Ahh yes! The con man gets conned. That alone makes this a worthwhile episode for 'Tales of the Unexpected'. Although it wasn't all that unexpected for this viewer, as there was nowhere else for this story to go. The version I watched seemed to be either chopped up or badly edited. For example, when son Andrew (Michael Troughton) returns home, there was no indication he discovered the painting missing, he just burst out of the house in search of the swindler junk man. Roald Dahl's introduction stated that the paintings of John Constable fetch an extraordinary price, which I have no idea since I never heard of the artist. Seems to me Andrew's mother (Jessie Matthews) could have saved herself some time and effort; instead of producing her own Constable paintings, she could have simply gone the junk man route herself, and apply those slips of paper identifying Constable's work.
4 Reviews
A very anonymous episode. A beige episode....
Sleepin_Dragon12 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A tough, old School Woman living on a Farm is visited by a conman, the Farm is full of valuables and antiquities, which rogue trader 'Merv Pottinger' is only too aware off. He's there seeking junk,s he says, but he's canny, and when he spots a valuable painting on the wall, one by one of the old Masters he's keen to con her out of it.
After the brilliance of The Flypaper which caused so many different feelings, this came as ab enormous let down, such a bland, lifeless episode, which lacks any real story, it's devoid of any excitement, tension, fun, at no stage do you feel engaged in this at all. Maybe expectations had become too high.
This boasts a cracking cast, Michael Troughton, Bill Maynard, Peter Sallis, Jessie Matthews, all perform particularly well, but the material could have been so much better for this exceptional cast.
It's not necessarily bad, far from it, it's just a non event, and somehow it feels wasteful watching it. 5/10
After the brilliance of The Flypaper which caused so many different feelings, this came as ab enormous let down, such a bland, lifeless episode, which lacks any real story, it's devoid of any excitement, tension, fun, at no stage do you feel engaged in this at all. Maybe expectations had become too high.
This boasts a cracking cast, Michael Troughton, Bill Maynard, Peter Sallis, Jessie Matthews, all perform particularly well, but the material could have been so much better for this exceptional cast.
It's not necessarily bad, far from it, it's just a non event, and somehow it feels wasteful watching it. 5/10
The End of the Road
dreverativy9 March 2007
This is a light, vaguely entertaining tale made for Anglia and set on a bleak Suffolk farmhouse, about an art forger. Messrs Maynard, Troughton and Sallis provide capable support, and Roald Dahl makes a brief introduction. It also happens to be just about the last appearance of one of the great stars of her era.
It was shown as the final part of the Jessie Matthews season at the NFT in London. The audience was also treated to a feature produced by Edward Mirzoeff (best known for his work with Jessie's near contemporary, John Betjeman), plus a series of clips from "The Good Old Days", "This Is Your Life", etc. in which Leonard Sachs and Eamon Andrews provide support.
The whole collection of clips and off-cuts was depressing to a degree. In the Mirzoeff programme (dating from 1986) we see that Matthews' ashes had been deposited in an unmarked grave in Ruislip churchyard (the oversight has now been corrected). She seems to have wafted through life stirring up a great deal of enmity in the process. Hardly anyone had a good word to say for her - or if they did, the praise was (tellingly) equivocal. The contributions of her adopted daughter (in particular), her agent and her rival Chili Bourchier ooze contempt. This is perhaps understandable: her daughter has been cut out of her (no doubt modest) will, and seemed to be living in cramped conditions - she seemed to find her 'mother' almost physically repulsive (it was virtually a 'Mommie Dearest' performance); her agent was prepared to attribute to her all the deficiencies of a star, including the warped and deluded mindset; the remarkable Ms Bourchier was still raw with the affair between Matthews and her husband, and decried her attempts at bettering her accent.
Nor was Matthews much helped by her 'friends' (her agent remarked that there were precious few of these). Her brother remarked that she had thought her life pointless; Lord and Lady Elwyn-Jones (a very entertaining couple) emphasised her ill-health (Elwyn-Jones had been a not overly distinguished lord chancellor in 1974-9); her neighbours spoke of how tiring (and therefore by implication how tiresome) her late night calls and egotistical behaviour had been; her nurse, had largely forgotten about her, but obviously found her quite an effort.
In the final analysis her reputation rests upon a tiny repertoire of quite good songs (mainly by Rogers and Hart) and two or three British films that almost reached Hollywood standards in terms of quality and spectacle. The clips from TV shows revolved around "Over My Shoulder", "Dancing on the Ceiling", "When You've Got a Little Springtime in Your Heart", "Look for the Silver Lining", and not much more. Her heyday on stage and screen was 1927/28 to 1936/37, which is quite brief, and her days of film stardom (1933-37) were shorter still, even by the standards of female leads of that era. The period following 1938 is a virtual blank, save "Mrs Dale's Diary", which was almost an afterthought and not thought strong enough for Radio 2 to preserve. Her health issues aside, she was not much helped by the parlous state of Gainsborough and Gaumont and by the virtual disappearance of homegrown musicals from the West End. Matthews' career compares invidiously to Ginger Rogers (although considered by some to be a better dancer - a persuasive argument, but by no means definitive), much as Jack Buchanan does when put alongside Fred Astaire.
