User Reviews

Tales of the Unexpected: The Last Bottle in the World starts as Sophie Kassoulas (Lynette Davies) meets her uncle Charles (Nigel Hawthorne) by chance, they decide to reminisce about the past. They remember the time when the man Sophie was having an affair with Max de Marechal (Gary Bond) contacted wine shipper Charles in order to question him for an article for the wine magazine he edits, the question was what was in his opinion the finest ever vintage of wine which Charles said he thought was an 1864 French Bordeaux claret. Max says that no know bottle of this vintage exists but Charles shows him a bottle, the bottle thought to be the last one in existence which Max's rich boss & Sophie's husband Kyros Kassoulas (Anthony Quayle) buys off Chrales for £10,000. Kyros then invites Charles & Max for a special opening of the wine with himself & Sophie over dinner, Charles & Sophie then remember the extraordinary events that took place that night...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 10 from season 4 & originally aired here in the UK during June 1981, the sixth of eleven Tales of the Unexpected episode to be directed by John Gorrie The Last Bottle in the World is a fair enough way to pass twenty five minutes but it's nothing that will last too long in ones memory. The story by Stanley Ellin was dramatised by Denis Cannan & is the second Tales of the Unexpected episode to revolve around wine after the Roald Dahl inspired Taste (1980) from season two, both stories also involve wine experts & an evening dinner party within which unusual events unfold. To be honest any similarities are more by coincidence than anything else, I don't think The Last Bottle in the World was trying to rip-off Taste as the build up, the character's & the events bar the obvious are otherwise very different. Taken on it's own The Last Bottle in the World is a fair enough episode, it has an OK story that uses plenty of well worn clichés like adulterous spouses, jealous lovers & a contrived plan for revenge so in that respect there's not much new or radical here. Having said that the twist ending is reasonably effective & maybe isn't quite as predictable as some Tales of the Unexpected episodes can be.

I only saw this a few hours ago & I can barely remember a thing about it, shot competently but without any real style or flair. I must say that I thought there a few less than convincing accents going on here in this, in particular Gary Bond's French accent isn't overly believable. Again it's the cast which stand out more then the episode itself with Anothy Quayle & Nigel Hawthorne pretty recognisable names for anyone into TV & film.

The Last Bottle in the World is an OK way to pass twenty five minutes, it's a decent enough story with a decent enough twist ending. Not the greatest Tales of the Unexpected episode but far from the worst.

Charles Drummond is a serious wine connoiseur, he receives a visit from Max de Marechal, he finds out that Drummond has an ultra rare wine in his collection, Max's client Kassoulas offers thousands of pounds for his bottle of 1864 Saint Fleur, Chales refuses vehemently, Max gets massively worked up when Charles refuses. Kassoulas himself tries his charms on Charles, he wants the bottle for his wife Sophie, offering a princely sum of £10000, a fine anniversary present. A date is set, and Charles is welcomed as a gift. Kassoulas has found out that Sophie and Max are having an affair, she fears that Kassoulas has planned to poison the pairing at the wine tasting, Sophie asks her Uncle Charles for help, he vows to keep the bottle in sight.

It's been a while since there was a wine story, Taste naturally being the most famous one, and while this one isn't bad it is instantly forgettable.

Anyone who's a Fawlty Towers fan, do the two waiters remind you of any two characters? Kurt and Manuel maybe??

Anthony Quayle is a fantastic actor, he gives a commanding presence, turning an average story into a fairly good one.

Even though it's only 25 minutes it seems to take forever to unravel. A definite improvement on the last few episodes, it's definitely watchable, it just could have been a little more exciting, it's definitely cleverly written. 6/10

It could be Roald Dahl had a fetish for wines, as this was the second 'Tales of the Unexpected' to feature wine connoisseurs; the second season had an episode titled 'Taste'. The stories aren't similar, and for my money, this one had the more shocking ending. You wouldn't think murder could be committed by wasting the contents of a nearly hundred year old bottle of wine, but that was the strategy used by Kyros Kassoulas (Anthony Quayle) to exact revenge on the lover (Gary Bond) of his wife (Lynette Davies). I don't now how that would stack up in a court of law if push came to shove, but it was an effective means of dispatching a guy with a heart condition who couldn't handle stress. This episode could have been the likely inspiration for that classic Eric Burdon song, 'Spill the Wine, Take That Girl'.

I must admit I got Anthony Quayle and Anthony Quinn mixed up, as it was the former that played Kyros Kassoulas in The Last Bottle in the World. Anthony Quinn would have been an ideal choice for the Greek magnate but maybe he wasn't available for this episode of Tales of the Unexpected. It was okay, sort of in a roundabout way. Good to see Nigel Hawthorne, who later gained fame as Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister and then Yes Prime Minister.

Sometimes I wish there was a blooper reel for Tales of the Unexpected to sort of lighten the mood, because there's often a sense of foreboding in this series.