Amazon.com
The glory years of
The Avengers, the stylish British television series starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg as intelligence operatives, are in full bloom in this three-episode volume. First up is "The £50,000 Breakfast," a typically quirky mystery that begins with a Zurich-bound ventriloquist crashing his car and ending up in a hospital--only to be discovered carrying a stash of diamonds in his stomach. The strange circumstance leads John Steed (Macnee) and Mrs. Emma Peel (Rigg) into an investigation of a wealthy financier who may be considering taking his fortune out of England. But that's only the beginning: soon Steed and Mrs. Peel are up to their knees in murder plots and borzoi dogs, all ending in a gift of a Dalmatian-spotted tie. "Dead Man's Treasure" is probably best remembered for a harrowing scene in which poor Mrs. Peel is forced to "drive" a racing car simulator that gives powerful electric shocks when she veers off a virtual road. The simulator is one of the kookier gimmicks in a story about a fellow agent who plants a dispatch box in a car enthusiast's mansion, then arranges for Steed and Mrs. Peel to participate in a treasure hunt for the missing item. Saboteurs abound, but the episode's highlight is the hunt, which finds contestants and their autos subjected to spikes in the road, sugar in their petrol tanks, and misarranged road signs. The action is crisp, the humor cheeky, and our heroic duo sexy and sharp. The final episode begins with one of the most enjoyable stories from the series. "You Have Just Been Murdered" is a clever mystery in which wealthy men are being mock-assassinated by stalkers who shoot, stab, and otherwise "murder" them with toy weapons. The reason is simple: blackmail. If the hidden, insidious mastermind behind this plot can get that close to his victims, he can certainly put them in the grave for good. Enter Steed and Mrs.Peel into the fray, who fail to get much cooperation from the terrified millionaires and have to find their way to the villain's lair on their own. The show ends delightfully with one of the series' best tags: Steed counting his fortune in halfpennies and finding he's just short of a certain goal....
--Tom Keogh
