MISSION IMPOSSIBLE Season Four

Casting coup: Leonard Nimoy as Paris

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Season Four. 1969.

Martin Landau and Barbara Bain went off in a huff and a puff and were replaced by -- in a casting coup -- Leonard Nimoy and a host of rotating females. Nimoy played master of disguise Paris, and the leading ladies included Lee Meriwether (the most frequent), Anne Francis, Sally Ann Howes, Jessica Walter, Antoinette Bower, and others. This was a solid season with many memorable episodes; among the best were: "Double Circle," in which a fake room is employed in order to get at a secret formula; "The Falcon," in which a royal family is in danger from a would-be usurper, and everything that could possibly go wrong does; and "Chico" in which a dog helps steal a stamp which conceals an important microdot. As for notable guest-stars, Luther Adler is outstanding in "Phantoms," about a purge of young artists; John Willians scores in "Lover's Knot," which features a Mata Hari-type lady spy; Pernell Roberts and Cicely Tyson are great in "Death Squad," in which a vacationing Barney (Greg Morris) is accused of murder; and a mustache-less Torin Thatcher almost steals the show in "Numbers Game," about attempts to get at a Swiss bank account. Nimoy probably does his best work in "Commandante" and "The Choice." Jason Evers and John Vernon make an impression in, respectively, the aforementioned "Double Circle" and "Falcon."

Verdict: No Cinnamon, but still lots of spice. ***.

DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS

DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS (1958). Director: Delbert Mann.

An interesting and absorbing, if imperfect, screen adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's licentious play. Ephriam Cabot (Burl Ives) is a miserable old man who brings home a pretty Italian wife, Anna (Sophia Loren), who married him so she'd finally have a home of her own. At first Anna and Ephriam's son Eben (Anthony Perkins), who despises his father, fight their attraction to one another, but eventually they fall in love -- with extremely dire consequences. Ives doesn't quite dig beneath his character's surface bluster, and Loren, while good, feisty and credible in her early scenes, isn't quite up to the much more difficult moments later on. Perkins gives the best performance in the film as the troubled, determined and tormented Eben. Pernell Roberts and Frank Overton are fine as Eben's half-brothers, and Rebecca Welles -- and especially Jean Willes -- offer spirited performances as their wives. Anne Seymour has some good moments at the opening as Eben's mother, who's determined that the land -- which originally was hers -- will someday belong to her son. Well photographed by Daniel L. Fapp and with a fine score by Elmer Bernstein.

Verdict: Passionate if flawed. ***.