Studio One (TV Series) A Passenger to Bali (1950) User Reviews

This was in my horror box set, why?

[vegeta3986 · 6/10 · 4 August 2009]

Now, i'm not going to complain about this movie/episode, in fact, i kinda liked it. the only real problem i had was that in my 50 horror movie box set "Chilling Classics" at number 21 they gave me an episode of "studio one". I find that to be a bit odd. Why would you put a TV episode in a box of horror titles? did they run out of public domain movies to use? But, that little complaint aside, it's really not that bad.

The story is about a man who gains passage on a ship going to bali. the captain agrees, little does he realize the passenger is not allowed in any country, so he's stuck aboard his ship, slowly driving everyone insane. Not going to spoil the ending, was pretty decent though.

It was interesting that since this was a 1950 TV show, they had the commercials still in there. it broke the action up though, and that was kind of irritating. The acting was pretty good and the supporting cast was fun. you actually felt yourself in the captain's shoes. What would you do if you were stuck as he was? it was a very good moral dilemma story.

If you're looking for something short, pop it in, you might just be surprised. And if you happen to have it on the chilling classics box set, just don't watch the next movie on the disc. But that's another review.

Passenger of Bali gets 6 well forged passports, out of 10.

Sea Pariah

[zeppo-2 · 4/10 · 14 May 2008]

Strange little item, found on a 'Classic Horror' pack but nothing classic or horrible about it, apart from the low budget of early television shows! Everything is shot on what looks like one sound stage with lots of close up shots to avoid seeing lack of any backgrounds. Still it works quite well as a drama,which is what this is and nothing to do with horror at all.

The story concerns a man who almost forces himself onto a cargo ship to be a passenger to Bali, hence the title. Unknown to the ship's captain or crew,he is a sea Jonah which no country wants and none will allow him off the ship and back on land. The reason is a bit unclear, we are told he has some 'inflamatory pamphlets' which could start trouble,as this was filmed during the 'red witch hunt' era in America's history,I assume it is the 'plague' of communism. It does seem all a bit silly from a modern day point of view, then again, there is the fear of Islam stalking the land now, so, perhaps not...

Berry Kroeger as the man without a country does a decent job,although you can see he has been watching too much Orson Welles when he gets into full flow and chews the scenery at times.

The ending is inconclusive and you have to add your own finale. Interesting from a curio point of view of the beginnings of television drama, this is really just a staged radio play. Still makes me wonder what happened to all the other episodes in this series and if they also turned up in boxed horror sets as well.

Oooh, scary.

[catfish-er · 4/10 · 10 May 2010]

According to the jacket, this program is from the Studio One television series, shown from 1948 to 1958 on CBS. Apparently, the series received multiple awards and nominations. So, WHY then is it included in Mill Creeks' 50 Movie Pack Chilling Classics?

This episode features Captain English agreeing to take aboard a passenger that turns out to be much more than he seems... ooh, scary.

Turns out that Berry Kroeger (posing as "Reverend" Walkes) is some sort of a pariah -- feared by the Bali authorities; the Saigon authorities, and, the Hong Kong authorities. He is accused of being a rabble-rouser; and, has been sited for distributing incendiary cargo.

We never learn what that may be; but,at one point, Mr. Walkes is seen reading "The Decline of the West" by Oswald Spengler. This book, which purports that the developed counties of the West (England, Western Europe and the Americas) were headed toward a new phase of civilization. This phase would be dominated by mega-cities, and money; and, that atheism would become ascendant. Following a progression, this would lead to Caesarism (cult of personality); and, a long period of stagnation in the arts and sciences.

This gives us some little insight into Mr. Walkes true purpose; he believes the end of the world (as we know it) is at hand; and, he is going to help bring about the new world order, whatever that may be.

An Ideological Plague

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 18 July 2009]

"This program is from the famous 'Studio One' television series shown from 1948 to 1958 by CBS and was a continuation of the successful radio series of the same name. This series received multiple Emmy awards as well as nominations and brought to the small screen some of the brightest and biggest stars, directors and writers of it's time to present to the audience a dramatic feature each week. In this episode, the captain of an ocean freighter takes aboard a passenger (who) turns out to be much more than (he seems)," according to a DVD sleeve's synopsis.

