The Rogues: Grave Doubts (Season 1, Episode 28, 1965)

The Rogues was an American TV show that aired for one season (30 episodes) between September 1964 and April 1965 on NBC.  David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young played a trio of former con men, but they could be persuaded to trick wealthy and unscrupulous marks.  The three leads rarely appeared together in the series.  They essentially took turns appearing on episodes as their film schedules permitted.

Jocelyn appeared as a guest star in episode 28, Grave Doubts, which originally aired on March 28, 1965, starring Young and also featuring Boyer.   Based on some notices in Variety, it appears that the episode was probably shot in mid-to-late January of 1965.

Jocelyn played the part of Madeleine Sorel, a young French woman who has been living in Switzerland with her father for the last 20 years.  She is a friend of Tony Fleming (Young).  After phoning her to tell her that they must leave the country and return to France immediately, Mr. Sorel is murdered by two nefarious characters.  The local authorities, however, shockingly inform Madeleine that her father died 20 years earlier and is buried back in France.  The remainder of the story follows Madeleine and Fleming as they return to France to solve the mystery of who (or what) is in the grave in France.  The plot involves Nazis, looted treasure, and various evil and nefarious characters.  The remainder of the cast includes Jonathan Harris (best known as Dr. Smith on Lost in Space, which started its run in the fall of 1965) and long-time, familiar character actor Vincent Gardenia.   

Grave Doubts is the only episode of the show that I have watched, but I found it entertaining and well-done.  The show won a Golden Globe award in 1965 for “Best TV Show.”  The only scene that appeared sub-par was a very brief, horribly fake-looking scene near the end (of Jocelyn and Young snow skiing).  Jocelyn has significant screen time and did a nice acting job.  We could quibble over her French/Swiss accent, but I did not think it was too bad.  She certainly showed enough acting ability to be a strong guest star on American television shows.  She looks beautiful (surprise, surprise), and it is evident that her hair is red (although the show was filmed in black-and-white).  Jocelyn fans should make an effort to track down this show and watch it.

 

To my knowledge, The Rogues has never been released on DVD or VHS home video in the U.S.  Apparently, however, reruns of most of the episodes have aired in the U.S. on Me-TV within the last five years.  I watched the Grave Doubts episode that someone had posted on youtube.

20 episodes that aired in Germany have been released on German DVD, but it does not appear that Grave Doubts is one of those episodes.