Fans of Matthews (of whom I am one) have noted her attractive mixture of star presence and innocence. Actually, the appearance of innocence - and her tendency to wear a wide-eyed, startled look - also indicates a chronic insecurity - hence the lifetime of 'starry' behaviour, and the recurrent breakdowns. Her weight was, somewhat predictably, the barometer of her vulnerability. She started to gain pounds after her miscarriage and once Sonnie Hale began to direct her. Once the roles dried up with the war (when her ethereal, lissome, gamine-like qualities became passé) she became quite plump. The shots taken of her recording 'Mrs Dale' show greater self-discipline, but during her appearances in the 1970s see seems to stagger across the stage (her voice weakened) like the ghost of Florrie Forde. It is only around 1980 (when the cancer was starting to tighten its grip) that she shrank greatly. The appearance alongside her, of a very well-preserved, though virtually bankrupt, Anna Neagle (her former understudy) in "This Is Your Life" made this physical 'fall from grace' all the more painful. Matthews could so easily have played the roles that Neagle enjoyed in the 1940s - only she had no Herbert Wilcox to rescue her.
Matthews is the acme of the tragic star. What a waste!
It was shown as the final part of the Jessie Matthews season at the NFT in London. The audience was also treated to a feature produced by Edward Mirzoeff (best known for his work with Jessie's near contemporary, John Betjeman), plus a series of clips from "The Good Old Days", "This Is Your Life", etc. in which Leonard Sachs and Eamon Andrews provide support.
The whole collection of clips and off-cuts was depressing to a degree. In the Mirzoeff programme (dating from 1986) we see that Matthews' ashes had been deposited in an unmarked grave in Ruislip churchyard (the oversight has now been corrected). She seems to have wafted through life stirring up a great deal of enmity in the process. Hardly anyone had a good word to say for her - or if they did, the praise was (tellingly) equivocal. The contributions of her adopted daughter (in particular), her agent and her rival Chili Bourchier ooze contempt. This is perhaps understandable: her daughter has been cut out of her (no doubt modest) will, and seemed to be living in cramped conditions - she seemed to find her 'mother' almost physically repulsive (it was virtually a 'Mommie Dearest' performance); her agent was prepared to attribute to her all the deficiencies of a star, including the warped and deluded mindset; the remarkable Ms Bourchier was still raw with the affair between Matthews and her husband, and decried her attempts at bettering her accent.
Nor was Matthews much helped by her 'friends' (her agent remarked that there were precious few of these). Her brother remarked that she had thought her life pointless; Lord and Lady Elwyn-Jones (a very entertaining couple) emphasised her ill-health (Elwyn-Jones had been a not overly distinguished lord chancellor in 1974-9); her neighbours spoke of how tiring (and therefore by implication how tiresome) her late night calls and egotistical behaviour had been; her nurse, had largely forgotten about her, but obviously found her quite an effort.
In the final analysis her reputation rests upon a tiny repertoire of quite good songs (mainly by Rogers and Hart) and two or three British films that almost reached Hollywood standards in terms of quality and spectacle. The clips from TV shows revolved around "Over My Shoulder", "Dancing on the Ceiling", "When You've Got a Little Springtime in Your Heart", "Look for the Silver Lining", and not much more. Her heyday on stage and screen was 1927/28 to 1936/37, which is quite brief, and her days of film stardom (1933-37) were shorter still, even by the standards of female leads of that era. The period following 1938 is a virtual blank, save "Mrs Dale's Diary", which was almost an afterthought and not thought strong enough for Radio 2 to preserve. Her health issues aside, she was not much helped by the parlous state of Gainsborough and Gaumont and by the virtual disappearance of homegrown musicals from the West End. Matthews' career compares invidiously to Ginger Rogers (although considered by some to be a better dancer - a persuasive argument, but by no means definitive), much as Jack Buchanan does when put alongside Fred Astaire.
