Product Details

• Actors: Honor Blackman, Patrick Macnee
• Format: Box set, Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Run Time: 312 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767024958
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,018 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Genuine eccentrics are a dying breed. Could be amusing," notes a character in "Build a Better Mousetrap," one of the six rarely seen black-and-white episodes in this three-volume boxed set from the third season of The Avengers. Genuine eccentrics and diabolical madmen plotting to plunge the world into chaos were The Avengers' stock in trade. Nobody on TV did it better.

As with the first set, which contains volumes 1 to 3, what makes this set a must for collectors is that these episodes, virtually unseen in the United States, feature Honor Blackman as Mrs. Cathy Gale, who preceded Mrs. Emma Peel as the leather-clad partner to Patrick Macnee's urbane, umbrella-toting gentleman spy John Steed. Blackman left the series after two seasons to star as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. In "Lobster Quadrille," which concludes this set as well as the Gale era, Steed remarks that he expects the departing Gale to be "pussy-footing along sun-soaked shores."

Volume 4 contains two topnotch episodes. "Mousetrap" revolves around the Peck sisters, two "wicked" old ladies who seem to have put a curse on the surrounding countryside that causes all mechanical devises to stall. In "The Outside-In Man," James Maxwell steals the show as an agent presumed dead who materializes just as the man he was once assigned to assassinate arrives in Britain for arms talks. Volume 5 contains "The Charmers," which was remade in 1967 as "The Correct Way to Kill." "Concerto," in which Steed must cooperate with the Russians to prevent an assassination at a recital, is a classical gas. Even a weaker episode such as "Esprit de Corps," which opens volume 6, has its bizarre charms, as renegade Scotsmen plot a coup and plan to install Gale on the throne as Queen Anne the Second. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

This set contains the following: Vol. 4 Build a Better Mousetrap/The Outside-In Man Vol. 5 The Charmers/Concerto Vol. 6 Esprit de Corps/Lobster Quadrille The original AVENGERS, starring Patrick Macnee as the elegantly ruthless John Steed and Honor Blackman as leather-clad anthropologist-turned-special agent Mrs. Cathy Gale, created a sensation in Britain in the early ‘60s. The show’s outrageously intelligent characters, plots and dialogue inspired fashion trends, novels, a play, a musical and even a hit single, "Kinky Boots," sung by Blackman and Macnee. Now they’re back, in the timeless adventures that gave birth to their legend. Go undercover with Cathy and Steed as they foil felons, trump traitors and expose assassins, saving the world -- and often, each other -- as THE AVENGERS! Produced by John Bryce, Music by Johnny Dankworth

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early adventures for Steed, December 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Avengers '64, Set 2 (DVD)

For all the fans of The Avengers familiar with the Emma Peel/Tara King era of the show, these early episodes featuring Cathy Gale and Venus Smith may come as something of a disappointment. In fact, fans of the later shows may find it hard to believe that they are even part of the same TV series!

After the initial run of 26 episodes featuring Police Surgeon David Keel and his cohort John Steed had aired in the UK in 1961/62, the producers of the program opted to bring Steed to the forefront of the action and give him a number of different "assistants." Thus, for season two, 26 further episodes were made and broadcast in 1962/63 featuring Steed abetted by Martin King, Venus Smith or Cathy Gale. Mrs. Gale turned out to be the most popular and successful foil for the suave agent, and the other characters did not return after season two. Unlike the later Peel/King stories which were all made on film, these studio based TV shows are much more reliant on dialogue and plot than visual elements, and can be somewhat heavy going as a result.

A&E is releasing these stories in a somewhat confusing order, and has started with season three. The first two sets released, Avengers 64 1 & 2, feature the LAST six episodes of season three. Next comes Avengers 63 sets 1 & 2 which comprises of the first half of the season. Next up in the release order is 63 sets 3 & 4 which precede 1 & 2 in running order and in fact feature the last seven stories from season two, plus the first from season three. Confused? Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, since thankfully there's no real reason to watch the stories in chronological order anyway.

What is interesting is the development of the production standards. 63 sets 3 & 4, featuring the latter stories from season two, are far more rudimentary in terms of production quality. The sets are extremely small and sparse; The direction very slap-hazard; Camera work shoddy; Sound is extremely poor; and the acting is negligible. With no budget for editing or reshooting, all the actor's fluffs and goofs stayed in. Steed's character is far less suave and sophisticated then he became later during his familiar role alongside Mrs. Peel, and the relationship with Mrs. Gale in particular is at first downright hostile with very little warmth between the two. He seems to get along much better with Miss Venus Smith, a night club singer who he engages at various gigs to act as his eyes and ears. Venus is a very odd character, and played strangely, but enthusiastically by Julie Stevens. She looks about 12, sings like she's forty, and dresses like anything in between. She also seems extremely naïve and it's hard to imagine why Steed engages her to help him at all. The far more intelligent and elegant Mrs. Gale does eventually warm up to Steed, and in the season three stories where she is the exclusive companion to him, their relationship develops nicely and they become much warmer and closer to each other.

