63-452: The Salzburg Connection is a 1972 American thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin , starring Barry Newman and Anna Karina . It is based on the 1968 novel of the same title by Helen MacInnes . It was filmed in DeLuxe Color and Panavision . The sets were designed by the art director Hertha Hareiter . Extensive location shooting took place around Salzburg and at Lake Toplitz. After
126-737: A 2005 CG remake of Captain Scarlet titled New Captain Scarlet . Anderson died in 2012. Gerald Alexander Abrahams was born in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in Bloomsbury , London, and spent the early years of his life in Kilburn , and Neasden , London. He was educated at Kingsgate Infants School in Kilburn and Braintcroft Junior and Senior schools in Neasden, prior to winning
189-514: A Gun and other films like The Break and the cult classic What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? In 1972, he directed the film The Salzburg Connection , which starred Barry Newman and Anna Karina . In 1975, he directed the launch episode " Breakaway ", and other early episodes, of the Gerry Anderson live-action series Space: 1999 . He also directed the pilots for the television series Man from Atlantis and Spenser: For Hire . He
252-519: A chest is brought up from the bottom of an Austrian lake, the diver, Richard Bryant ( Patrick Jordan ), is found murdered. Bill Mathison ( Barry Newman ) is an American lawyer on vacation in Austria. He stops by a photography shop to meet with a man who is compiling a book of photographs of Austrian Lakes, as a favor to the publisher, and meets the photographer's wife Anna ( Anna Karina ). The photographer has disappeared. Mathison gets caught up in trying to find
315-451: A feature-film version of the series was proposed even before the pilot episode went to air. At this approximate time, APF was renamed Century 21 Productions. After APF was renamed Century 21 Productions, it enjoyed its greatest success with Thunderbirds , and the series made the Andersons world famous. However, it was cancelled midway through the second series because Grade was unable to sell
378-475: A mish-mash of badly-selected transcription library stock themes." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film half of one star out of four, calling it "a lethargic and completely confusing spy story" that amounted to little more than "90 minutes of 'box, box, what's in the box?' This, of course, isn't revealed until the final minutes, at which point there is nothing that could be in the box which would save
441-453: A new company, AP Films , for Anderson-Provis Films, with Hill and Read as their partners. Anderson continued his freelance directing work to obtain funds to maintain the fledgling company. AP Films' first television venture was produced for Granada Television . Created by Roberta Leigh , The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–1958) was a series for young children about a doll with the ability to 'twizzle' his arms and legs to greater lengths. It
504-400: A new programme format about a rescue organisation, which eventually became his most famous and popular series, Thunderbirds (1965–1966). The dramatic title was inspired by the letter Anderson's older brother Lionel had written to his family during World War II. Grade was very enthusiastic about the concept and agreed to back a series of 25-minute episodes (the same length as Stingray ), so
567-438: A new show mixing live action and puppets. The Space Police name had already been registered by another company, so Anderson's programme eventually emerged in 1995 as Space Precinct . A pilot film had previously been made with Shane Rimmer, but it took almost ten years to get the concept to the screen. In the meantime, Anderson and Burr produced the cult stop-motion animated series Dick Spanner , which enjoyed many showings on
630-473: A reedited version of a two-part Space: 1999 storyline. Some of these films were marketed in the US as part of a series of action-adventure videos featuring specially shot introductions by actress Sybil Danning . In the early 1980s, Anderson formed a new partnership, Anderson Burr Pictures Ltd, with businessman Christopher Burr. The new company's first production was based on an unrealised concept devised by Anderson in
693-615: A scholarship to Willesden County Grammar School . His parents were Deborah ( née Leonoff) and Joseph Abrahams. At the start of the Second World War , Gerry Anderson's elder brother, Lionel, volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF); he was stationed in the United States for advanced training. Lionel often wrote letters to his family, and in one letter described a US Army Air Forces air base called Thunderbird Field ,
SECTION 10
#1732916164161756-455: A secret organisation defending against aliens. Terrahawks ran successfully from 1983 to 1986 in the UK but fell short of a four-year American syndication deal by one season when the show was cancelled. Terrahawks retains a cult following to this day. Anderson had claimed on record that he would rather forget the show. Anderson hoped to continue his renewed success with a series called Space Police ,
819-458: A secretary working at the studios; they began a relationship and were married on 11 April 1981. Space: 1999 was successful enough that a second (and final) series went into production in 1976 with American producer Fred Freiberger brought in to replace Sylvia Anderson. Freiberger was known for producing the final season of the original Star Trek . Under Freiberger the series underwent a number of cast and cosmetic changes. Space: 1999 marked
