Which did you like Martin Landau better in? In 1959's "Mr.Denton on Doomsday"(as sadistic gunslinger Hotaling-I'm glad his character got his comeuppance from Dan Duryea as Al Denton),or 1964's "The Jeopardy Room"(I'm glad his character Maj.Ivan Kochenko defeated his sadistic captors).To me,he was good in both.How about the rest of you?

I prefer Landau's performance in "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" but overall "The Jeopardy Room" was the better episode.

...he often cast those actors and actresses whose talents he admired, if they were available. Obviously, in "Mr. Denton On Doomsday", he saw Martin as the same kind of sadistic bully he portrayed in "North By Northwest" (he does everything but plant his foot on "Al Denton's" neck to humiliate him)- while Dan Duryea, who was often known for playing "despicable weasels" in his films, appears as a down-on-his-luck ex-gunfighter turned "town drunk" who gets a second chance, putting people like Landau's "Hotaling" in their place.

In "The Jeopardy Room", Landau has the "Al Denton" role, so to speak, as a defector trying to leave a neutral country while a sadistic Soviet agent [John Van Dreelen] tries to destroy him by being "clever" than him....only to get caught in his own trap in the end. Landau was good at playing both ends of the spectrum- and since he's the primary "guest star" here, naturally the part's "meatier", and he got to show more nuances in his acting ability.


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