This 'Studio One' episode seems to have been coupled with "Midnight Warning" as a DVD double feature due to both stories including a suggestion of the Bubonic Plague as a reason for plot developments. "A Passenger to Bali" does offer a deliciously evil Berry Kroeger (as "Reverend" Walkes), who boards Colin Keith-Johnston (as Captain English)'s ship a la "Barnabas Collins", complete with cape and cane, and pontificates, "My shadow is the sun…"

Ellis St. Joseph's "A Passenger to Bali" originally aired as a "Mercury Theater" radio show in 1938, with the foreboding Orson Welles as the ship's mysterious passenger. At that time, the drama could have be argued to warning against Fascism - but, by 1950, the evil was updated to Communism. The first half hour plays very well, with E.A. Krumschmidt (as Mynheer van Matsys) summing up the situation well. It very quickly runs out of steam during the second half.

**** A Passenger to Bali (3/27/50) Paul Nickell ~ Berry Kroeger, Colin Keith-Johnston, E.A. Krumschmidt

Look for a better copy than I found on Roku.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 26 December 2018]

"Passenger to Bali" is a very strange episode of "Studio One"...not necessarily bad but strange indeed and unlike any other installment I've seen!

Mr. Walkes (Barry Kroeger) is a strange passenger on a steamer headed for Bali, Indonesia. While he claims to be a missionary, he seems odd and manipulative. As they are nearing Bali, the Captain learns that Walkes is a phoney...no missionary and a man who is reviled in the South Pacific. It seems that where ever he goes, trouble follows! In fact, ports won't even allow the ship to dock provided Walkes is aboard! And, after a while, it begins to feel as if the ship is Walkes' prisoner!

"A Passenger to Bali" is pretty good...but there is one huge problem with the copy I saw on Roku. The vocal track is WAY out of sync with the video...by at least 30 seconds! It made viewing the show difficult, naturally, and unless you can find a correctly working copy you might want to skip this one.

A Budding Lenin

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 23 May 2011]

Apparently everyone got this old Studio One teleplay from the same source, in a pack of horror films of varying quality. I too am wondering how it got to be included. Perhaps as a study of paranoia.

Captain Colin Keith-Johnstone in a moment of charity agrees to take Berry Kroeger who is passing himself off as a Dutch missionary to the island of Bali. But when he refuses to let him get off the ship prematurely in the dead of night in a lifeboat he finds he can't get rid of the guy. The Dutch in Bali because this was not yet Indonesia won't have him, the French in Saigon, nor the British in Hong Kong nor any place else. It is discovered his luggage consists of political tracts and quantities of gin.

Remember this was the McCarthy Era and these tracts were presumably Communist stuff. And this is the remedy. So Kroeger can't go anywhere and Johnstone is just stuck with him. It does get resolved however for the rootless, stateless, Kroeger.

Kroeger realizes this is unbelievable junk and overacts outrageously. Someone said he reminded him of Orson Welles, he reminds me here of Charles Laughton without direction.

Winston Churchill wrote that Lenin was introduced into Russia from his Swiss exile by the Germans as a tubercular bacillus in their body politic. Kroeger must have been a political plague carrier of the worst sort. Just how do you get a reputation like his?

Most interesting as a relic of early television

[Red-Barracuda · 3/10 · 16 May 2016]

The passenger to Bali here is a man who wangles his way on board a cargo ship. Turns out he is a bad egg who no country will tolerate meaning the ship is stuck with him. He seems to be a political troublemaker of some sort.

This curio is an example of a very early TV production. As such it's pretty crudely made with low production values clear for all to see. There are few sets and it was probably filmed live in one take, as this was the way of most of these types of productions back in the early TV days. As such, you have to lower expectations for this one. But even taking this into account, it would still only be fair to say that this tele-play is just a bit too raw and basic to offer much entertainment. It ultimately doesn't even end with much clarity either. In the version I saw, the old commercial breaks were included and I found myself finding these retro sales segments more interesting that the feature itself, which probably says everything really.

Strangely on the Chilling Classics box set

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 11 November 2018]

Why would Mill Creek include this on their Chilling Classics set - a made for TV production for CBS' Westinghouse Studio One that originally aired on March 27, 1950? Who knows - Mill Creek does what Mill Creek wants.

