Viewed today "Death Takes a Partner" looks televisually rudimentary. The characters appear in poky studio settings, while the use of stock footage - this time of a six-day cycle race - is painfully evident. The action takes place in a series of close-ups and two-shots revealing the production's limited budget: most of the shots are very flat, with the characters ranged across the frame from right to left simply talking to one another.
Yet care must be taken while evaluating MAN AGAINST CRIME. It was a long-running series that kept Ralph Bellamy's name very much in the public eye. It was recorded live, with a minimum of rehearsal-time, and the scripts had to tell a story in 25 minutes, allowing for one commercial break. Given such constraints, it is a tribute to the director's and the actors' ingenuity that they manage to tell an exciting tale of secrecy, murder and treachery in such a short time.
The episode is very clear about its moral scheme: Bellamy appears in the regulation long overcoat and bashed up trilby hat; while the bad characters appear in black shirts and white ties and are given nicknames (such as "Bluey"). We do not need to reflect on the relationship between good and evil; the episode presents everything before us. We can concentrate instead on Mike Barnett's (Bellamy's) powers of deduction as well as his inner toughness as he brings all its abilities to bear in solving the case.
Yet care must be taken while evaluating MAN AGAINST CRIME. It was a long-running series that kept Ralph Bellamy's name very much in the public eye. It was recorded live, with a minimum of rehearsal-time, and the scripts had to tell a story in 25 minutes, allowing for one commercial break. Given such constraints, it is a tribute to the director's and the actors' ingenuity that they manage to tell an exciting tale of secrecy, murder and treachery in such a short time.
The episode is very clear about its moral scheme: Bellamy appears in the regulation long overcoat and bashed up trilby hat; while the bad characters appear in black shirts and white ties and are given nicknames (such as "Bluey"). We do not need to reflect on the relationship between good and evil; the episode presents everything before us. We can concentrate instead on Mike Barnett's (Bellamy's) powers of deduction as well as his inner toughness as he brings all its abilities to bear in solving the case.