Cinema Cycle - The Avengers '63 - Volume 9

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE VIEWED: 07/24/2015

TITLE: The Avengers ‘63 - Volume 9

FORMAT: VHS

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 42 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 23 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 2192.6 miles

SYNOPSIS: (from Wikipedia)

• The Golden Eggs:  A burglar steals two gold plated eggs from a laboratory not knowing that they contain a deadly virus.

• School for Traitors:   During a spate of suicides at a university, a burglar seeks a note to Venus. Steed uncovers a sinister plot to blackmail students into espionage activities.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The underlying theme of British drama is that everyone has an ulterior motive and nothing is what it initially seems.  Complex dialog and complex camera work abound.

PROS AND CONS: I have several seasons of this series that I found in a thrift store several years ago.  All of the episode so far have been somewhat similar in tone and camerawork.  This is still the ‘early’ Avengers before it was widely distributed in the United States.  This series is in black and white and Diana Rigg has yet to replace Honor Blackman as Catherine Gale.  The usual theme of these early works is espionage and intrigue.  When the series matured, it became more sci-fi and fantasy oriented.  

Watching these episodes, it is always tongue and cheek regarding exactly who Gale and Steed are.  Apparently they are not lovers.  They appear to be government agents but that is never made clear either.  One thing that is clear is that Gale appears to be to Steed what Kato was to the Green Hornet.  The sidekick that kicks ass when you least expected.  

It is interesting to note that in these two episodes, Julie Stevens is featured prominently.  In fact she is the female lead in School for Traitors, since Catherine Gale makes no appearance in that episode.  

To read an overview of this project, check out the initial post for this series.

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.