We will focus on one season 7 episode (“Underground”) whose music by Schifrin emphasizes the dark shades of the underworld as in his previous season 6 scores. Moreover, a new theme music is fashioned in the vein of the hip season 5. The same music supervisor from season 5 and 6 takes care of the season: Kenyon Hopkins. A strange phenomenon occur through a series of false end music credits (a vague “Music by”) which only feature stock music for “The Puppet”, “Boomerang” and “The Fighter” and it already happened during season 1 and season 4, by the way.

 SCHIFRIN'S LAST SYNDICATE SCORE

For Underground, Lalo Schifrin combines some street funk-jazz (see the kidnapping of Schell from the prologue as an arch-example) and abstract "distorted" sound effects in Act 2 and 3 to emulate Robert Prince’s “Mindbend”: the first torture scene (Schell) is cut in four parts during Act 2 and the second torture scene (Jim) is cut in five parts from Act 2 to Act 3. The last cues from Act 1 are conceived as Mannix ones. The suspenseful acoustic music when Jim goes deep in the boiler room during Act 2 foreshadows Charley Varrick and some subtle arrangements are done as the season 4 “Submarine” and the feature film Kelly’s Heroes. The theme of the series is rearranged during Act 1 (Takis orders Barney to get in the blue Mercedes; Clavering meets Jim in the carousel; Barney and Willy tail the car of Clavering), Act 2 (Jim picks the lock on the door of the waiting room; Jim crosses the corridors and opens the door of the basement) and Act 4 (Jim comes out of the next room of Barney’s office; the police cars arrive at the warehouse). Apart from the action and urban bits, find two intimistic and sensitive cues written for Jim Phelps: Dr. Hargreaves' interrogation scene in which Jim is phycically unable to speak and expresses a repressed behavior in Act 2 (torn-inside violin and harp) and the tender melancolic cue that I call the "weak state" cue heard for the awakening of Jim from mental torture in Act 3. To conclude with Schifrin, his season 7 score is hardly presented—two tracks (“Tape Machine” which is a slow jazz-blues source music heard when Barney goes to the Wheelhouse bar and grills the bartender contact for smuggling Jim and “Good Job” which is an update of Mission: Impossible theme heard in the warehouse outcome of Act 4) that don’t encapsulate the leaning at all—in the 1992 GNP Crescendo Records release: The Best of Mission: Impossible – Then and Now (GNPD 8029).

End music credits for "Underground".

At this stage of the series, the majority of the internet mass media has ceased to review and mention it because of the drastic change in the concept. I invite you to read my review at Amazon: http://missiondvd-season7review.com.

156-UNDERGROUND (episode #7, airdate: October 28, 1972)

 

 Prologue

Extreme close-up on the shirt’s emblem of a county deputy sheriff who walks slowly to the metal fence and watches the sheriff’s white station wagon approaching. He moves closer and is given official papers by the chauffeur of the vehicle who closes the window. Behind a grill of the front seat, a cop is asked the time by handcuffed convict Gunther Schell. The cop answers "14:35" and asks Schell why does he care so much about the time because he is sentenced to thiry years. The main gate opens and the vehicle comes out, runs on the avenue, turns on the right at Van Ness Avenue. A smoking black man (Takis) at the corner, watches the station wagon passing by, drops his cigarette and walks in their direction. A light blue car blocks the way of the station wagon who stops cold. The chauffeur honks the horn many times. The man in the light blue car pretends to be unable to start the engine. Down in the sewer, a man raises the manhole and points a big gun towards the bottom of the station wagon and fires a gas which knocks unconscious the passengers. The man of the light blue car comes out. Takis plants a tiny explosive—linked by a long wire—on the back door of the vehicle. He backs off and triggers the charge with a small remote control. Takis opens up and the man in blue extracts Schell. They both drag the body, store it in the back of the light blue car and drive out in a hurry. At the end of the street, they turn on the left, slow down and penetrate in the back of a red rental truck (from the Davis brand). The back door of the truck shuts itself tight and they run away.

 Tape scene

Jim crosses the little wood bridge of a Japanese garden and meets a Japanese woman named Mioshi who first speaks Japanese and makes the traditional salute and then says: “May I show you to a table, sir?” Jim asks a question: “I’m looking for Mioshi.” She answers: “I’m Mioshi.” Jim continues: “I’m, uh, very fond of camellias.” She says: “Then perhaps you know the haiku. ‘Behold a camellia flower.’ ” Jim replies to the old saying by: “ ‘It spilled water when it fell.’ ” She makes a nod, points him the top drawer of the red chest, makes the traditional salute and leaves. Jim tells her goodbye in Japanese: “Arigato, Mioshi.” Jim draws a key from his jacket pocket, unlocks the drawer, catches the reel player and the envelop at once and closes it again. He turns around, takes a quick look, heads to a table and sits down.

