User Reviews

exploding car?! Signe Hasso--Madame Alexandre Kim Hunter

"Girl in the Electric Coffin" is a decent episode of "Cannon"--apart from the exploding car, that is. It begins with a man being murdered. Soon, you learn that the dead man was a detective who was recommended to Madame Alexandre (Signe Hasso) in order to find this fashion designer's missing daughter--and Cannon is intend on discovering the girl and the murderer. In the process, he works with the man's widow (Kim Hunter) as well as infiltrates the hippie world of rock music! Yes, Cannon poses as a man wanting to produce an album for the group 'The Electric Coffin'! All this is quite odd for Frank Cannon but enjoyable. However, there is one small portion that I found amusingly bad. At the end, Cannon proves his insanely spectacular skills with a gun by shooting a snub-nosed handgun and making a car explode!!! It's not as bad as when he did the same and made an airplane explode in a previous episode...but it's still rather dumb. It's a shame, but I have to knock off a point for this silliness, though it's still quite watchable.

When his investigator friend dies while searching for a missing girl, Cannon agrees to take over the case. A clue leads him into the hippy rock world, where he suspects the girl resides, but Andrew Pine, who plays negative role, is on her trail, too. A decent episode that moves along briskly, has some good shootouts and a rather farfetched car explosion via a bullet from a hand gun, which adds to the excitement.

Although with a nice guest star list, I think they waited a bit too long in this episode to give the viewer an idea of what was really going on.

However, Andrew Prine makes a smooth-talking bad guy, and Cannon fans will be frustrated as he convinces the girl who is the subject of a missing person search that Cannon is a murderer!

Cannon had once turned down the case, but felt obligated to take it up after the friend he referred the client to is murdered. So we know there is something more to the story than simply a missing girl ... since whoever killed Cannon's friend probably wants her dead, too.

But frankly, most of the dialogue and even the brief action at the end just isn't inspiring.

Top direction by Jerry Jameson, who headed 4 episodes for CANNON, 10 for the MOD SQUAD and tons of other shows. His credit list is impressive, and with good reason.

10 STARS.

Robert Malcolm Young, who began his lengthy career writing horror films, put this one together, although the Electric Coffin is a music group? The girl in question is Lynn Marta, as Julia, who appeared in the pilot episode. Usually playing the bad girl next door or a victim. She also was a singer, good friends with actor David Soul during his years on STARSKY AND HUTCH, and a singer himself.

What a cast! Kim Hunter and 40s movie star Signe Hasso, both extremely popular on television at the time, make guest appearances. Cannon assists Hunter, portraying Liz Somers, whose husband is killed by no-account Andrew Prine (the definitive smooth villain). Hunter's husband, a fellow detective, was trying to find fashion designer Hasso's missing daughter, played by Marta.

The mystery continues, without giving too much away, and this time Cannon goes undercover as a record producer! Now that's original. William Conrad probably had a say in hiring on Hunter and Hasso as he made it a point to bring aboard many veteran actors he knew and worked with, and both he and Hunter make a terrific team. You can tell.

Kim followed this with an appearance on COLUMBO in a similar sympathetic role, also co-starring in the PLANET OF THE APES movies.

James Chandler briefly turns up as Hunter's husband, another familiar actor who worked at Warner Brothers/ABC with Conrad. Signe Hasso as Madame Antoinette is spot on, a very dramatic role, and has a poignant scene at the close.

Prine gets his due in the end, and its violent, but do not miss the classic, almost PETER GUNN like hallway shootout that includes Kim Hunter. It's fast. Jerry Jameson handled it just right.

Must see tv from SEASON 1, EPISODE 7 remastered CBS and Paramount dvd box set No. 1 of 2.