Joseph Pevney handles actors with assurance and moves easily between drama and comedy. We rate his Star Trek work particularly highly: dependable television directing deserves attention even when it comes without an obvious personal signature.
Fi1m perspective
Watch William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley disagree in Star Trek (1966), and the attraction is plain. We found their company heartening because they make the programme’s hope credible, even when its moral lessons are blunt. Joseph Pevney directed 14 episodes, moving comfortably between drama and comedy. His contribution is worth seeking out for that ease with changes of tone, which allows the programme to be earnest without losing its sense of humour.
He came to feature directing with Shakedown (1950) and made more than 35 films, mostly at Universal during the 1950s. Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), starring James Cagney, and the Debbie Reynolds comedy Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) suggest the breadth of the assignments. Television became his main work after a shift in the early 1960s; The Night of the Grizzly (1966) was his final theatrical feature.
His reputation rests partly on fast, precise work, which is useful to a producer but insufficient as a recommendation. The stronger evidence is his handling of both dramatic and comic material on Star Trek, where his episodes include The City on the Edge of Forever, Amok Time and The Trouble with Tribbles. Marc Daniels also directed for the series; Pevney should not receive credit for every pleasure it offers. Calling him a journeyman is fair enough, provided it does not mean ignoring the judgement needed to keep adventure, humour and actors working together.
His directing credits also include Mission: Impossible (1966), whose disguises, teamwork and carefully arranged deception are made absorbing by the cast’s composure. We recommend the series, though repeated viewing makes the formula easier to see. It would be a mistake to turn that recommendation into a claim about a distinctive Pevney style; the pleasure lies in how well the machinery and the performers work together. For a clearer introduction to his dramatic and comic assurance, start with those three Star Trek episodes.
Biography
Joseph Pevney (15 September 1911 – 18 May 2008) was an American film and television director. Born in New York City, he began his career in vaudeville as a boy soprano and later worked as a Broadway actor before serving in the US Signal Corps during the Second World War.
He directed his first feature, Shakedown, in 1950 and went on to helm around two dozen films, mainly for Universal Pictures, including Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) and The Night of the Grizzly (1966).
From the early 1960s he concentrated on television, directing episodes of The Fugitive (1963), Mission: Impossible (1966), Bonanza, The Munsters and 14 episodes of Star Trek (1966), tying the record for the original series. He retired in the mid-1980s.