882-402: A series of UK advertisements for Swinton Insurance . In 1991 Gerry asked journalist and author Simon Archer to write his biography, following an interview by the latter for a series of articles for Century 21 magazine. In September that year in the UK, BBC2 began a repeat showing of Thunderbirds , which rivalled the success of its original run a generation before. This was also surprisingly
945-428: A supercomputer called 'BIG RAT' which can 'program' Joe with special knowledge and abilities for his missions. Its relatively poor reception made it the last of the classic Anderson marionette shows. Anderson's next project took the special effects expertise built up over previous TV projects and combined it with live action. Century 21's third feature film, Doppelgänger (1969) (released internationally as Journey to
1008-620: The APF puppet productions made the Andersons world-famous, Anderson was always unhappy about working with puppets. He used them primarily to get attention from and a good reputation with TV networks, hoping to have them serve as a stepping stone to his goal of making live-action film and TV drama. During the production of The Adventures of Twizzle , Anderson started an affair with secretary Sylvia Thamm . Following his divorce from his first wife, Anderson married Thamm in November 1960. AP Films' third series
1071-646: The Anderson shows was now worldwide and growing steadily, and Anderson found himself in demand for personal and media appearances . In response to this greater demand Anderson performed a successful one-man show in 1992, which Archer had written and constructed. Entitled An Evening with Gerry Anderson , it took the form of an illustrated lecture in which he talked about his career, and his most popular shows. He also made numerous media and personal appearances to tie in with revivals and video cassette releases of Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 . Anderson
1134-508: The Andersons and Reg Hill), Anderson decided not to work with his wife on his next project, the ITC action series The Protectors . It was one of Anderson's few non-original projects. Lew Grade himself was heavily involved in the programme, and cast both the lead actors, Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter . The production was difficult for Anderson, who clashed with the famously difficult Vaughn. There were also many logistical problems arising from
1197-508: The Andersons scripted a pilot episode, " Trapped in the Sky ", and began production. Anderson initially wanted actress Fenella Fielding to perform the voice of Lady Penelope , but Sylvia convinced her husband that she herself ought to play the role. Thunderbirds also marked the start of a long professional association with actor Shane Rimmer , who voiced Scott Tracy . Production on Thunderbirds had been under way for several months when Grade saw
1260-470: The Associated Television ( ATV ) boss who offered to buy the show. This began a long friendship and a very successful professional association between the two men. The new series, Supercar , (1960–61) was developed by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and Reg Hill based on a story written by Sylvia Anderson and marked several important advances for APF. Sylvia took on a larger role and became a partner in
1323-616: The Battery Boy (1960), and Four Feather Falls (1960) followed. Supercar (1961–62) and Fireball XL5 (1962–63) came next, both series breaking into the U.S. television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, Thunderbirds . Other television productions of the period included Stingray , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90 . Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films, including Doppelgänger (aka Journey to
SECTION 20
#17329161641611386-628: The British Channel 4 in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was the final project completed by Anderson Burr. Anderson then joined the Moving Picture Company as a commercials director, and provided special effects direction for the musical comedy Return to the Forbidden Planet . The cult appeal of Thunderbirds and the other Supermarionation series grew steadily over the years and was celebrated by comedy and stage productions such as
1449-495: The Europe-wide filming of the show, but it was very successful in both the UK and America and its theme song " Avenues and Alleyways " became a hit record in the UK for singer Tony Christie . It was also the first live-action series produced by Anderson to survive to a second season. Following The Protectors , Anderson worked on several new projects, none of which he was able to take into production. A proposed second series of UFO
1512-517: The Far Side of the Sun ) was a dark, Twilight Zone -style sci-fi project about an astronaut who travels to a newly discovered planet on the opposite side of the sun, which proves to be an exact mirror-image of Earth, starring American actor Roy Thinnes . Although it was not a major commercial success, Doppelgänger was nominated for an Academy Award for its special effects. Century 21's return to television
1575-598: The Far Side of the Sun , 1969). Following a shift towards live-action productions in the 1970s, he had a long and successful association with media impresario Lew Grade and Grade's company ITC , continuing until the second series of Space: 1999 . After a lull in which a number of new series failed to materialise, Anderson began a new phase in his career the early 1980s, when nostalgia for his earlier Supermarionation series, prompted by Saturday morning re-runs in Britain and Australia, led to new commissions. Later projects included
