Josetta

"Josetta" is one of the half-hour episodes from the first season of "Danger Man". It begins with a man being assassinated in his home and the only witness is a bit problematic. Josetta was there but she's blind! Drake (Patrick McGoohan) is brought in to help her identify the killer through his voice because many folks in her country blame the Americans for the murder and he needs to prove it was done by someone else. While he is able to figure out the killer quickly, he needs to be able to prove it--which might not be that easy--especially as some of the local police seem intent on keeping Drake out off the case--no matter how. Drake, naturally, isn't scared away and comes up with a novel plan--convince the killer that she CAN see! This third episode of "Danger Man" has a distinction, as it seems like the first episode of the series that actually worked fine in a half hour time slot. The first two just seemed very, very rushed. Overall, I have no complaints about "Josetta"--it was well-written and interesting throughout.

John Drake's mission: Catch a killer by tricking him into thinking the blind witness actually "saw" what happened.

I know I've only seen three episodes so far, but this is probably my favorite. The plot, acting, and action are all very good. The trick Drake pulls on the assassin is cleverly handled. Julia Arnall is believable as a the blind witness. And the pacing in this episode is easily the best of the first three. The story nicely fits the less than 30 minute time-slot without feeling the slightest bit rushed. There was even some time for a bit of enjoyable banter between Drake and Colonel Segur.

One thing I'm really impressed with so far in the entire Danger Man series is the quality of these episodes given what I'm assuming was a limited budget. These things look great. Quality acting, good looking sets, real location shots, nice cinematography, and cool music - not what I usually expect from a 30 minute B&W British television show from the early 60s.

Urbane is how I would describe the Danger Man approach - it's a simple story built upon the durable "blind witness" gimmick, but unfolds so smoothly and with such precision as to be fully delightful to watch.

The theme is of course back in the headlines -dealing with an autocratic takeover , this time in a South American country named San Pablo. Pat is the Ugly American, an agent sent there after cool blonde Julia Arnall (a Hitchcock type femme lead) witnesses her husband being murdered by guest star Kenneth Haigh, quite a formidable acting talent. Both he and Pat like to play it ultra-cool, but it's thrilling to watch Pat outsmart him step by step.

His clever idea (in producer/writer Ralph Smart's smart script) is to fool Haigh into believing that Arnall isn't blind, so that he will expose his hand and be arrested, thus presenting the planned Army takeover of San Pablo.

Normally such suspensers, especially of the caper variety, are built around an unexpected problem that needs to be dealt with, but here the switch is no switch! Our good guy prevails, baddie Haigh is swiftly hustled away to jail and finis!