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…
Comedy
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…
German and German-language Films, Spanish Films
The Diadem / MiniKillers: two trashy films that highlight how good a good actor can be
?, “The Diadem” (1966) Wolfgang von Chmielewski, “MiniKillers” (1969) Two curious short films from Germany and Spain respectively, both feature the English actor Diana Rigg in…
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 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…
French and French-language Films
Judex (dir. Georges Franju): an affectionate, light-hearted homage to Louis Feuillade and silent films
Georges Franju, “Judex” (1963) A remake of the Louis Feuillade 1916 mini-series about the mystery masked crusader Judex (Latin for “judge”), Georges Franju’s film is said…