Including the Scandinavian

In less than 30 minutes on the air last week a pair of U.S. newspaper correspondents saved Germany and the world from a dangerous rebirth of Naziism. Just as effortlessly, the same newshawks have triumphed over Red conspirators, black marketeers, diamond smugglers, political assassins and other European evildoers. Their consistent and clear-cut victories take place on Foreign Intrigue (Thurs. 10:30 p.m., NBC), a TV adventure series that is chiefly notable because 1) it is filmed in Sweden, 2) by Philadelphia-born Sheldon Reynolds, 27, who two years ago knew almost nothing about either films or television.

Make It Sparse. Reynolds, an ex-radio & TV writer (Danger; We, the People), reached Sweden in 1950 with two American actors (Jerome Thor & Sydna Scott), an invitation from the head of Stockholm's Europa Film studios, and an idea: maybe the answer to the enormous costs of U.S. television might be found in low-budget European productions. It was by no means a new idea. Many another ambitious TVman has crossed the Atlantic to Paris and London for the same purpose. Almost without exception, they failed. Says Reynolds: "Mostly, their trouble was that they were thinking of nothing but economy."

As his own writer, director and producer, Reynolds took just four days to set up his first show, and only four more days to film it with the help of Swedish technicians. Then, doubling as a salesman, he flew to the U.S., showed the pilot film to Ballantine beer and, with a sponsor's contract in his pocket, raced back to Stockholm and got to work. By now, he can turn out a 30-minute show on a 5 1/2-day schedule. He cuts financial corners by using only one camera and never reshooting a scene, and he tries to write his sparse dialogue so that a sequence can be ended at almost any point without making a hash of the plot.

All the interior shots are filmed in the Stockholm studios, but Reynolds makes periodic tours of the Continent, setting up his camera for exteriors of Parisian boulevards, Viennese squares, Berlin freight yards. He often shoots unscheduled scenes (e.g., Actor Thor bursting out of an ornate doorway and running up an architecturally impressive street, or Actress Scott dodging through the ruins of Hamburg) and then writes them into future plots.

Keep It Fresh. The backgrounds give Intrigue something of the appearance of a travelogue stuffed with melodrama. And the show gains freshness because it is lavishly peopled with European actors--usually Swedes--in the supporting roles. "Swedes learn English in grade school and speak it very well," explains Reynolds. "Their accent is so slight that I can make them be Russians or Frenchmen or whatever I want."

The Reynolds method has been so successful that last week Sponsor Ballantine bought another 26 weeks of Foreign Intrigue. And NBC added the flattery of conscious imitation by signing a contract with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to begin work immediately on three major TV series that will be filmed in England, on the Continent and in North Africa.

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