Monty Berman was a producer of popular action series for ITC in the
1960's and early 70's. He was born Nestor Montague Berman to Jewish
parents in the poor Whitechapel district of London. After completing
his education at the University College School, he joined the small
Twickenham Studio as a camera assistant in 1922. Following a lengthy
apprenticeship, he became a fully-fledged cinematographer with ABPC in
1935, but was able to secure assignments on just two films prior to the
outbreak of World War II. During the war, he served in North Africa,
Italy and Germany with the Eighth Army Film and Photographic Unit,
forming a friendship with a fellow cameraman and amateur film maker
named Robert S. Baker. Berman and Baker
combined forces in 1948 to establish a production company for
low-budget features, Tempean Films. In the course of the next thirteen
years, Berman worked in the dual capacity of producer and
cinematographer on more than thirty films, invariably shot on location
in or around London and often featuring American stars in the twilight
of their careers.
Most of their early endeavours were unambitious dramas or sub-film noir
crime stories, which attracted neither critical attention, nor made
much money. This began to change once Berman and Baker tapped into the
horror market in an attempt to emulate the success of Hammer. Securing
the services of writer Jimmy Sangster,
they made several well-received films in the genre, including
Der Dämon mit den blutigen Händen (1958),
Die Teufelswolke von Monteville (1958),
Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1959) (their
biggest hit to date, which Berman also directed) and
Der Arzt und die Teufel (1960)
(a variation on the Burke & Hare story). Aware of the economic
potential of television, Berman concentrated exclusively on production
after 1961. Having acquired the rights to
Leslie Charteris's popular creation
Simon Templar, Berman and Baker succeeded in securing finance via
Lew Grade's ITC to produce
Simon Templar (1962). Launching
Roger Moore to stardom and endowed
with a respectable budget of 30,000 pounds per episode, the series
became one of the mega hits of the 60's and has long since acquired
cult status.
After "The Saint", the Berman-Baker partnership came to an end. Berman
subsequently worked as solo producer on another show,
Der Baron (1966), which worked on a
similar premise, albeit with an American star. He then formed a new
association with the writer
Dennis Spooner, co-founding Scoton
Productions in 1968. Based at Elstree, they created first
The Champions (1968), a series
about intelligence operatives with telepathic and various other
extrasensory abilities. That was followed by two superior shows,
Department S (1969) and
Randall & Hopkirk: Detektei mit Geist (1969),
shot side-by-side at the same facilities, using the same crew, sets,
props, and extras. Though economically made with much usage of stock
footage and recycled scripts, both series fared even better over the
years than at the time of their original release. One of the stars of
the former, Peter Wyngarde, became
something of a cult figure as the effete, but debonair
adventurer/novelist Jason King. However, an attempt to centre a new
spoof series based on his character proved unsuccessful and was let
down by poor production values and unimaginative scripts. A subsequent
endeavour,
Gene Bradley in geheimer Mission (1972),
featuring another fading American star,
Gene Barry, received an even cooler
reception. As a result, Berman was unable to find further work in
television. He subsequently retired from public life and refused
steadfastly to give interviews or comment on his career for the
remainder of his life.
