Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (Columbia Pictures) (1966)

Camilla Sparv A Swedish born photographer’s model currently co-starred at Une acd inc. Theatre with James Coburn in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round,” Columbia Pictures release in Eastman color, Camilla Sparv is tall, svelte, lissome and, of course, beautiful. She also possesses a dignity and a charm that make her ideal for the comedy role of a Boston girl who becomes an unwitting accomplice in bank robbery. Also co-starred with Miss Sparv are Aldo Ray, Nina Wayne, Robert Webber and Todd Armstrong. Bernard Girard wrote and directed the film, and Carter DeHaven produced. “Dead Heat on a Merry-GoRound,” a suspense comedy, concerns the cleaning out of an airport bank at the very moment a plane carrying a Soviet premier on an official good-will visit is touching the ground. “It’s not that I’m stupid. It’s just that I never really know what’s going on,’ Miss Sparv explains her role with a laugh. “T’ve married this very charming man whom I think is a writer. Then one day he asks me to take some snapshots of the airport for an article he’s preparing, and I do so, little knowing that he needs them to mastermind his robbery.” Coburn, who can always find a girl to help him rob a bank, then ditches the blue-eyed, blonde Camilla; obviously, crime doesn’t pay! Miss Sparv’s beauty took her from her native Sweden to Paris, and fame as a model and cover girl, and then to New York. An invitation to try Hollywood followed. Determined to give her new career every possible break, Camilla enrolled in a dramatic school, worked hard and diligently at her new trade, and made her screen debut in “The Trouble With Angels.” Todd Armstrong Todd Armstrong currently is co-starred in support of James Coburn in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round,” new Columbia Pictures release at the...... Theatre, as a State Department official supervising Los Angeles Air-Port security arrangement for a visiting Russian dignitary, while Coburn is happily robbing the airport bank. Also co-starred in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” are Camilla Sparv, Aldo Ray, Nina Wayne and Robert Webber. Carter DeHaven produced and Bernard Girard wrote and directed the film, in Eastman color. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, where he received his early schooling, Todd is the second son of Harris Armstrong, a nationally-known architect who wanted his son to follow that profession. But even in early childhood Todd felt the urge to act. Todd tried living up to his father’s hopes by working as a draughtsman in an architect’s office. He took it for a few months, and then persuaded his parents to let him go to California theatre schools. Todd landed at the Pasadena Playhouse where he completed two years of training in 18 months and appeared in over 20 plays. Later, he played with various Hollywood little theatres. Ultimately, he obtained a small walk-on part in “Walk on the Wild Side” and a role in “Five Finger Exercise” that never got off the cutting room floor. Then he was given a running part with Victor Jory in the “Manhunt” television series, and the role of Jason, legendary Greek hero who adventured in search of the Golden Fleece, in “Jason and the Argonauts.” That was when the Army tapped him on the shoulder. Todd left it all for two years of service. Two years away from the start of a career meant that Todd would have to start all over again. He had to prove himself to a new group of producers, and he is doing just that. (Mat 1A; Still No. 77) James Coburn stars as an affable romantic rogue in ''Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round," Columbia Pictures comedy in Eastman colOr atthe =... Theatre. Here lovely Camilla Sparv is the girl who helps him rob a bank, without realizing it; she thinks she has wed a would-be writer. Aldo Ray For a man who started his adult life, once he was through helping to win World War II, as a constable, Aldo Ray makes a great bank robber. This is the role he plays in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round,” new Columbia Pictures release at the ........ Theatre in Eastman color. Ray is part of the gang assembled by star James Coburn in one of the most delightful comedies of the year, a DeHaven-Girard production also starring Camilla Sparv, Nina Wayne, Robert Webber and Todd Armstrong. On the day of his graduation from high school in Crockett, California, Aldo Ray received his induction notice. He entered the Navy and served as a frogman in an underwater demolition group at Okinawa and other spots in the Pacific, Discharged in 1946, Aldo returned to his education at Vallego Junior College where he became first string fullback on the football team. A year later, Aldo entered the University of California, but his football career ended when an old knee injury popped up again. After leaving the University at Berkeley, California, Aldo returned to Crockett, to run for the office of constable. It was in the midst of his campaign that his brother, Guido, asked Aldo to drive him to nearby San Francisco where Columbia was filming a picture called “Saturday’s Hero.” Guido wanted to be among the football players being interviewed for roles in the film, but Aldo got the job. He also got himself elected constable of Crockett. He starred in “Johnny Nobody” in Ireland, in the British film, “Four Desperate Men,” made in Australia and London, and in an Italian film, “Musketeers of the Sea,” for which Aldo spent five months in his parents’ native land, Italy. His more recent Hollywood pictures were “Sylvia” and “What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?” Michael Strong Michael Strong is one of the men enlisted by star James Coburn to help him rob a bank in “Dead Heat on a Merry-GoRound,” new Columbia Pictures release at the ........ Theatre in Eastman color. The suspense comedy is Strong’s second picture after 15 years of activity on Broadway; his first was “Detective Story,” with Kirk Douglas, in the police role he had created on the stage. “Dead Heat on a Merry-goRound” was written and directed by Bernard Girard, and produced by Carter DeHaven. The film costars Camilla Sparv, Aldo Ray, Nina Wayne, Robert Webber and Todd Armstrong. THE CAST BR ICR sas eta James Coburn Jack Balter 0... James Westerfield Inger Knudson .............. Camilla Sparv George Logan ................ Philip E. Pine bode Mart cine. oS ok ds Aldo Ray William Anderson ............ Simon Scott Frieda Schmid .................. Nina Wayne General Mailenkoff .............. Ben Astar Milo Stewart .............. Robert Webber Capt. William Yates.. Michael St. Angel Margaret Kirby .................. Rose Marie Officer Howard .......... Lawrence Mann Alfred Morgan .......... Todd Armstrong Transition a en Alex Rodine Dr. Marion Hague .......... Marian Moses Willie Manus .......... Albert Nalbandian Pail PONG ccs. Michael Strong Lyman Mann .................. Tyler McVey Miles Fisher .................. Severn Darden Sergeant Elmer K. Coxe ...... Roy Glenn THE CREDITS Written and Directed by Bernard Girard; Director of Photography, Lionel Lindon, A.S.C.; Music by Stu Phillips; Art Director, Walter M. Simonds; Film Editor, William Lyon; Set Decorator, Frank Tuttle; Assistant Director, William Kissel; Unit Production Manager, M. Frankovich, Jr.; Make-Up Supervision, Ben Lane, S.M.A.; Hair Styles by Virginia Jones, C.H.S.; Sound Supervisor, Charles J. Rice; Sound, Josh Westmoreland; Produced by Carter DeHaven. Color by Pathe. A DeHaven-Girard Production. A Columbia Pictures release. THE STORY (Not for Publication) A captivating rogue, Eli Kotch charms a comely California prison psychologist into helping him win parole. On his release, he buys blueprints of the bank at Los Angeles International Airport for $5000 down, promising to pay the $85,000 balance in 90 days. In Denver under another name, Eli poses as a shoe clerk with a Swiss background, meets and seduces Frieda Schmid, German maid in a wealthy home which he robs. He sells the loot in Boston, where he enlists electronic wizard Miles Fisher in his bank-robbing project. As a termite extinguisher and would-be writer, Eli charms Inger Knudson, secretary of the wealthy Mrs. Galbrace, into marrying him. He sends Inger to set up their home in Los Angeles, where he claims to have a writing job; he will save money, he tells her, by driving there by truck. With Inger out of the way, Eli steals some valuable paintings from Margaret Kirby, another wealthy woman, and arrives in Los Angeles on a chartered plane, as a delegate to a Knights of Columbus convention. At the Los Angeles Airport, security preparations are being supervised by State Department officials Gordon Stewart and Alfred Morgan, in anticipation of the early arrival of the Soviet premier. Eli pays for the bank blueprints from the proceeds of his several robberies. He then recruits both Eddie Hart and Paul Feng, who steals police uniforms, badges and other "bank-robbing'' material from the prop and wardrobe departments of a studio where he is an extra. Eli sends Inger to take necessary pictures of the bank and airport, ostensibly for a magazine article he is writing; she is unaware she is helping him in his bank heist planning. With Hart, Eli then leaves for Tucson after telling Inger he has been called to active Naval Reserve Duty. In his absence, Inger learns Mrs. Galbrace has died; she tries, but fails to locate Eli through the Navy. The day of the Soviet premier's arrival, Eli and Hart fly back to Los Angeles from Tucson, posing as Australian police inspector and extradited prisoner, respectively. Dressed as police officers, Fisher and Feng gain admittance to the police-packed airport, and to the closed bank; Fisher uses Eli's blueprints effectively. The quartet's activities are completely ignored by the harried police in the confusion of the Soviet premier's arrival, and they even help Eli and "'prisoner,"' with the loot, board a plane to Mexico. Fisher and Feng join Eli and Hart in the successful getaway flight to Mexico, even as the police, learning of the robbery, do what they can to pick up the criminals. No one suspects Eli or his crew, not even Inger who has inherited Mrs. Galbrace's $7,000,000 estate. She has lost the man she loves; Eli, en route to Mexico, has only lost more money than he ever dreamed of. Running Time: 108 Minutes Page ||