Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Naive Avengersthon - 21. Box of Tricks

I'm finding fault with this recent batch of episodes, I can see... I liked the central idea of this one, that a general's well-meaning daughter is manipulated, via her belief in faith healing, into bugging his conferences without even knowing it. But the connection with the club magic act seems wrong, as if the two ideas side by side are competing and clashing badly.

I suppose you could criticise, say, The Mauritius Penny on the same grounds that the 'fascist takeover' idea doesn't need the philately one alongside it. But the fascists need an unobtrusive, innocent-looking cover, for which a stamp shop is ideal; the villains here seem to be going all out to draw attention to themselves, by relaying the general's secrets from a nightclub basement and using a disappearing cabinet to murder - in front of an audience - anyone who finds out.

Back to Venus Smith with this one. I can't decide whether I find her arms-by-her-sides, delightedly wriggling singing style engaging or annoying.

Two undercover roles for Steed. Patrick Macnee hasn't put a foot wrong for me since I started this 'thon - I liked his masseur and his hypochondriac millionaire here as much as I did his steward in Mission to Montreal. Extra fun here when the general sees through him, and he abruptly drops the act and switches into clipped military/secret agent mode.

Dallas 'Sir James Quinlan' Cavell, reminding me oddly of Terry Jones, as the club manager.

Peter Ling at the typewriter - I presume this is Peter 'The Mind Robber/Crossroads' Ling?

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