(Syndicated, 1952)
[Nine years after he starred in Preston Sturges' first directorial
effort -- the 1940 hit motion picture "The Great McGinty" --
about a man who tries to clean up a mistake from his past --
mustacheod Irish-American actor Brian Donlevy, who had mostly
worked in movies, agreed to star in a radio series called
"Dangerous Assignment" on the NBC Radio network;
Donlevy played Steve Mitchell -- "international troubleshooter"
for an un-named US government intelligence agency; whose boss
"The Commissioner" -- dispatched him to world trouble spots;
Naturally all problems got fixed in record time, all in
accordance with US interests; the NBC radio series was a big
enough success to last three seasons (from 1949 - 1953);
perhaps the success was due in part to the mystique of the
foreign situations which radio listeners could create in
their imaginations;
During its last year on radio, Donlevy formed a production
company to convert the idea to television; But no TV network
was interested, so he produced 39 episodes and sold them to
individual stations nationwide in First-run Syndication; In
the TV version, Herb Butterfield played the boss called "The
Commissioner" as he had on the radio series;
Seven years before "Mr. Lucky" and the "James Bond" character,
Donlevy donned a dinner jacket for the TV series and attempted
to look suave in his exploits; including the opening sequence
during which he assumed a nonchalant pose as a dagger whizzed
dangerously past his head;
Other than that, the series was a bit tedious, since Donlevy
was not able to portray the confident nuances of the character
type that was pioneered by Cary Grant and Sean Connery later,
who played a dangerous situation with savoir faire (i.e., grace
under pressure); one-dimensional situations and character
attributes that might have gotten by on radio were a bit hard
to swallow when you saw them acted out on television; and of
course, as the old saying goes, perhaps "the pictures are
better" on radio;
In 1954, after the first TV season, the networks were not
interested in picking up either the radio or television
version; so more radio episodes were produced in Australia
for worldwide syndication starring Lloyd Burrell in the role
which Brian Donlevy originated and had tried to exploit;
Despite the efforts of many people, this franchise was
played out by the mid-1950s]
[Above is THEME title as credited in
"Stetcheson Classified Song Directory", 1961;
this was the same THEME as used on the radio version...
The original registration by Bel-Air Music Corp.
was titled "Adventure".
aka: ASCAP opening title: "Adventure Title Theme (Signature)";
aka: ASCAP closing title: "Adventure Credits Signature"]
Composer: Basil George ("Buzz") Adlam (ASCAP)
Original Publisher: Bel-Air Music Corp. (ASCAP)
[Under the title "Adventure"]:
1978 Publisher: [no ASCAP publisher found]
[Under the title "Dangerous Assignment Theme"]:
1978 Publisher: [no ASCAP publisher found]
[Under the title "Adventure"]:
2000 Publisher: Bel-Air Music Corp. (ASCAP)
[Under the title "Dangerous Assignment Theme"]:
2000 Publisher: [no ASCAP publisher found]
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings: