With very few caveats, most of the principal actors were exceptional, here. For once, an episode where both stories are interesting! Robert Sacchi made the show. What a splendid impersonation of Humphrey Bogart. I can't believe he was Italian! He had the accent and the voice down pat. The look. One can tell that Mr. Sacchi really admired Bogie and didn't do a caricature but a reverential impersonation. He was a joy to watch. I would have preferred a better actor to play the young detective (no idea who this actor was!) but I guess he was okay as a novice, average guy. The main thing I lamented about this story, is that it wasn't made to look like a Bogie movie, and Hollywood 1945 ended up looking more like 1977 (or 1981, actually!) They should have gotten older cars and done his bouffant hair all slicked back a la Golden Age of Hollywood. The story wasn't much to sneeze at, but that was secondary to having Bogie's presence there. (And RIP Robert Sacchi, who sadly and suprisingly enough, died last year, 2021! I thought he was long gone.)
Michelle Phillips had a face made to play bitches and villainesses. "Resting bitch face", like they say. It must be the thoughts she was used to thinking that make her project such a vibe, and she surely capitalized on playing "bad women". So, it's surprising to see her here playing a non-villainess, almost a victim, at least in the beginning, but she does make use of her strong personality.
Patrick Wayne was always good-looking, but really a dull actor who didn't bring much personality to any of his parts. What a pity! I imagine, that's why he never had his own series or was the star of any movie or show, that I can remember. Imagine if he would have put a bit of oomph and conviction into his performances. But nope. Like James Gardner, he was always as thrilling as watching wallpaper drying.
The Lady Godiva actress was truly beautiful and with a sweet personality. She reminds me of Belinda Montgomery, but with a better and more dynamic acting personality. Pity I'd never seen her in anything else and she only has very few credits to her name. She's from Sweden.
Roarke and Tattoo had limited air time. I have been watching a few of these lately, and been so bored with most of the (late season) episodes that just seeing Roarke or Tattoo pop up enlivened things up. I have to say that I never really what a good actor Herve Villechaize was until I saw that dreadful Julie character! THEN, I realized the effort that Herve put into his acting. (Eh! Sometimes viewers tend to think that actors are "only playing themselves" but we truly never knew them, to make such presumptuous assumptions! I just watched another episode with Shelley Fabares and SHE truly did play the same part over & over & over again!)
Which finally brings me to this: For the guy who reviews here always disparaging Ken Berry, it took me coming here to look at the cast to see his name and wondering... who had he played?! He's the king ... or Lord? Well, he's the Lady Godiva "Lord" (Lord Godivo? LOL!) And boy, did he nail that performance. What a character actor! For that guy who claims he couldn't act, he is strangely absent from this page! Berry was the best actor in this storyline, next to Lady Godiva actress.
All in all, a very strong episode with very few caveats. I wanted to give it a 10/10 (judging it for what it is, not to compare it to Casablanca, a genuine 10/10 of cinematic perfection) but rating this for entertainment value as compared to other Fantasy Island titles. A very entertaining episode, and I wish they could have sustained this caliber of production throughout the series.