters, Stacey Harris, Fred Numey, John Wengraf, Willis Bouchey, Joseph Mell, Molly Roden

ABOUT THE UNTOUCHABLES RETROSPECTIVE
Praised for its quality and famous for its drama, The Untouchables television show (1959-1963) roared like the decade it portrayed in grand, theatrical style. A controversial and Emmy award-winning series, its legacy in film and television has been felt from The Simpsons to The Sopranos. In recognition of the program's 60th Anniversary, The Untouchables Retrospective is a detailed and nostalgic account of American television's finest film noir. Learn more at http://theuntouchables.co.

From 1959-1963, the series brought to life the nightly wars between good and evil in the streets of Prohibition Chicago. With legendary lawman Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his band of incorruptible agents leading the way for justice, famed reporter Walter Winchell providing staccato narration and guest stars breathing life into colorful underworld characters, the true story of The Untouchables became legend in a film noir mix of true history and Emmy award-winning fiction.

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