The Young Avenger
Page 13 of 110

The Undertakers
By Joseph A.P. Lloyd

Direction: Three out of five. Although he is not quite up to "Dressed to Kill" standard, Bain shows his talent here, particularly in the room full of coffins where Madden is hiding and in the location filming, something which most episodes sorely lack.

Plot: Four out of five. Nowadays, to avoid death duties, you have to leave the money in your will seven years before you die! A very understandable story, with all the eccentricity you see in "The Gravediggers." Superb.

Music: Two out five. I think that I will take my mother's opinion of the music when she watched it. She said that I should write a book on the use of vibraphones in the early episodes of The Avengers after watching this! Yes, it is pretty badly scored.

Wittiness: Two out of five. "How do you know you can trust me?" "Oh, don't worry dear, I checked with the agency who sent you. Your criminal record is enough guarantee of that for us." I cannot remember if these are the exact words, but to this effect, it is a rather good script.

Action: Four out of five. Here we see a fight, lasting at least three minutes actually on film, and another one in the dark confines of the coffin room. Rather good, actually.

Cars/Sets/Locations: Five out of five. Although the standard of production is not that high, that does not stop us enjoying the film fight, as well as a Rolls-Royce hearse. Green's funeral parlour is rather good as well.

Introduction/Tag: Five out of five. Macnee's laughing fit in the final tag, and his line: "Big girls!" is enough to make anyone laugh. Just the kind of tag you want, and a superbly inexplicable introduction. Welcome to the prototype filmed episode.

Overall Impression: A very funny episode, but one that is worse than "Second Sight" for two reasons: 1) There are too many minor characters. 2) The plot does not flow very smoothly. Ah well, at least we have the eccentrics Green and Mrs Renter!

Rating: Seven out of ten.

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Page last modified: 5 May 2017.

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