A spy ring is operating at a college, blackmailing students & faculty into doing their bidding, and those who don't play along wind up "committing suicide". Steed must have known something was going on for some time, as he manages to get his singer friend Venus a job there during "rag week" to keep an eye on someone who was doing important research.
Cathy Gale once angrily asked John Steed, "WHY don't you do your OWN work?" Some time before THE MAN FROM UNCLE, Steed was regularly playing a dangerous game by putting innocent people's lives at risk. With Dr. David Keel, he had a willing partner who was on a vendetta after the murder of his fiancee. With Cathy Gale he had a very capable, independant widow who saw the good in his work and appreciated "being in on the kill". With Venus Smith... well, this was getting closer to what Solo & Ilya used to do, recruiting innocent bystanders, only in her case, when he first met her, he never bothered to tell her who he was and what was going on. THE CAD! In this story, she starts out barely having any idea what's going on, but thankfully, by midway, she's up to speed (especially after someone tries to KILL her) and eagerly helps out by lying about a non-existent letter, acting as stake-out when Steed breaks into someone's apartment, and nearly bashing someone on the head when Steed gets into a real brawl (NO stuntmen involved in this "live on tape" show, heh). She also gets to sing a few tunes, including "Yellow Bird" (a lifelong fave of mine) and "Put On A Happy Face". (She's such a sweetie.)
Among the guest cast is Frederick Farley in his only appearance as one of Steed's bosses, "One-Seven". This guys comes on as even more upper-class and snooty than One-Ten or One-Twelve, especially when he says, "You know, Steed, I disapprove of amateurs; however, that's so much water under the bridge." I was greatly amused when Steed explained he was planning to pose as someone doing literary research, and he replied, "You know, Steed, your cover usually has a large portion of wishful thinking." He reminds of the "Chief of Staff" in the Roger Boore Bond film FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. The only other thing I've ever seen him in was a DANGER MAN, and his resume was so short, I have to figure he spent most of his acting career on the stage.
Reginald Marsh is "Higby", the bar-owner who does blackmail on the side. I've only seen him in a SAINT and a RANDALL & HOPKIRK (DECEASED). Here, he reminds me a bit of Richard Leech, but a bit more low-key.
I kept staring at Melissa Stribling for the whole episode and wondering where I'd seen her before. As it turns out, she played "Mina" in the 1958 HORROR OF DRACULA (a role that, however good she was in it, I always felt she was totally miscast, but then that film's script didn't follow the book anyway). Here she's "Claire Summers", a woman who lures men with her charms and then tricks them into doing things they can be blackmailed for. She's so ROTTEN and EVIL, for a good chunk of the story I suspected she was the ring-leader! The part of her con-game where she mentioned her "mother being in the hospital" reminded me of the scene in THE DEADLY NECKLACE where Dr. Watson (Thorley Walters) out-witted such an obvious lie by telling the women who tried it on him, that's okay, HE's a doctor, he'll do the operation FOR FREE!
John Standing plays "East", a student who figures out there's a blackmail ring going on, and becomes the 2nd one Steed recruits to help him. He proves to be even smarter than he seems, especially at the climax where he's ordered to KILL Steed and instead teams up with him to nab the ring-leader red-handed. (A good thing, too, as the person Steed recruited a few scenes earlier wound up getting found out and MURDERED-- off-camera!)
Not for the first time, they were apparently running quite late with this one, and taped it only a few hours before it was broadcast! Not quite "LIVE", but, almost! Sheesh.
Writer James Mitchell did 5 AVENGERS over seasons 1, 2 & 3, and later created the series CALLAN for which he also wrote quite a few episodes.
The 2009 Region 2 DVD had EXCELLENT picture quality (except for one bit where it jumped) and only slightly-fuzzy sound.
Cathy Gale once angrily asked John Steed, "WHY don't you do your OWN work?" Some time before THE MAN FROM UNCLE, Steed was regularly playing a dangerous game by putting innocent people's lives at risk. With Dr. David Keel, he had a willing partner who was on a vendetta after the murder of his fiancee. With Cathy Gale he had a very capable, independant widow who saw the good in his work and appreciated "being in on the kill". With Venus Smith... well, this was getting closer to what Solo & Ilya used to do, recruiting innocent bystanders, only in her case, when he first met her, he never bothered to tell her who he was and what was going on. THE CAD! In this story, she starts out barely having any idea what's going on, but thankfully, by midway, she's up to speed (especially after someone tries to KILL her) and eagerly helps out by lying about a non-existent letter, acting as stake-out when Steed breaks into someone's apartment, and nearly bashing someone on the head when Steed gets into a real brawl (NO stuntmen involved in this "live on tape" show, heh). She also gets to sing a few tunes, including "Yellow Bird" (a lifelong fave of mine) and "Put On A Happy Face". (She's such a sweetie.)
Among the guest cast is Frederick Farley in his only appearance as one of Steed's bosses, "One-Seven". This guys comes on as even more upper-class and snooty than One-Ten or One-Twelve, especially when he says, "You know, Steed, I disapprove of amateurs; however, that's so much water under the bridge." I was greatly amused when Steed explained he was planning to pose as someone doing literary research, and he replied, "You know, Steed, your cover usually has a large portion of wishful thinking." He reminds of the "Chief of Staff" in the Roger Boore Bond film FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. The only other thing I've ever seen him in was a DANGER MAN, and his resume was so short, I have to figure he spent most of his acting career on the stage.
Reginald Marsh is "Higby", the bar-owner who does blackmail on the side. I've only seen him in a SAINT and a RANDALL & HOPKIRK (DECEASED). Here, he reminds me a bit of Richard Leech, but a bit more low-key.
I kept staring at Melissa Stribling for the whole episode and wondering where I'd seen her before. As it turns out, she played "Mina" in the 1958 HORROR OF DRACULA (a role that, however good she was in it, I always felt she was totally miscast, but then that film's script didn't follow the book anyway). Here she's "Claire Summers", a woman who lures men with her charms and then tricks them into doing things they can be blackmailed for. She's so ROTTEN and EVIL, for a good chunk of the story I suspected she was the ring-leader! The part of her con-game where she mentioned her "mother being in the hospital" reminded me of the scene in THE DEADLY NECKLACE where Dr. Watson (Thorley Walters) out-witted such an obvious lie by telling the women who tried it on him, that's okay, HE's a doctor, he'll do the operation FOR FREE!
John Standing plays "East", a student who figures out there's a blackmail ring going on, and becomes the 2nd one Steed recruits to help him. He proves to be even smarter than he seems, especially at the climax where he's ordered to KILL Steed and instead teams up with him to nab the ring-leader red-handed. (A good thing, too, as the person Steed recruited a few scenes earlier wound up getting found out and MURDERED-- off-camera!)
Not for the first time, they were apparently running quite late with this one, and taped it only a few hours before it was broadcast! Not quite "LIVE", but, almost! Sheesh.
Writer James Mitchell did 5 AVENGERS over seasons 1, 2 & 3, and later created the series CALLAN for which he also wrote quite a few episodes.
The 2009 Region 2 DVD had EXCELLENT picture quality (except for one bit where it jumped) and only slightly-fuzzy sound.