John Llewellyn Moxey made television suspense with a firm sense of pace and atmosphere. His unshowy direction suits the teamwork of Mission: Impossible, though repeated viewing makes the programme's formula easier to see.
Fi1m perspective
An old dark house, and enough tension to carry us through an advertising break: Moxey understood a particular kind of television suspense. We rate the practical skill behind it, especially his pacing and his ability to give a thriller atmosphere. His move from British television drama and The City of the Dead (1960), his first feature, towards American television in the late 1960s required an adaptable style. He developed a polished way of working that suited both series episodes and television films.
That makes Bruce Geller's Mission: Impossible (1966), for which he directed several episodes, a useful place to look at his work. We were absorbed by the team's deceptions because the disguises and the division of labour gave us so much to follow. The cast's composure matters as much as the ingenuity of the capers, making the complicated business of deceiving somebody look manageable. A director has to serve the plan here; advertising his own cleverness would only add another thing to keep track of.
The reservation is that the formula becomes easier to spot with repetition; we recommend the programme, but would leave a little space between episodes. Moxey's contribution sits within a shared format, and we would not give him sole credit for what Geller and the cast achieve. Still, his work here fits a career spent adapting to the demands of different television genres. That puts a limit on how much a single series can tell us about him.
The Night Stalker (1972) is a more direct route into his suspense, with pacing and visual atmosphere among its strengths. The Charlie's Angels pilot (1976) puts his skill with an ensemble to a different use, helping establish an action-led series with women at its centre. These assignments needed a director who could make a premise work without spending the running time drawing attention to himself. For an introduction beyond the series, start with The Night Stalker.
Biography
John Llewellyn Moxey (also credited as John L. Moxey or John Moxey) was an Argentine-born British film and television director. He served in the British Army during the Second World War before beginning his career as an editor and moving into directing British television series in the 1950s.
His feature film directorial debut was The City of the Dead (also known as Horror Hotel, 1960). He directed episodes of British series including Z-Cars (1962), The Avengers (1961) and The Saint, and later worked extensively in American television on Mission: Impossible (1966), Hawaii Five-O (1969), Kung Fu (1972), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Miami Vice (1984) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). He also directed numerous television films, including The Night Stalker (1972) and the pilot episode of Charlie's Angels (1976).
Moxey was active from 1955 to 1991.
