
Still, judging from a single episode, this was a pretty good show. For one thing, it had George Montgomery, one of the few TV cowboys who'd been a Hollywood leading man before making a series. I know he was a leading man because back in my hardboiled days I had this great 3-sheet (3 times the size of a normal movie poster) for The Brasher Doubloon on my wall. Never heard of the movie? You’re not alone. But it was special to me because it was the film version of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window. Yep, George Montgomery played Philip Marlowe.

“Terror Town” is a familiar story. Travelers and cowhands are being snatched off the prairie and pressed into slave labor in a mine. This mine is more interesting than most because the head guard is a man with a bushy beard, a maniacal laugh and a bullwhip, who happens to be played by a pre-Bonanza Dan Blocker.

Whether it was merely the screen presence of Montgomery or higher-than-average production values, the show felt more like a real movie than a TV episode. And when Audrey Totter shows up, things can only get better.
2 comments:
The Brasher Doubloon is one I've wanted to see, but doesn't seem to be available anywhere. I've seen most of the other Marlowe films though.
I've never seen it either. What's the deal? You'd think the Chandler connection would make it a very marketable DVD.
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