Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Bank (1967) User Reviews

Yet another episode with Nazi connections.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 8 February 2014]

Although it appeared early in season two, this is already the third episode of "Mission: Impossible" to feature a theme involving a restoration of Nazi Germany. And, it's the second episode to feature James Daly (father of Tyne and Tim Daly). In this case, he plays Alfred Belzig--and evil Banker in East Berlin*. While he feigns a desire to help folks defect to the West and takes their money to send them to freedom via a tunnel in the bank's basement, they are all killed and their funds confiscated by him. This money he's hoarding will eventually be used to finance his new Fourth Reich.

This is a highly unusual story because the team helps the communist government by setting up Belzig to be captured! And, they also lets this unfriendly government keep the hoarded money. Unusual but also an extremely well-crafted and interesting story.

*This episode is unusual in that it features a real city in a real country. This is not unheard of (in last season, for example, one episode is set in Marseilles), but is not the norm. Usually the shows are set in fictional countries.

A Fine Example of Mission Impossible

[ftao-861-738382 · 9/10 · 21 July 2017]

"The Bank" from the second season is a example of Mission:Impossible at its best. This episode is set in East Berlin when the Berlin Wall was still standing (for those of you too young to understand, in those days Berlin was divided into the "free" western zone and "communist" eastern zone, separated by a wall - guards would shoot you if you tried to escape to the West). The director of an East Berlin bank, Belzig, runs a sort of perverse underground railroad. Unsuspecting people would deposit money in the bank to secure passage to the West, only to mysteriously disappear before reaching freedom. Belzig's goal is to resurrect a fascist regime (what, he's not doing it just for the money?), but that's secondary to the story. The team's mission is to stop Belzig's operation and to recover the money. How they do it is not so obvious, and there is plenty of suspense and a few twists. It's unusual in that Jim's character, who impersonates a communist Federal agent, cooperates with the local police in the sting. Also, Cinnamon gets to do some technical stuff that Barney usually does (it seems the writers in the second season made an effort to deglamourize her role). Martin Landau once again demonstrates his fine acting ability in a small role as an older shop owner who becomes Belzig's latest victim. All the characters are well cast and played in this episode. The ending is very satisfying and there's literally a twist in the ending shot! Plus the theme of political refugees escaping to the West is still very relevant today.

I do have one nitpick about "The Bank". At one point, Jim zooms in on a videotape recording with a pocket telescope and views a crystal clear image of the safe deposit number - why do they always show an unrealistic blowup of videotapes? It would have been more realistic to just figure out the location of the safe deposit box by counting the rows and columns.

Barbara Bain looks especially beautiful in this episode

[shakspryn · 8/10 · 3 January 2022]

Barbara was always good in this show and added so much to its success. I won't go over the plot, which has been well discussed by other reviewers. Barbara is very memorable here as she plays a rather haughty East German official! Wearing her hair back in a bun was a great look for her!

I liked it that this episode frankly identifies the foreign country where the operation takes place as East Germany. This was another very strong episode from our MI Season Two team.

A definitive episode of Mission Impossible!

[FloridaFred · 10/10 · 25 October 2021]

This is an outstanding story; it is a definitive episode of Mission Impossible. The suspense, the placement of each IMF Agent, and the nerve-wracking necessary timing of events are all executed perfectly.

Guest star James Daly, as closet Nazi and banker "Alfred Belzig", is very convincing. Actor Gene Dynarski, as security chief "Kutler", is also quite good in his role. Actress Barbara Bain (IMF Agent Cinnamon) is not just a glamour girl in this episode; she gets to do the technical stuff that is usually left to Jim Phelps or Barney Collier.

Suggestion: Younger viewers may want to do a quick study of The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. They were still in place when this show aired. Some basic knowledge of the historically divided Germany after World War II, and the desire of the East Germans to escape to the West, is critical to understanding the plot.

I rate "The Bank" 10 stars!

One of the best.