The production values on season three are also much better than the earlier episodes. The sets became larger and more elaborate. The direction, lighting and sound improved greatly and the acting was much less wooden. Some editing was clearly allowed on these later stories, whereas the earlier ones clearly were broadcast as if they were live. There's a terrific blunder in "Six hands across a table," where Cathy is called "Ros" in one scene, and both actors realize the mistake, but keep going. An even better goof comes in "Concerto" when Nigel Stock forgets his lines completely and a very audible prompt is given from off camera. Terrific stuff.

The quality of the DVD's is somewhat disappointing, even accounting for the age of the material and the production values mentioned above. It may not be the case, but it certainly appears that A&E have made no attempt whatsoever to re-master the original tapes, and the flaws, jumps, scratches and sound blips are too numerous to mention. Virtually every episode on 63 sets 3 & 4 are hampered by picture and sound flaws and defects. Things do improve for 63 1 & 2 and 64 1 & 2, but the quality is still disappointing. Mind you, it appears they have done nothing to clean up the Tara King episodes either!

As a big fan of the series, I wouldn't even consider not having these episodes in my collection, but if you're looking for the wacky camp humor and the tele-fantasy of the Peel/King eras, these stories may not be for you.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historic and most entertaining, March 20, 2000

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Avengers '64, Set 2 (DVD)

It is so very good to be able to see the "old" <Avengers> with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, not only for its own sake but as an historic document (so to speak) and as a foreshadowing of the greater things to come the very next season when Diana Rigg continued to make television history as Blackman's replacement.

First the negatives. These are "live," studio-bound productions in which lines are flubbed, jailers have all sorts of trouble opening the doors to cells, gun shots do not convince, and fights are obviously tame to prevent injury in these days before films, stunt-doubles, and retakes. Now and then the sound gets fainter as characters move away from the mikes, now and then the film jumps just a bit, and in at least two sequences a pesky fly seems to have been caught by whatever process was being used to reproduce the original image onto tape/DVD.

Neither positive nor negative but merely interesting is that Steed has not picked up his ultra-refined characteristics by way of wardrobe, umbrella (until the last episodes), and steel-coated bowler hat. His relationship with Cathy varies from amused tolerance on her part to such manifestations of her annoyance as throwing things at him. She takes things a lot more seriously than Emma will. In fact, there is little of that Avengers banter we so enjoy in the later episodes and consequently not so much of that chemistry between the two.

In one surprising moment that Emma would never tolerate, Cathy asks Steed what he wants from the army stores, and he replies, "Nothing you would be willing to issue." Here she gives him a "you bet your life" smile. (Emma would have killed him, I think.)

There are three episodes on each DVD and twelve in all in this '64 series. Set II starts off well with a sci-fi "Build a Better Mousetrap," pre-echoing many plots to follow. "The Outside-in Man" has a good twist ending and a "Man from UNCLE" place to meet the Top Man. "The Charmers" is the best so far, humorous, having a good plot and the wonderful Warren Mitchell who would twice play the same bumbling Russian agent in the Rigg episodes; and in fact it was remade as "The Correct Way to Kill" with several interesting changes. "Concerto" has the soon-to-be overdone plot of someone trying to ruin East-West relations. "Esprit de Corps" also has a predictable plot but given some broad humor by funny man Roy Kinnear, who plays his scenes with Steed quite well. "Lobster Quadrille" ends the series on a not very glorious note; but it does finish with Cathy going off on vacation, refusing to take on an assignment there, and Steed phoning a female replacement. I believe they knew by that time that Blackman was leaving the series.

Please watch these without the foresight of what is to come and try to keep a 1964 frame of mind when this was the hottest stuff on the telly and a female character never had it so good before Cathy Gale blew into town.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Requires a mind.., August 30, 2000

By 

D. Craven (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Avengers '64, Set 2 (DVD)

First the technical bits: Yes, the DVD is in black and white and is taken from originals made with early technology. The picture is not as "pretty" as even the first year of the Peel Avengers. But sometimes substance outweighs flash, and in this case, the substance well outweights the lack of "flash".

Now the real review. The "problems" of the early adventures of the Avengers are well illustrated by the adventures captured on this DVD. They require the audience pay attention and use their mind. This requirement was always present in the Avenger's series, but perhaps even more so in the early episodes. If you are unwilling or unable to pay attention to what is on the screen and unwilling to think, don't buy this DVD. But if you are willing to put in the effort, you will find these Episodes to be highly rewarding.

These episodes are also, in many ways, more realistic. Cathy Gale's Martial Art moves are far less flashy than Emma Peel's, (or for that matter many action stars) but they are real and more accurately reflect how such moves are used. Respectfully, Cathy Gale would take Emma Peel apart in real combat. Further, the relationship between Gale and Steed is far "flintier" and the Steed is far colder and more calculating. Again, this provides an interesting contrast to the future Avengers (and a VERY interesting contrast to the Finness/? Pseudo-Avengers)

To me, one of the great things about the Avenger's is the ability to surprise, so I will not talk about the "details" of each Episode, for that would spoil some of the fun.

And yes, Honor Blackman was "only" James Bond's Girlfriend, while he married Dianna Rigg... but maybe that's because Bond didn't want to be upstaged...