 Summary

A secret organization, run by Mr. Clavering, offers its services for $50,000 to abduct criminals out of America. Sentenced to 30 years of prison and kidnapped, accountant Gunther Schell is tortured to reveal the hideout of the Syndicate's finances ($27 million). To get Schell back, Jim infiltrates the gang as a wealthy doctor fugitive while Barney contacts Schell's boss Mr. Lutz who is pressured and threatened of death by his Syndicate superior Karp.

 Cast and details

• Diabetic Syndicate bookie Gunther Schell played by H.M. Wynant (returning from the season 5 “The Field” but first seen in the season 4 “The Controllers”)
• Mr. Clavering (with a beard) played by Robert Middleton
• Clavering’s henchman Takis played by Carl Byrd
• Clavering’s sadistic psychiatrist Dr. Hargreaves (with spectacles) played by Peter Mark Richman (returning from the season 5 "My Friend, My Enemy" but first seen in the season 4 “Gitano”)
• Clavering’s Wheelhouse barman played by Robert Rhodes
• Syndicate executive Mr. Arnold Lutz played by Dennis Cross (returning from the season 6 “Mindbend”)
• Lutz’s henchman Smiler played by Jeff Morris (returning from the season 6 “The Connection”)
• Head mobster Karp played by Joseph Bernard
• The Director of the Lotus Hills Mortuary played by John Stephenson
• The orderly of the Lotus Hills Mortuary played by Herman Poppe

• First officer played by Bill McKeever
• The driver played by Duffy Hamilton

• Japanese woman Mioshi played by Ham Minn

Jim poses as murderer-thief internist Dr. Philip Brady who is locked in a lead coffin, breath some sedative-laden oxygen and grilled to tell where his stolen million is.

Barney has a real moustache and poses as crooked private investigator George Carter who sells Jim to Clavering and Schell to Lutz for the same price ($50,000). For the stakeout of Act 1, Barney carries his season 6 blue jeans jacket from “The Tram”.

Casey only listens to Barney and drives a car.

Willy poses as anesthetist Dr. Ben Thompson who releases some knock out gas from his medical bag (protected by a mini-gas mask) to free Schell. He carries his usual season 5 light brown blouson jacket.

Mr. Clavering and Takis are looking for Jim inside the carousel | Jim is about to turn on his micro-receiver

Gunther Shell is grilled in the audio-visual chamber | Dr. Hargreaves is preparing Jim's shot

The hydraulic chair of Jim ceases to spin | The audio-visual chamber is stopped and Jim is relieved

Lutz is pleased to get Schell's stolen money for Karp | Mr. Clavering and Takis spot Lutz in the warehouse

 Comments

Actor Robert Middleton was a television veteran and B-movie character-actor in Film Noir like Joseph H. Lewis’ The Big Combo, William Wyler’s The Desperate Hours, Mark Robson’s Trial and in countless western films. Actor Peter Mark Richman was known for his leading part as Syndicate attorney Nicholas Cain who joined the Feds to fight the invisible empire of his former employers in the 1961 series Cain's Hundred, in 1971, he was Duke Paige, the partner of blind insurance investigator Mike Longstreet (actor James Franciscus) in Longstreet; but in in the context of this Mission: Impossible episode, he pushed his character of Dr. Tabor from the season 5 “My Friend, My Enemy” (produced by Laurence Heath) a little step further in terms of sadism owing to the “Mindbend” influence of Dr. Thomas Burke: see the use of the theta wave machine. Both Robert Middleton and Peter Mark Richman played in William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion. Actor H.M. Wynant is a television man, appears four times on The Wild Wild West (see “The Night of the Torture Chamber”, “The Night of the Sudden Plague”, “The Night of the Poisonous Posey” and “The Night of the Simian Terror”) and plays here the opposite part of the season 4 “The Controllers”, meaning he goes from torturer to guinea pig—his character name of Schell, simplified to the word “shell” is meaningful because he encapsulates what happens to him during this intrigue: the hermetic chamber, a man who keeps his secret. As usual, minor characters receive no credits: the two deputy sheriffs—the first deputy sheriff appears in the season 6 “The Bride” as gangster Tony Troy and “Image” as the chauffeur of Emil Gadsen—, the man in blue who hijacks the station wagon, the two hoods at the warehouse who transport the coffin (actually, it’s Tom McDonough and Harold Jones).