Fans of Matthews (of whom I am one) have noted her attractive mixture of star presence and innocence. Actually, the appearance of innocence - and her tendency to wear a wide-eyed, startled look - also indicates a chronic insecurity - hence the lifetime of 'starry' behaviour, and the recurrent breakdowns. Her weight was, somewhat predictably, the barometer of her vulnerability. She started to gain pounds after her miscarriage and once Sonnie Hale began to direct her. Once the roles dried up with the war (when her ethereal, lissome, gamine-like qualities became passé) she became quite plump. The shots taken of her recording 'Mrs Dale' show greater self-discipline, but during her appearances in the 1970s see seems to stagger across the stage (her voice weakened) like the ghost of Florrie Forde. It is only around 1980 (when the cancer was starting to tighten its grip) that she shrank greatly. The appearance alongside her, of a very well-preserved, though virtually bankrupt, Anna Neagle (her former understudy) in "This Is Your Life" made this physical 'fall from grace' all the more painful. Matthews could so easily have played the roles that Neagle enjoyed in the 1940s - only she had no Herbert Wilcox to rescue her.
Matthews is the acme of the tragic star. What a waste!
Predictable Tales of the Unexpected episode.
poolandrews24 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Tales of the Unexpected: A Picture of a Place is set on a Suffolk farm here in rural England where Hazel (Jessie Matthews) & her son Andrew (Michael Troughton) live & work. One day a man named Merv Pottinger (Bill Maynard) arrives at the farm & ask's Hazel if she wants to sell anything, she says she might & invites him into the house. At first she agrees to sell him some old irons but Merv notices a genuine Constable hanging on the wall & senses he can get rich quick, he manages to convince Hazel to sell it to him for 300 notes. Out of the two of them someone got a great deal, but which one & could Hazel really be that naive?
Episode 2 from season 3 this Tales of the Unexpected story originally aired here in the UK during August 1980, the second of five episodes of the show to be directed by Giles Foster this didn't overly impress me. The story by Doug Morgan was dramatised by Denis Cannan & is basically the same as Parson's Pleasure which was episode 6 from season 3, the set up is almost exactly the same & the twist ending which is slightly different more or less leads to exactly the same outcome whichever way you look at it. This is one of those episodes which there is some trick played on a gullible character but someone who at first seems dim manages to turn the tables in their favour & this is extremely predictable & a well used idea especially when it comes to Tales of the Unexpected. I knew how this was going to end very early on & it's just a matter of time, Andrew's visit to the solicitor doesn't make any sense either. What were they talking about? It's never revealed & considering what Hazel was up to it makes no sense, it just doesn't work & it's utterly predictable.
This one looks as bad as most, it hasn't dated too much though which is a rarity for this series. There's zero horror, no excitement, no tension & no atmosphere either as the show was desperately missing the writing talents of Roald Dahl already, in fact he makes his penultimate appearance on A Picture of a Place with a fairly pointless introduction in which he says paintings by Constable make a lot of money. His final appearance would be for Vengeance is Mine Inc. (1980) in two episodes time. There's another familiar cast here including Bill Maynard who became a national icon as Greengrass from the period drama Heartbeat while Peter Sallis who played the solicitor here is probably better known for his starring role in Last of the Summer Wine (1973 - 2006) & as the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films.
A Picure of a Place is a throughly predictable & dull Tales of the Unexpected episode which simply doesn't work, not one of the show's finest 25 minutes but much worse was still to come...
Episode 2 from season 3 this Tales of the Unexpected story originally aired here in the UK during August 1980, the second of five episodes of the show to be directed by Giles Foster this didn't overly impress me. The story by Doug Morgan was dramatised by Denis Cannan & is basically the same as Parson's Pleasure which was episode 6 from season 3, the set up is almost exactly the same & the twist ending which is slightly different more or less leads to exactly the same outcome whichever way you look at it. This is one of those episodes which there is some trick played on a gullible character but someone who at first seems dim manages to turn the tables in their favour & this is extremely predictable & a well used idea especially when it comes to Tales of the Unexpected. I knew how this was going to end very early on & it's just a matter of time, Andrew's visit to the solicitor doesn't make any sense either. What were they talking about? It's never revealed & considering what Hazel was up to it makes no sense, it just doesn't work & it's utterly predictable.
This one looks as bad as most, it hasn't dated too much though which is a rarity for this series. There's zero horror, no excitement, no tension & no atmosphere either as the show was desperately missing the writing talents of Roald Dahl already, in fact he makes his penultimate appearance on A Picture of a Place with a fairly pointless introduction in which he says paintings by Constable make a lot of money. His final appearance would be for Vengeance is Mine Inc. (1980) in two episodes time. There's another familiar cast here including Bill Maynard who became a national icon as Greengrass from the period drama Heartbeat while Peter Sallis who played the solicitor here is probably better known for his starring role in Last of the Summer Wine (1973 - 2006) & as the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films.
A Picure of a Place is a throughly predictable & dull Tales of the Unexpected episode which simply doesn't work, not one of the show's finest 25 minutes but much worse was still to come...
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