Listen to “Great Detectives Dangerous Assignment” on Spreaker.

Dangerous Assignment was a spy mystery drama that followed the success of the Man Called X from 1944-48 and also preceded its 1950 revival. The series starred Hollywood veteran Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, who works undercover for an unnamed intelligence bureau at the command of the Commissioner (played by Herb Butterfield).

The series began as a seven-episode summer replacement in 1949 but was not picked up for the fall schedule. However, it did come to the network in February 1950 and would remain for three years. There was also a television version of the series that was produced by Donlevy and syndicated mostly to NBC local affiliates.

Unlike the Man Called X, the series was light on sermonizing and was less direct about the Cold War. There was also a less direct focus on fighting Communism in the Cold War.

About the Star:

Brian Donlevy (1901-71): Donlevy began his career in New York in the 1920s as a model and silent film star before featuring in a string of Broadway hits. In 1935, he broke into Hollywood, starring in films such as The Great McGinty. In 1939, he netted an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his performance as a villain in Beau Geste. He continued to appear in a variety of big Hollywood pictures throughout the 1940s. In the 1950s, he starred in the television version of Dangerous Assignment in addition to guest starring on a wide variety of television programs, and in 1960, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television. He also starred in two film adaptations of the British Quatermass TV serials for Hammer Film Productions in the mid-1950s.

 

 

 

Episode log:

