CHANCE MEETING (THE YOUNG LOVERS) was a 1954 romance set against the background of the cold war. Bikel played the secretary to the Russian Minister. Benjamin Frankel scored the film, which won a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.
Bikel appeared in his second film with Clark Gable in 1954's BETRAYED. The film was Gable's last on his MGM contract. Bikel played a German sergeant in this World War II espionage drama.
Bikel had a small role in THE DIVIDED HEART, a British drama about a 10-year-old German adopted orphan who is told that his mother, a Yugoslav refugee, is alive and wants him back. Georges Auric scored the film.
Bikel was one of the POWs in the true-life World War II prison break tale THE COLDITZ STORY. The 1955 film was directed by Guy Hamilton (GOLDFINGER). It had its U.S. release in 1957.
Another real-life World War II drama, ABOVE US THE WAVES followed the attack by British submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord. Bikel played a German officer in this 1955 film, which had music by Arthur Benjamin.
Bikel played the leader of a group of Spanish grape pickers in THE VINTAGE, a 1957 production that was set and photographed in the vineyards of Southern France. David Raksin's score was released by FSM in their box set "David Raksin At M-G-M."
In Stanley Kramer's THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION, Bikel played French general Henri Jouvet. This film was set during the Napoleonic Wars.. It's score, by George Antheil, was conducted by Ernest Gold and released most recently by Kritzerland.
Bikel played "Schwaffer," the second in command of a German submarine locked in a duel with Robert Mitchum's destroyer in 1957's World War II naval drama THE ENEMY BELOW. Leigh Harline's score has been released most recently by Kritzerland.
In the 1958 World War II drama FRAULEIN, Bikel played the Russian "Col. Dmitri." FRAULEIN was shot on location in Berlin, Cologne and Munich. Daniele Amfitheatrof scored the film.
Back working with Stanley Kramer, Bikel co-starred in the director's 1958 film about race relations, THE DEFIANT ONES. Bikel played "Sheriff Max Muller," who organizes a posse of state troopers and civilian volunteers to track down the prison escapees played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. All three were nominated for Academy Awards. Bikel lost the Best Supporting Actor trophy to Burl Ives for THE BIG COUNTRY. Kramer's frequent composer Ernest Gold scored THE DEFIANT ONES, but no music has ever been released.
In 1958, Bikel co-starred with Richard Boone in the horror film I BURY THE LIVING. Bikel played the long-time caretaker, "Andy McKee," at Immortal Hills Cemetery, which was managed by Boone's character. FSM released Gerald Fried's score in their first box set in 1999 (which is still available).
In his fourth film of 1958, Bikel played a psychologist in the prison drama I WANT TO LIVE! Johnny Mandel's score was released by Rykodisc back in 1999.
Bikel co-starred in the 1959 drama A DOG OF FLANDERS. The film was the first production for family film producer Robert B. Radnitz (SOUNDER). Bikel played a Belgian artist in the film, which was shot entirely on location in Holland and Belgium. The score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter was released on a Fox LP, but has never been re-released on CD.
In 1959's WOMAN OBSESSED, Bikel again appeared with Susan Hayward and played a doctor in a small Canadian town. Hugo Friedhofer's score was released by Intrada in 2007.
THE ANGRY HILLS (1959) was set in World War II Greece, where an American journalist (Robert Mitchum) is helped by the Greek resistance as he is pursued across the country by the Nazis. Bikel played Greek collaborator and Gestapo spy "Dimitrius Tassos." Richard Rodney Bennett scored the film, but none of the music has ever been released.
In the 1959 remake of Marlene Dietrich's 1930 classic THE BLUE ANGEL, Curt Jurgens had the lead role of "Prof. Rath" (played by Emil Jannings in the original), and May Britt had the Dietrich role of "Lola." Theodore Bikel played the supporting role of "Kiepert," the manager of Lola's cabaret troupe, who also performs as a magician. That role was played by Kurt Gerron in the original. Hugo Friedhofer's brief 18-minute score was released by Kritzerland in 2012.
Bikel was off the big screen for 5 years, until he returned in one of his most remembered roles--that of "Zoltan Karpathy" in 1964's MY FAIR LADY. Karpathy, a rival and former student of Prof. Henry Higgins, is a Hungarian phonetician who is employed by the hostess of the Embassy Ball to discover Eliza DooLittle's origins through her speech.
In 1965's SANDS OF THE KALAHARI, Bikel played "Dr. Bondarahkai." one of the passengers on a small plane trapped in the desert when the aircraft goes down. John Dankworth scored the film, but none of the original music has been released.
Another of Bikel's most fondly remembered roles of the 1960s was as the Russian submarine captain in the 1966 comedy THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING. The only CD release of Johnny Mandel's short score has been in the FSM box set "The MGM Soundtrack Treasury" in 2008.
In this little-seen 1967 Spanish - U.S. co-production, Maximilian Schell played a Pole who escapes from a Siberian labor camp. Theodore Bikel played a local official of the NKVD--the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs--who keeps Schell and his brother (Raf Vallone) under surveillance. The film's original title, BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS, was changed to THE DESPERATE ONES for its 1968 U.S. release.
