Jason King (TV Series) As Easy as A.B.C. (1971) User Reviews

When fiction became fact

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 12 May 2010]

Jason King has never disguised the fact that his 'Mark Caine' books are based on flawless research, and now someone is trying to exploit the fact. A pair of upper-class crooks, Charles ( Nigel Green ) and Edward ( Michael Bates ), are copying word-for-word the robberies described in the novels.

Following the latest crime in Europe, King is arrested and held for questioning. Charles and Edward have him under close observation, and plan on framing the author for the theft of a quantity of platinum...

Slightly reminiscent of 'The Saint' adventure 'The Fiction Makers', this is one of the best 'King' outings. Green and Bates' characters seemed to have wandered out of 'The Avengers'. Yutte Stensgaard appears as 'Arlene', a judo-throwing beauty, and as 'Mireille', we get the mouth-watering Ayshea Borough, who was in 'U.F.O.' a year earlier, and also had her own pop show for children - 'Lift Off With Ayshea'.

But its Charles and Edward you'll like most about this. In fact they're on screen more often than King!

Awful, cobbled-together from stock footage

[kmoh-1 · 17 June 2013]

This is one of the very bad Jason Kings basically created from stock footage, random footage of Peter Wyngarde wandering round foreign parts, and the occasional scene actually shot according to a script.

Perhaps the most risible scene is when Jason is supposedly touring Venice, while two assassins are trying to kill him. The various views of Jason are taken to be the views of the assassins as they stalk him - but of course, Jason never reacts, even when shot at. Meanwhile, we also have a few feet of film of Jason randomly wandering round Vienna, no doubt outtakes from the similarly risible Variations on a Theme episode.

Alarm bells ought to ring when Yutte Stensgaard appears - after all, one her most famous films, Zeta One, was similarly cobbled together from irrelevant footage.

If any of this cut-and-paste led to any excitement, it would be justified. However, it doesn't. Nigel Green is wasted in one of his last appearances, while Michael Bates is horribly miscast. A tiny, tiny quantum of interest is provided by one of the few dramatic roles for Ayesha Borough.