[movies-109 · 10/10 · 4 July 2023]

Of course everyone in East Berlin speaks English with a fake German accent. Shows nowadays often will have the actors actually speaking in their language with subtitles translating, but all that stuff would have gotten in the way of a great story and a great mission. Of course Star Trek veterans James Daly and Gene Dynarski - Mr. Flint from Requiem For Methusala and lithium miner Ben Childress from Mudd's Women. We get to see a lot of the characters moves on both sides. Yes some knowledge of the era of divided Germany and divided Berlin is helpful. The Berlin Wall was built when I was a little kid and I grew up hearing stories of heroic escapes to the west. I always thought it was amusing that the Communists claimed they had the best system, but they had to build a wall to keep their citizens in place. I never thought I'd see the fall of the wall, or the fall of the Soviet Union in my lifetime but it was now over 30 years ago and the re-unified Germany is probably more prosperous and powerful than any other time in its history. And at peace no less.

This episode is a wonderful capsule of the Cold War era, and that within the Communist system there were all kinds of criminals working one way or another. In this case a neo-nazi conspiracy, but that is secondary to the story. The guy is simply a thief and murderer and the Communist government has no use for him. I have to wonder how the IMF got tipped off to begin with, or how their people were so easily entering the country. And more importantly - leaving after their mission was completed. Of course any TV fan of this show and the other Desilu shows will recognize "East Berlin" as the old RKO back forty. I think it should have had its own reality show, about how that strip of land and fake buildings was used to represent everything from Manhattan to alien planets.

I'm watching it again right now. Much contrast between the early episodes with Martin and Barbara and the later ones as the cast thinned out and the missions were more about American criminals. This is the good stuff.

I HAVE A LITTLE MONEY SAVED UP!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 3 December 2023]

I agree with the last reviewer. This is Classic M. I. with all the frills. More over, Martin Landau (playing a victim) should have been nominated for an Emmy. He is outstanding. It is no surprise, many years later, he finally did win an Oscar.

James Daly, soon to star in MEDICAL CENTER as a good doctor), plays a diabolical character here, called Belzig, operating out of East Berlin, whose mission it is to amass a fortune to re-build the Nazi party. His victims (with lots of money) wish to get out of Berlin safely, coming to him for a solution. He promises them a new life, gaining access to their money, and proceeds to kill them.

The trap here is a dark, secret passageway (their escape route), leading to a pit where they fall to their death and drown. The idea may have actually been lifted from an old Bela Lugosi horror film! Enter Martin Landau, playing a retired gentleman (Schneider), carrying a ton of money. He is perfect for this role. The only question is how did he get out of the tunnel?

Good support by popular character actor Gene Dynarski as one of Belzig's henchmen. Gene was another one of those familiar actors you always saw in movies and tv.

Well written by Brad Radnitz, who handled both cop shows and sitcoms. Prior to this episode he was writing for GILLIGANS ISLAND. A very interesting opening scene sees Phelps enter a thrift store and listens to his instructions via an antique record player or phonograph. That's a first.

Greg Morris (Barney) has a fun role as a suspicious bank depositer, seen on hidden camera, smoking a pipe and looking cool.

Best of it all is when Belzig, a real creep, gets burned big time. Wait and see.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 4 remastered Paramount dvd box set.

First rate episode

[aramis-112-804880 · 10/10 · 10 September 2022]

The bad guy (really bad this time, no sympathy at all) pretends to help refugees from the east reach freedom in the west. In fact, he kills then and takes their money.

By 2022 the neo-Nazi angle is such a tired cliche. But this episode was made little more than twenty years after World War II. And while the bad guy could and should be Stasi (the real neo-Nazis) or their ilk, when this episode was written a neo-Nazi resurgence was still believable. Though across the pond at the same time "The Saint" was poking fun at the premise, meeting up with "Hitler's daughter."

The great thing is that the bad guy is completely blindsided in the end. Everything works here. He'll go to his grave bit knowing what hit him.