1638-534: The Golden Gun , the Saltzman-Broccoli partnership dissolved. Offered £20,000 for the treatment, Anderson refused, fearing that if he accepted he would not be at the helm when it was made; the next Bond film to be made was 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me . (This film used only the title of the actual Ian Fleming novel.) Anderson started legal proceedings against Broccoli for plagiarism of story elements but withdrew
1701-628: The Moon's surface (caused by the storage of nuclear waste there) projected the Moon out of orbit and into interplanetary space. The series starred the American husband-and-wife actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain , who had gained international fame in the TV series Mission: Impossible . They were cast at the insistence of Grade, and against Sylvia Anderson's strenuous objections. The Andersons' marriage broke down during
1764-444: The action shortly after, nervous of the legal might lined up against him. He relinquished the treatment, and received £3,000 in compensation. A film version of Moonraker was eventually produced in 1979, but did not involve any of Anderson's material. By the time UFO concluded, the relationship between the Andersons had deteriorated. Although produced under the aegis of a new company, Group Three Productions (the three being both of
1827-489: The chest recovered by Bryant. It is revealed to contain a list of former members of the Nazi Party who could be embarrassingly connected to current United States politics. An American woman, Elissa Lang ( Karen Jensen ), pretending to be a recent college graduate on a European tour, is also after the chest, on behalf of an underground group of surviving Nazis. They all end up fighting for their lives as well as for possession of
1890-546: The chest with a group of CIA agents. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote "With twice too many characters and three times too much plot, the Oscar Millard screenplay of 'The Salzburg Connection' might have defeated the best of directors. Against Lee H. Katzin ('Le Mans,' 'Heaven With a Gun') it isn't even a contest." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety described the film as "erratically limp" as "[t]he action plods through some beautiful scenery," adding, "The score sounds like
1953-434: The company. The series was also the official debut of Supermarionation, the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from pre-recorded tapes of the actors' voices to trigger solenoids installed in the heads of the puppets, making their lips move in synchronisation with the voices of the actors, and actresses. One of Anderson's most successful ventures
The Salzburg Connection - Misplaced Pages Continue
2016-411: The completed 25-minute version of "Trapped in the Sky". He was so excited by the result that he insisted that the episodes be extended to fifty minutes. With a substantial increase in budget, the production was restructured to expand episodes already filmed or in pre-production, and create new 50-minute scripts for the remainder. Grade and others were so convinced that Thunderbirds would be a success that
2079-433: The completion of Fireball XL5 , Lew Grade offered to buy AP Films. Although Anderson was initially reluctant, the deal eventually went ahead, with Grade becoming the managing director, and the Andersons, Hill, and Read becoming directors of the company. Shortly after the buy-out, APF began production on a new marionette series, Stingray (1964), the first Supermarionation-based British TV series to be filmed in colour. For
2142-549: The death toll ranged between twelve and 20 people. On another occasion, a Spitfire was coming in to land. It was only about 50 feet (15 m) above the ground before the runway controller alerted the pilot to the fact the plane's undercarriage hadn't lowered. The pilot opened up the throttle and climbed away. As this was a moment Anderson always remembered, he found it all too easy to write about aircraft when he devised stories for Thunderbirds . After completing his military service, he returned to Gainsborough, where he worked until
2205-573: The end of Anderson's association with ATV. By the late 1970s, Anderson's life and career were at a low point: he was in financial difficulty, found it hard to get work, and he experienced family difficulties. By December 1980, Gerry and Sylvia's marriage was officially over, and they divorced. In 1981, episodes of many of Anderson's Supermarionation series were edited together as films, aired as Super Space Theatre . A number of similarly reedited feature-length productions were also syndicated and released on home video, such as Destination: Moonbase Alpha ,
2268-534: The feature film Thunderbirds Are GO surprisingly flopped. In later interviews, Anderson said that he considered divorce, but this was halted when Sylvia announced that she was pregnant. Their son, Gerry Anderson Jr., was born in July 1967. By that time, production had started on a new series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), which saw the advent of more realistic marionette characters which, thanks to improvements in electronics which allowed miniaturisation of
2331-807: The first series of Space: 1999 in 1975; Gerry announced his intention to separate on the evening of the wrap party. Sylvia severed her ties with Group Three , and, to alleviate his financial plight, Anderson sold his share of the profits from the APF/Century 21 shows and their holiday home in Portugal to Lew Grade . Between making the two series of Space: 1999 , Anderson produced a one-off television special, The Day After Tomorrow (also known as Into Infinity ), about two spacefaring families en route to Alpha Centauri , for an NBC series of programmes illustrating current scientific theory for popular consumption. While making this project, Anderson met Mary Robins (b. 1949),
