The Avengers '65, Vol. 1

"The Gravediggers" is a straightforward espionage story, marked by The Avengers' usual oddball elements and formula. The local cemetery is somehow being used to jam signals, and Steed and Emma have to sort it out. An eccentric old man who builds oversize train sets is in the middle of it, and Steed has to rescue a bound-to-the-tracks Emma in a humorously exciting finale.

"The Town Of No Return" is a great story, in which an isolated seaside town is being used by a foreign power to infiltrate Britain with fifth-column invaders. The setup is good, the payoff better. The Avengers find themselves going literally underground, to break it all up.

Emma fencing with Steed is delightful. He proceeds to criticize her fencing technique, she challenges him to a match...

Anyone who objected to Steed kissing Emma Peel once during the film must be extraordinarly innocent. In one scene in this episode Steed comes to Emma's bedroom at night. "Isn't it time you were in bed?" he asks her, separated from touching her only by the bottle he clutches. She nods.

The black and white episode mixes the supposedly normal- the pub, the church, the school with a tense sense of menace. A friendly man returns to look up his brother,the village blacksmith, and is stalked by locals bearing guns who track him with dogs! Delightful opening scene of Steed and Mrs. Peel and a nice contrast of the hiden menace beneath the seemingly peaceful small town where four agent mysteriously vanished.

The second episode is even more delightful -mixing a charming eccentric elderly man devoted to railroads who has his own miniature railroad that he rides, undertakers who rush about in a hearse, clad in black top hats and tails. In addition, they book their funerals four to six weeks in advance! The mock up of the operating scene is very funny. "Scapel!" calls the surgeon. "Blowtorch." Blowtorch? The climactic finale of Emma, tied to a train track, Steed battling two villains to the thumping piano accompaniment (spoofing silent films) is a pure delight. The second one contrasts with the grimmer mood of the first. Well worth returning to again and again!

"The Gravediggers" is a straightforward espionage story, marked by The Avengers' usual oddball elements and formula. The local cemetery is somehow being used to jam signals, and Steed and Emma have to sort it out. An eccentric old man who builds oversize train sets is in the middle of it, and Steed has to rescue a bound-to-the-tracks Emma in a humorously exciting finale.

"The Town Of No Return" is a great story, in which an isolated seaside town is being used by a foreign power to infiltrate Britain with fifth-column invaders. The setup is good, the payoff better. The Avengers find themselves going literally underground, to break it all up.