Out of the Trees: uneven pilot comedy episode rehashing tired Monty Python sketches
Ian MacNaughton, “Out of the Trees” (1975) Huge surprise when I was surfing Youtube.com one day: a pilot for an abandoned TV show written by former…
British Films
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 10: Never Never Say Die): under-cooked plot fails its cast and ideas
Robert Day, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 10: Never, Never Say Die)” (1967) Now this is the episode that should have been the Return of the…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 23: Murdersville): good episode with suspense, tension and some horror
Robert Asher, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 23: Murdersville)” (1967) Major Paul Croft (Eric Flynn) has retired from the army and bought a mansion on the…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 20: Dead Man’s Treasure): fun and childhood fantasy turn deadly and dangerous
Sidney Havers, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 20: Dead Man’s Treasure)” (1967) A courier, mortally wounded, just manages to stumble into Steed’s home and mutter to…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 15: The Joker): psychological thriller hints of psychological damage done by Cold War
Sidney Hayers, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 15: The Joker)” (1967) Oops! As Steed (Patrick Macnee) excitedly races down the staircase to greet Peel (Diana Rigg)…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 6: The Winged Avenger): flighty fantasy let down by tedious and repetitive violence
Gordon Flemyng and Peter Duffell, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 6: The Winged Avenger)” (1967) The father-and-son team of stony-hearted corporate vultures at Simon Roberts &…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 9: The Correct Way to Kill): satire on upper class English culture and mores
Charles Crichton, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 9: The Correct Way to Kill)” (1967) Soviet agents are being cut down almost as soon as they arrive…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 17: The Return of the Cybernauts): mind control is the dominant theme
Robert Day, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 17: The Return of the Cybernauts)” (1967) One of the more openly science fiction episodes in this season of…
The Ghoul: upper class comedy masquerading as horror
T Hayes Hunter, “The Ghoul” (1933) I had never heard of this film before and stumbled on it while looking for something else on Youtube. Boris…
The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 3: Escape in Time): the past really is a different country from which there’s no escape
John Krish, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 3: Escape in Time)” (1967) A particularly memorable episode, “Escape in Time” is premised on the theme of time…