As in “Cocaine”, the action starts with a foe character reading a newspaper (“The Daily Chronicle”) which shows a picture of an IMFer (Jim) posing as his cover identity. As in the season 6 “Blind”, Jim poses as a maverick character—notice that both “Blind” and “Underground” use the same picture in the newspaper to advertise his predicament. The season 5 concept of human failure is again present during Act 1 with Jim whose lead-lined coffin keeps Barney from giving the instructions by radio as planned. For the anecdote, at the bottom of Jim’s driving license, you can see the name of Tim Rayburn: Jim’s character in the season 6 “Trapped”. As in the season 4 “The Martyr” and the season 7 “Break!”, Jim has an implant to communicate with Barney and his rectangular sunglasses that he carries during the tape scene are already used in the previous season 6: “Underwater” and “The Visitors”. During Act 1, Jim’s blue rectangular sunglasses are from season 6 episodes too: “The Tram”, “The Bride”, “Committed”. As in the season 6 “The Miracle”, the episode displays the blackexploitation trend in many scenes: The Wheelhouse bar has some black customers with Afro haircuts and there is one black henchman named Takis.

Syndicate Bookie Gunther Schell under strict brainwashing

The pinnacle of the episode remains the mechanical tapestry around the mental torture: part of the colored screen effects come from “The Visitors” and the victim of the brainwashing is under some special truth drug and strapped down on a psychedelic tilting hydraulic chair inside a soundproof room, accompanied with harsh lights and distorted noises (high frequencies and voices); the audio-visual torture concept is taken from "Shock" (see the cruel scene in which actor Joseph Gort is locked up in the soundproof cell with the outloud voices with echo). The brainwashing room and its color lights show remind both the 1965 The Ipcress File (Harry Palmer is locked up in a zoom shot box; IPCRESS stands for Induced Psycho neurosis through Condidioned REsponse and Stress) and an episode of the 1967 series The Invaders entitled “The Experiment” (David Vincent is lied down on a sealed hydraulic coffin). The moving chair foreshadows a season 1 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man entitled “The Last of the Fourth of Julys” (directed by Mission: Impossible Reza S. Badiyi) and Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Jim Phelps posing as Dr. Philip Brady under strict brainwashing

There’s a blooper at the end of Act 1 when Jim comes out of the limousine that stops in the warehouse: we can see the microphone boom. It's no coincidence that Jim is hidden twice in a spinning location: the carousel and the audio-visual chamber. The apartment of Lutz is Joe Epic’s one recycled from “Leona”. The neighbourhood of Barney’s office is the backlot used for the season 5 “The Killer” and the season 6 “Encore”. The Lotus Hills Mortuary is Los Angeles’ Brand Library (located at 1601 West Mountain Street, Glendale, California 91201-1200). The prologue depicting the abduction of Schell reminds the gas MO of the season 4 “Submarine” and the way the gangsters hide the car in a truck remind the season 5 “The Amateur”. The hearse, the mortuary and its director are basic elements that can easily be connected to the season 6 “The Bride”. As in season 6 (see “Invasion” and “Stone Pillow”), the hideout of the foe ends up in a dark warehouse. As in the season 5 “Butterfly”, one scene (tape scene) seems to be filmed at the Japanese Village Buena Park but it can also be the Japanese garden of the Huntington Botanical Gardens (located at 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108).

As in season 6, the opening credits is in that order: Peter Graves (same title vignette as season 6), Greg Morris, Lynda Day George (same title vignette as season 6) and Peter Lupus but none of the guest female agents (semi regular Mimi—aka the updated version of Tracy aka the female version of Jeremy Pike from The Wild Wild West—, Sandy or Andrea) have a title vignette. From season 7, the order of the series rituals are changed and return to the original structure with the modern veneer: first, the opening credits, the prologue, the tape scene and the apartment scene. From season 7, all tape scenes are shot in the area of San Francisco. As in “Two Thousand” and “Leona”, Greg Morris carries a moustache and as in the season 6 “Trapped”, his Barney character gains the position of leader. As in “Two Thousand” and “Leona”, Lynda Day George’s presence is reduced to the extreme: no undercover part and, instead, assists behind a wheel. Act 2 is the longest Act of season 7 with more than 19 minutes on the clock.

 Review

This

is the season 7 version of “Mindbend” due to obvious story elements: an IMFer posing as a fugitive who pays some money to an illegal organization to leave the country discreetly, is abducted and tortured with sound effects by a criminal psychiatrist on a payroll for the mob and, later, removes a fake skin that contains a drug and explores a bogus hospital: just replace gangster Alex Pierson by Mr. Clavering and Dr. Thomas Burke by Dr. Hargreaves. The plot borrows from the season 3 “The Exchange” because one IMFer is questioned in a small hermetic chamber and almost reveals a real name and the season 4 "The Martyr" because Jim is prehypnotized, has an implant of a sender-receiver (in the ear) and Barney is designed to give him instructions (which he couldn’t do). Another weird episode between "Shock" and "Mindbend" (after Barney, this is Jim who undergoes total pain in a torture chamber: see the Expressionist use of wide angle lens and zoom shots) that is among the most daring ones of that last season and carries the stamp of story consultant Laurence Heath due to the psychological leaning.