2394-526: The hit two-man stage revue Thunderbirds FAB . In the early 1990s, ITC began releasing home video versions of the Supermarionation shows, and the profile of the shows was further enhanced by productions such as the Dire Straits music video for their single " Calling Elvis ", which was made as an affectionate Thunderbirds pastiche (with Anderson co-producing), and by Lady Penelope and Parker appearing in
2457-473: The late 1970s for a Japanese cartoon series. Terrahawks marked Anderson's return to working with puppets, but rather than marionettes this series used a new system dubbed 'Supermacromation' which used highly sophisticated glove puppets—an approach inspired by the advances in this form of marionation made by Jim Henson and his colleagues. It featured another reuse of the Captain Scarlet / UFO formula of
2520-420: The lip-sync mechanisms, could now be built closer to normal human proportions. Century 21's second feature film, Thunderbird 6 , was also unsuccessful, and the problems were compounded by their next (and penultimate) Supermarionation series, Joe 90 (1968). This series returned to more 'kid-friendly' territory, depicting the adventures of a young boy who is also a secret agent and whose scientist father uses
2583-424: The movie wends its unsuspenseful, uncharismatic, confusing-to-boring way, you hear the audience squirm and feel its spirits sag." Clyde Jeavons of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "Full advantage is taken of the picturesque Salzburg locations...But nothing can redeem the indecipherable storyline and ham-handed direction (which includes gross misuse of slow-motion and freeze); and even the most indulgent aficionado of
The Salzburg Connection - Misplaced Pages Continue
2646-491: The movie." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "the worst motion picture I've seen all year...The least comprehensible, the least involving, the least interesting, the least entertaining, the least well-conceived, the least successful at bringing off what it set out to bring off." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post declared it "one of the least exciting espionage thrillers I've ever laid eyes on," adding "As
2709-639: The name of which stayed in his younger brother's memory. Lionel was killed in action on 27 April 1944 when his de Havilland Mosquito was shot down over the Netherlands. On 16 October 1952, Anderson married Betty Wrightman (1929–2021). They had two daughters. Anderson began his career in photography, earning a traineeship with the British Colonial Film Unit after the war. He developed an interest in film editing and moved on to Gainsborough Pictures , where he gained further experience. In 1947, he
2772-646: The new production APF moved to new studios in Slough . The new and bigger facilities allowed them to make major improvements in special effects, notably in the underwater sequences, as well as advances in marionette technology, with the use of a variety of interchangeable heads for each character to convey different expressions. APF's next project for ATV was inspired by a mining disaster that occurred in West Germany in October 1963. This real-life drama inspired Anderson to create
2835-433: The offer to direct a film for Anglo-Amalgamated Studios. Crossroads to Crime was a low-budget B-grade crime thriller, and although Anderson hoped that its success might enable him to move into mainstream film-making, it failed at the box office. By this time, APF was in financial trouble and the company was struggling to find a buyer for their new puppet series. They were rescued by a fortuitous meeting with Lew Grade ,
2898-425: The publishers to collect one of the first print run to present to Anderson, and the book later had to be withdrawn from sale and thousands of copies destroyed as a result of a copyright dispute with ITC America. The renewed interest enabled Anderson to return to television production, but several projects including GFI (an animated update of Thunderbirds ) did not make it into production. Finally, in 1994, Anderson
2961-464: The secret defence organisation SHADO, set up to counter an alien invasion. UFO was more adult in tone than any of Anderson's puppet series, and mixed Century 21's signature futuristic action-adventure and special effects with serious dramatic elements. UFO was the last series made under the Century 21 Productions banner. During production of UFO, Anderson was approached directly by Harry Saltzman (at
3024-527: The series was cancelled before its first screening; Lew Grade considered that it would be incomprehensible to American audiences, and thus unsellable. In 1969 the Andersons began production of a new TV series, UFO , Century 21's first full live-action television series. This sci-fi action-adventure series starred American-born actor Ed Bishop (who had also provided the voice of Captain Blue in Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons ) as Commander Edward Straker, head of
3087-459: The series' network television premiere, having never been shown nationally by ITV . It became so popular in Britain that toy manufacturers Matchbox were unable to keep up with the demand for the Tracy Island playset, leading children's show Blue Peter to broadcast a segment showing children how to construct their own for a second time, the first being during the original run. The fan base for
3150-404: The show to an American network. Despite being wildly popular in the UK and abroad, Grade felt that without an American buyer, a full second series would fail to recoup its cost. It would later find moderate success in the United States through syndication . During the production of Thunderbirds the Andersons' marriage began to come under increasing strain, and the company also had a setback when
