Film Review: 'Fanfare for a Death Scene' (1964)

The great 20th Century jazzman, Al Hirt, blows a mean horn in Fanfare for a Death Scene, a midcentury thriller with equal parts charms and flaws.

Fanfare for a Death Scene (1964), a made-for-television movie directed by Leslie Stevens, from his own co-written script; starring Richard Egan, Telly Savalas, Viveca Lindfors, J.D. Cannon, Burgess Meredith, Kigh Diegh, Tina Louise, and Edward Asner.

So, picture this. It’s the high point of the Cold War. The nation’s top civilian intelligence expert, John Stryker (played by former B-movie sword-and-sandals actor Richard Egan), is tasked with saving Western Civilization from a ruthless enemy. That ruthless enemy is not, however, the Russians, the East Germans, or the Red Chinese.

No, the true threat comes from a confederacy of well-financed, rogue descendants of Genghis Khan, who are bent on reestablishing the Mongolian Khanate.

Mongolians, folks—it was the Mongolians all along.

That’s the premise of this bizarre, b&w television movie directed by Leslie Stevens, the creator/producer/director of the original version of The Outer Limits television series. The film was a pilot for an unsold spy drama starring Richard Egan, which was tentatively called Stryker!

This film has many virtues as well as many flaws.

First, the virtues: this movie looks terrific. If you are a fan of that shadowy Outer Limits, high-chiaroscuro style of filmmaking of early 60s drama, this is the flick for you. One memorable fight scene takes place in a motel room that’s entirely striped in Venetian blind shadows. The look is not coincidental: Fanfare was shot by the great Conrad Hall, who also shot half of the Outer Limits episodes for Stevens, and who would go on to become a triple-Oscar-winning icon of 20th Century cinematography.

The sets are great too: Stryker’s hyper-masculine bachelor pad is a masterpiece of Midcentury Modern interior design; it even has a conversation pit! The legendary Dominic Frontiere wrote the score; he was once the chief of the music department at Paramount (fun fact: he was also once married to the long-time owner of the Los Angeles Rams.) Like Stryker’s bachelor pad, Frontiere’s score is aggressively midcentury in style, showcasing a ton of brass, some of which is provided by jazz trumpeteer Al Hirt, who basically plays himself in a cameo role.

The cast is also a high point, featuring many actors who would soon become legends of 60s and 70s onscreen entertainment: Rocky’s cornerman (Meredith); Detective Kojak (Savalas); Lou Grant (Asner); Wo-Fat from the original Hawaii Five-O (Diegh) and Ginger from Gilligan’s Island (Louise).

Then, alas, there are the flaws: the premise is ridiculous and the plot is insane. There are a lot of stereotypical tropes about “inscrutable Orientals” and tons of embarassing dialogue that emphasizes American/Western exceptionalism. Stevens puts a huge amount of effort into building up Stryker as an alpha ubermensch who can do anything, in a way that verges on the homoerotic.

Fanfare starts off very strong, with the camera alighting upon a creepy mansion that turns out to be a mental institution. When the camera moves inside, we see the aftermath of a massacre: numerous staff members who’ve been struck dead in their places by a mysterious poison. They’ve been killed off by their most notorious patient, the mad scientist Bannerman (Meredith), who has escaped with only his beloved trumpet in tow.

Bannerman has numerous noxious chemical formulas of interest to the U.S. government living inside of his head, and Washington brass don’t want him to fall into the wrong hands. They call in Stryker to find the rogue genius, and he reluctantly takes the job.

The Mongolians--the perfidious Mongolians--know all about it. Led by their royal Khan (Savalas, wearing an outrageous Fu Manchu mustache), they figure that Stryker will lead them to Bannerman. This despite the Mongolians having a massive network of worldwide conspirators, the latest in high-tech gadgetry, and unlimited funds to find him themselves. Apparently, only the ubermensch Stryker! can locate an elderly, trumpet-obsessed, psychotic scientist who’s on the lam with no money or confederates to help him.

As he tracks Bannerman, Stryker is attacked by various Mongolian henchman, then kidnapped and forced to listen to Khan spout off about the glories of the Mongolian Empire while buzzed on fermented mare’s milk. Of course, every exotic, busty babe that Stryker encounters is warm for his form, including Tina Louise as a “Circassian sex slave” and the Swedish actress Lindfors as a “Mongolian princess.”

It all culminates at a trumpet concert featuring hepcat Hirt blowing a smokin' hot horn, baby, while American and Mongolian spies fight it out in the audience. It’s worth a watch if you love early 60s style, culture, and music, or if you love The Outer Limits. Now streaming for free to Prime members on Amazon.