This tale began as a novel, published in 1936 and written by Ellis St. Joseph. It was adapted into a radio play by Orson Welles' on his Mercury Theater On Air, airing on November 13, 1938, as well as a stage play in 1940 that was directed by John Huston.

The story starts in Shanghai, where the Roundabout freighter picks up a man named <r. Walkes, who claims to be a Dutch missionary headed toward Bali, looking to deliver Bibles and religion. Soon, the truth is discovered - Walkes is a drunken lout, given to speeches and starting fights between the British officers on board and the crew of the ship. And even worse, no port will allow the man off the ship. Now, the Roustabout has become a Flying Dutchman, complete with an evil passenger who can never leave as they endlessly travel from port to port.

Mr. Walkes is played by Berry Kroeger, who was a veteran of numerous genre films like Demon Seed, The Mephisto Waltz, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant and Raphael Nussbaum's piece of 1973 strangeness Pets. He's doing his best Orson Welles here.

The best part of this being on the set is that they didn't edit out any of the Westinghouse commercials, so you get a great idea of what 1950 TV looked like. Again, I have no idea why this was included, but I still watched it. I'm a completist. And hey - we have an entire month to cover this set.

Early television detour.

[Zeegrade · 6/10 · 12 September 2009]

After taking a much needed five month sabbatical from the "Chilling Classics" movie pack I was surprised that this 1950 television episode is part of this collection of mostly 1970's trash cinema. It's a surprising addition that provides a little oasis of decent storytelling in a sea of aimless wanderings.

Colin Keith-Johnston is Captain English who unwittingly allows a missionary priest a ride to Bali with the caveat that the good Captain would be aiding in "God's work" as well as the fact that the mysterious passenger will pay him double the normal fare. Once the ship is in port the man is identified as some sort of propagandist troublemaker by the name of Mr. Walkes played with over-the-top gusto by Berry Kroeger. It seems Mr. Walkes has a case full of pamphlets that incite rage in whatever country he tries to enter into resulting in his exile at sea much to the consternation of Capt. English who must ferry him everywhere in hopes of finally getting rid of him.

There seems to be some speculation as to what exactly the pamphlets say that would result in Mr. Walkes' banishment from every port. The red scare of the early 50's was solely an American situation as the ship Capt. English commands is, well, English. The transfer to DVD is very rough as some of the scenes are hard to make out at times. The commercial breaks for various Westinghouse products are very amusing and show how far we have progressed economically in less than sixty years. If Mill Creek has the rights to this it makes me wonder why they didn't bundle all the episodes together and offer it in a better package rather than slapping this in the middle of a bad horror movie pack. I think Mr. Walkes had a case full of It's Pat! VHS tapes. Oh the horror!

OK Episode

[Rainey-Dawn · 5/10 · 17 October 2016]

This came in the 50-Chilling Classics box set. While it's a semi-chilling story I don't think it really belongs in this particular set but it's decent to watch. It's really not a movie but an episode of the old TV show Studio One.

We have a man dressed as a missionary that boards a ship, he drives everyone mad and can't leave the ship because he's not allowed in any country due to his criminal past. It's worth the hour it takes to watch it, including the authentic 50's TV commercials, but it's not grand but it's definitely watchable.

The is not the first studio one episode I've gotten in a box set and from what I've seen of the show it looks pretty good - or at least they are adding pretty good episodes to the box sets.

5/10

Ali-Bali Ali Bali Bee

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 29 September 2014]

A stuck up sea captain is just about to set out for Bali with his cargo when an Orson Welles' voiced missionary somehow gets on-board and basically cajoles the poor guy into taking him to Bali with a barrage of overconfidence and religious babble, and the captain finally agrees. However, it's obvious to the viewer that this minister may not be all he seems… Without going into too much detail, this is a good little mystery film involving a troublemaker who's basically dragged a whole shipload of folk into a predicament they can't get out of. All of the acting was way above par, especially the minister and the sea Captain, who's very fundamental ideology has been shaken by this intruder.

Either included as a joke by Mill Creek (or else they just couldn't be arse removing them), we get the whole proceedings stopping once in a while to sell us televisions and fridges. Brilliant blast from the past that. The whole thing is kind of worth your while – the story reminded me of Roal Dhal's short stories.