"Coronet Blue" (1967)TV series

Creator:

Larry Cohen

Seasons:

1 | unknown

Release Date:

28 May 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Mike is running from some men when he falls into the harbour. He climbs out remembering only that he was running and the phrase 'coronet blue'...

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia

Cast

Frank Converse	...	Michael Alden (10 episodes, 1967)
Joe Silver	...	Max Spier (7 episodes, 1967)

Runtime:

60 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Plautus Productions

Trivia:

"Coronet Blue" creator Larry Cohen, in his autobiography "The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker," explained the mystery behind the series' title/catch-phrase. "When the Brodkin Organization took over the series, they wanted to turn it into an anthology... so they played down the amnesia aspect until there was nothing about it at all in the show. It was just Frank Converse wandering from one story to the next with no connective format at all. Anyway, the show ended after seventeen weeks and nobody found out what 'coronet blue' meant. The actual secret is that Converse was not really an American at all. He was a Russian who had been trained to appear like an American and was sent to the U.S. as a spy. He belonged to a spy unit called 'Coronet Blue.' He decided to defect, so the Russians tried to kill him before he can give away the identities of the other Soviet agents. And nobody can really identify him because he doesn't exist as an American. Coronet Blue was actually an outgrowth of 'The Traitor' episode of "The Defenders" (1961)."

Should have been a hit.

I see this on SuperChannel, which is a Japanese cable channel that's basically a graveyard for short-lived American TV shows. (Shaft, Serpico, Funny Face,...etc.) I got into it quickly.

This is obviously the inspiration for Matt Damon's 'Bourne' films.

The amnesia angle was played very well. Watching Frank Converse do what he felt he needed to do without knowing WHY was eerie.

You really felt for the guy. I'm surprised this show wasn't a hit and Converse wasn't a bigger star.

It was apparent that the cold war was the 'hidden' secret. But since the show never made it...we never really found out until Larry Cohen told us himself.