3213-553: The spy genre will find this example hard to take." Lee H. Katzin Lee H. Katzin (April 12, 1935 – October 30, 2002) was an American film director. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and became a TV director in the late 1960s for TV shows that included Bonanza , Mission: Impossible and Police Story . He also directed the 1971 feature film Le Mans . Starting in 1969, he did an array of theatrical films starting with Heaven with
SECTION 50
#17329161641613276-414: The studio was closed in 1950. He then worked freelance on a series of feature films. In the mid-1950s, Anderson joined the independent television production company Polytechnic Studios as a director, where he met cameraman Arthur Provis . After Polytechnic collapsed, Anderson, Provis, Reg Hill and John Read formed Pentagon Films in 1955. Pentagon was wound up soon after and Anderson and Provis formed
3339-601: The time co-producer of the James Bond film series with Albert "Cubby" Broccoli ), and was invited to write and produce the next film in the series, which was to be Moonraker . Collaborating with Tony Barwick to provide the characterisation, whilst he himself focused on the action sequences, Anderson wrote and delivered a treatment to Saltzman. Nothing ultimately came of it, and Broccoli and Saltzman proceeded to make Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Live and Let Die (1973) and, after co-producing 1974's Bond film, The Man with
3402-427: The time it was the company's biggest success, garnering the honour of being the only Anderson series sold to an American TV network, NBC . Around this time, Anderson also saw his Supermarionation style attract imitators—most notably Space Patrol (US title: Planet Patrol) which used similar techniques and was made by several former employees and associates of Anderson, including Arthur Provis and Roberta Leigh. After
3465-416: Was Anderson's first work with puppets, and the start of his long and successful collaborations with puppeteer Christine Glanville , special effects technician Derek Meddings and composer/arranger Barry Gray . It was Anderson's desire to move into live-action television. The Adventures of Twizzle was followed by another low-budget puppet series with Leigh, Torchy the Battery Boy (1958–1959). Although
3528-406: Was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with " Supermarionation " ( marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–58). Torchy
3591-527: Was conscripted for national service with the RAF, and was based at RAF Manston , an airfield near Margate. He served part of his time in air-traffic control. Two incidents in his final year with the RAF had a profound effect on Anderson. The first occurred during an aircraft display on 18 September 1948 commemorating the Battle of Britain , when a Mosquito aircraft crashed on a road crowded with occupied cars; reports on
3654-445: Was inaugurated during the production of Supercar . The establishment of AP Films (Merchandising) Ltd, a separate company set up to handle the licensing of merchandising rights for APF properties, was headed by Keith Shackleton (not the wildlife artist and TV presenter of the same name), a longtime friend of Anderson's from their National Service days. The next series by APF was the futuristic space adventure Fireball XL5 (1962). At
3717-517: Was interviewed for the BBC's 1993 Doctor Who documentary, Thirty Years in the TARDIS . He joked that, despite his career of making children's programming, the "real tragedy of my life" was that his own son Jamie (appearing with him) was a Doctor Who fanatic. By 1993 Archer published the trivia book Gerry Anderson's FAB Facts . Archer was killed in a car crash on London's orbital M25 motorway on his way to
3780-418: Was not undertaken, and a return to marionettes in the television pilot for a series called The Investigator failed to find a buyer. Elements of the abandoned second series of UFO were eventually turned into what became the most expensive television series ever made at that time, Space: 1999 . Another futuristic science-fiction adventure, it was based on the premise that a huge thermonuclear explosion on
3843-537: Was primarily known as a prolific episodic television director, and he worked on series such as MacGyver , Police Story , The Young Riders , and Mission Impossible . He died of cancer at the age of 67 in 2002 in Beverly Hills, California. This article about a television director is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson MBE ( né Abrahams ; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012)
SECTION 60
#17329161641613906-412: Was the abortive series The Secret Service , which this time mixed live action with Supermarionation. The series was inspired by Anderson's love of British comedian Stanley Unwin , who was known for his nonsense language, 'Unwinese', which he created and used on radio, in film and most famously on the 1968 Small Faces LP Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake . Despite Anderson's track record and Unwin's popularity,
3969-464: Was the children's western fantasy-adventure series Four Feather Falls (1959–60). Provis left the partnership, but the company retained the name AP Films for several more years. Four Feather Falls was the first Anderson series to use an early version of the so-called Supermarionation process, though this term had yet to be used. Despite APF's success with Four Feather Falls , Granada did not commission another series from them, so Anderson took up
#160839