User Reviews

Contrary to some other reviewers, I really enjoyed this episode. Yes, the bad guys are stupid and easily fooled, but Alf Kjellin does a great job as the megalomaniac villain Stefan Prohosh (interestingly, Kjellin also directed several episodes). Prohosh, who used to be head of security in an Eastern European country, has been demoted to the culture department in charge of the State Museum, apparently because of his power ambitions. Prohosh plans to regain power by selling a super alloy, cleverly hidden in a massive sculpture shipped to his museum. He is so paranoid that whenever someone comes into his office, he pulls out his gun and stands to the side of the door before he lets them in.

Anyway, the team's mission is to stop Prohosh and get the special alloy. To do this, they fake an assassination attempt on him and set him up for a downfall when the Chairman visits. Meanwhile, Barney and Willy must partially dismantle and reassemble the metal sculpture using torches while guards regularly make their rounds. The highlight is when Willy, like Atlas, must hold the two ton (may be a slight exaggeration on my part) sculpture together with his bare hands while guards talk only a few feet away. You feel agonizing sympathy for Willy, yet, when the guards finally leave, he shrugs as if it's no big deal - "I'm fine".

Interesting fact connecting both this ep of "Mission: Impossible" and the "Negative Reaction" ep of "Columbo" I watched recently: Alf Kjellin appeared in this and was the director of that "Columbo ep. Kjellin appears as a museum associate who was once an important security chief for a Communist country. The IMF team is trying to keep him from using one of the museum's exhibits as some kind of potential weapons hideout to display to an important chairman. So they stage an attempted assassination against him... It's only recently that I got to watch several eps of this classic series thorugh first Pluto TV at a friend's house and then when we switched cable companies allowing us access to MeTV. I've enjoyed several of these first and second season eps, this one among them. I'll review a few more here...

Love this episode, and with Alf Kjellin as a textbook egotist. Kjellin also directed for the series, though this entry was headed by Robert Totten, best known for GUNSMOKE.

Kjellin plays Stefan Prohosh, once security chief for a Communist country, now demoted to running a museum which has a rather curious metal scupture. Neatly woven into the sculpture is a super alloy, which Prohosh plans to steal and sell to his advantage.

How the M. I. team plans to fake out Prohosh is extremely clever, if not a nail biter. Barney and Willy, dressed in black from head to toe, get into the museum and intricately cut the alloy from the sculpture, but not before guards almost catch them.

Best scene has muscle-man Willy struggling to hold up a cut piece of the sculpture while hidden in the background. This scene is a gem, classic Mission Impossible. I agree with the last reviewer, though. Wouldn't the guards smell anything burning?

Barney and Willy in turn plant an explosive device in the sculpture, which will make it look like Prohosh is attempting to kill his superior. As always, the stunned looked on this nasty villain's face is worth the wait.

Extremely well written caper by John DF. (Donald Francis) Black, who wrote many classic episodes for HAWAII FIVE O, later CHARLIE'S ANGELS.

Look for two popular tv actors; Mills Watson as a guard, who seemed to always pop up as the sidekick to lawmen, and Peggy Rea as a cleaning lady, who probably held a record for tv appearances. She was everywhere.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 23 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 7 dvd set. 2007.