Arthur H. Nadel | Clambake
The Rifleman: The Assailants
The Big Valley: Hide the Children
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Arthur H. Nadel
Arthur H. Nadel is an American film and television director. He began as an editor.
Some common subjects in the films of Arthur Nadel:
Subjects:
- Deceptive identities (disguises: The Assailants,
disguises: No Drums, No Trumpets, as Gypsy: Hide the Children, switched identities: Clambake)
- New clothes (uniforms, suit: The Assailants, uniforms: No Drums, No Trumpets,
Gypsy clothes: Hide the Children, rich man's duds: Clambake)
- Rotating machinery (Gatling gun: The Assailants, Gatling gun: No Drums, No Trumpets,
playground in "Confidence" musical number: Clambake)
- Learning experiences (family and life goals: Hostages to Fortune,
relationship to society: No Drums, No Trumpets, prejudice: Hide the Children)
- Threatened violence that ends in rejection of violence (revenge: End of the Hunt, attack: No Drums, No Trumpets)
- Trading families (Hostages to Fortune, Clambake)
- Children (The Assailants, The Most Amazing Man, Hostages to Fortune,
No Drums, No Trumpets, Hide the Children)
Minorities and Civil Rights:
- Racial prejudice attacked (Hide the Children)
- Sympathetic views of minorities (Sammy Davis, Jr in Western: The Most Amazing Man,
Japanese: The Sixteenth Cousin, Mexicans: No Drums, No Trumpets)
Clambake
Nadel and prolific Rifleman screenwriter Arthur Browne Jr. made the Elvis Presley vehicle
Clambake (1967), a film also produced by The Rifleman producers Laven, Gardner and Levy.
The Rifleman: The Assailants
The Assailants (1962) is Nadel's first film as a director.
It is an entertaining macho fantasy.
Nadel went on to re-make this unofficially as a The Virginian episode,
No Drums, No Trumpets (1966). Both films have a similar plot premise.
But The Virginian episodes are three times as long as The Rifleman.
This lead to a great deal of development and change of the political background,
characters with new personalities, and new plot incidents. I enjoyed both films.
The Big Valley: Hide the Children
Hide the Children (1966) is is a powerful look at the prejudices faced by Gypsies.
By implication, it offers full support of the Civil Rights movement, then in progress
in real life.