• Thropp Foundation Relief Supplies (Original Air Date: July 9, 1949)
• Malayan Line Sabotage (Original Air Date: July 16, 1949)
• On Safari for Nigerian Manganese (Original Air Date: July 23, 1949)
• Millionaire: Murder Conspiracy (Original Air Date: August 6, 1949)
• Smash Alien Smuggling Racket (Original Air Date: August 13, 1949)
• File No. 307 (Original Air Date: August 20, 1949)
• Find Missing Japanese Weapons (Original Air Date: February 6, 1950)
• Who Killed Captain Rocq? (Original Air Date: February 13, 1950)
• Recover Stolen Radar Plans (Original Air Date: February 20, 1950)
• White Jade (Original Air Date: February 27, 1950)
• Recover Wire Recorder Spool (Original Air Date: March 6, 1950)
• International Blackmail (Original Air Date: March 20, 1950)
• Renew Sheik Haroun’s Uranium Deal (Original Air Date: March 27, 1950)
• Recover Underwater Demolition Secrets (Original Air Date: April 10, 1950)
• Investigate Flying Saucers (Original Air Date: April 17, 1950)
• The Nazi and the Physicist (Original Air Date: April 24, 1950)
• Find Szabo and the Briefcase (Original Air Date: May 3, 1950)
• Smash Lecture Circuit Spy Ring (Original Air Date: May 10, 1950)
• Find 100,000 Barrels of Missing Oil (Original Air Date: May 17, 1950)
• Solve Kent Jackson’s Murder (Original Air Date: May 24, 1950)
• Administer Little White Pill Antidote (Original Air Date: May 31, 1950)
• Find Champlin and His Reel of Tape (Original Air Date: June 7, 1950)
• Find Guerrilla Chief and Stop Him (Original Air Date: July 26, 1950)
• Recover Lost Troop Movement Document (Original Air Date: August 2, 1951)
• Defeat African Hate (Original Air Date: August 9, 1950)
• Find Hired Killer Lupac (Original Air Date: August 16, 1950)
• Get Gouda Before the Gunrunners (Original Air Date: August 23, 1950)
• Recover Stolen Missile Plan Microfilm (Original Air Date: August 30, 1950)
• The Chromite Mine Disaster (Original Air Date: September 6, 1950)
• Contact Lefty The Trained Seal (Original Air Date: September 20, 1950)
• Retrieve Slarga from Latin America (Original Air Date: September 27, 1950)
• Forged Identification Papers Racket (Original Air Date: September 29, 1950)
• Contact Marta Gelber and Smash Sabotage Ring (Original Air Date: October 6, 1950)
• Memory Chain Equation (Original Air Date: November 18, 1950)
• The Football Play (Original Air Date: November 25, 1950)
• The Empty Matchbook (Original Air Date: December 2, 1950)
• Berlin Kidnapping Ring (Original Air Date: December 9, 1950)
• Missing Civil War Map (Original Air Date: December 16, 1950)
• Intercept Dr. Korvel (Original Air Date: December 30, 1950)
• Operation Fish Hook (Original Air Date: January 6, 1951)
• Find Missing Scientist Dr. Wieczek (Original Air Date: January 13, 1951)
• Missing Arctic Warfare Report (Original Air Date: January 20, 1951)
• A Box of Busted Bells (Original Air Date: January 27, 1951)
• Nazi Fugitive (Original Air Date: February 3, 1951)
• Kroner Cutlass (Original Air Date: February 10, 1951)
• The Nazi Buzz Bomb (Original Air Date: February 24, 1951)
• Prevent Disclosure of Compromised Codes (Original Air Date: March 3, 1951)
• Solve Your Own Murder (Original Air Date: March 10, 1951)
• Recover a Hospital Chart (Original Air Date: March 17, 1951)
• Recover Stolen Dynamite (Original Air Date: March 24, 1951)
• Atomic Fission Formula (Original Air Date: March 31, 1951)
• File 72 (Original Air Date: April 7, 1951)
• Stolen UN Documents (Original Air Date: April 14, 1951)
• Retrieve Gouczek (Original Air Date: April 21, 1951)
• Outlaw Radio Station (Original Air Date: April 28, 1951)
• Find Rudolf Karpel (Original Air Date: May 4, 1951)
• Epidemic-Needle in a Haystack (Original Air Date: May 11, 1951)
• Operation Hotfoot (Original Air Date: May 18, 1951)
• Suspicious Explosions (Original Air Date: June 19, 1951)
• The Suspect Cylinder (Original Air Date: June 26, 1951)
• A Country’s Democracy Threatened (Original Air Date: July 3, 1951)
• China Sea Smuggling (Original Air Date: July 10, 1951)
• A Stolen Treaty (Original Air Date: August 25, 1952)
• The Underground Press (Original Air Date: October 8, 1952)
• To Ask a Guy to Shoot You (Original Air Date: October 15, 1952)
• The Butterfly Chaser (Original Air Date: October 22, 1952)
• The Smuggling Racket (Original Air Date: November 5, 1952)
• Mr. Alexander’s File (Original Air Date: November 12, 1952)
• The Private Sanitorium (Original Air Date: November 19, 1952)
• A Nursery Rhyme (Original Air Date: November 26, 1952)
• Italian Actress (Original Air Date: December 3, 1952)
• Riot (Original Air Date: December 10, 1952)
• Road Sabotage (Original Air Date: December 17, 1952)
• Lecturing Professors (Original Air Date: December 24, 1952)(Christmas episode)
• Street Car 17 (Original Air Date: December 31, 1952)
• Colonel Chan (Original Air Date: January 7, 1953)
• The Blue Lion (Original Air Date: January 14, 1953)
• The Hunt for Charon (Original Air Date: January 28, 1953)
• Arnold Freed Kidnapped (Original Air Date: February 4, 1953)
• Family Squabble (Original Air Date: February 11, 1953)
• Doctor Mitsuko Kidnapping (Original Air Date: February 18, 1953)
• Black Market in Jewels (Original Air Date: February 25, 1953)
• Henrich Schwandorff (Original Air Date: March 4, 1953)
• Ghost Ship (Original Air Date: March 11, 1953)
• Stolen Information Group (Original Air Date: March 18, 1953)
• Find Antonina (Original Air Date: March 25, 1953)
• Rescue Rick Perez (Original Air Date: April 1, 1953)
• Boy is Used as Courier (Original Air Date: April 8, 1953)
• Find Lenny Fenway (Original Air Date: April 15, 1953)
• A Trap in Freedom House (Original Air Date: April 22, 1953)

Video Theater:

• The Alien Smuggler Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Submarine Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Displaced Persons Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Memory Chain (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Manger Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Key Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)
• The Bhandara Story (Original Air Date: Fall 1951)

New episodes added every Wednesday.