Prismark10 Reviews

A Perfect Spy: Episode #1.1 (1987) Season 1, Episode 1

Episode 1

[5/10 · 9 May 2024]

The BBC once more dipped into a John le Carré novel. This time they seem to have come unstuck. A Perfect Spy is not held in the same regard as Tinker Tailor...

A Perfect Spy is partly autobiographical about le Carré's upbringing. The story is about Magnus Pym, a British intelligence officer who might have been a double agent.

The first episode is all about Magnus Pym as a boy. His childhood and his relationship with his father Rick (Ray McAnally.) A charismatic con man and an all round rogue.

After his father Rick sent to jail for embezzlement. His mother Dorothy takes Magnus to live with his uncle. A stern abusive man who hates kids. He also hated Rick.

When his mother his hospitalised, Magnus learns how to fake an epileptic fit to be hospitalised and get out of the house.

Luckily, if that is the word. Rick turns up and uses his son to con old ladies. By this time the war is on and life is an adventure for young Magnus.

When Magnus ends up at public school. He tells tall tales about his father's wartime record and is not above taking revenge for being called out of it by other students.

The first episode is well made, with wonderful BBC production values. Yet outside of McAnally's excellent performance. I just did not take to Magnus. I can see his childhood experience would shape his adult life but not sure it was worthy of an an entire episode.

Inside No. 9: Boo To A Goose (2024) Season 9, Episode 1

Boo To A Goose

[7/10 · 9 May 2024]

The ninth and final series of Inside No 9. Probably one of the most consistent series out there in terms of quality regarding dark, twisted humorous stories.

You'll never think of a replacement service in the same way, the next time you take public transport.

Some passengers on the tube get in a kerfuffle when the lights go out on their train and it comes to a stop.

A homeless man had entered the compartment begging for money. When it went dark, a nurse had her purse stolen. One passenger, a stern teacher takes it upon himself to search the others.

This does not sit well with one paranoid passenger. He thinks people are being watched on CCTV cameras and he seems to be very protective of his bag.

The passengers are a motley crew including a drag queen, a bored middle aged married couple. So the twist was hard to predict.

When it did arrive it certainly was leftfield. Probably too offbeat for me but certainly a homage to the Bodysnatchers movies.

Shardlake: Episode #1.2 (2024) Season 1, Episode 2

Episode 2

[6/10 · 8 May 2024]

Shardlake continues the second episode in a solid manner but it is not that exciting.

The shadow of Thomas Cromwell looms large in the story, even though the character never appears.

The antagonistic Brother Jerome (Paul Kaye) has plenty to say about the corrupt Cromwell.

Matthew Shardlake continues his questioning of the monks regarding the decapitation of Robin Singleton. He has no time for any demonic entities being the killer such as followers of Satan.

While John Barak just wants to rush the investigation. He has no time for the monk's greed, while children outside of the monastery are starving. He wants to shut it down.

At least there are many dangling threads to the mystery and Shardlake knows it. There is some kind of conspiracy but I do wonder if this will all lead to Thomas Cromwell.

So no quickfire solution but Shardlake managed to fall into the quicksand.

Father Dowling Mysteries: The Ghost of a Chance Mystery (1990) Season 2, Episode 6

The Ghost of a Chance Mystery

[6/10 · 8 May 2024]

Carol Van Horn is a distraught young woman after the death of her father.

Living in a large old mansion, she has visions of her late father. She has been seeing a psychiatrist Dr Latimer. His treatment though might just push her over the edge.

Father Dowling and Sister Steve want to help. They think these apparitions could be holographic. Father Philip Prestwick thinks an exorcism might be needed when he sees what appears to be something ghostly.

However given the historical nature of Carol's house. It used to be owned by a gangster. Father Dowling believes there is an earthly explanation to all this.

Plain old greed especially as a real estate developer has previously expressed an interest in buying the house. Maybe there is something valuable hidden in the house.

With holographic images, these things were all the rage back in the mid 80s onwards on television shows. Automan was an example.

It still took a few decades for holographs to really come into fruition like the Abbatars. Even then it costs millions.

It was a neat touch for Father Prestwick's entrance to the house to mimic that of Max von Sydow in the Exorcist.

Nearest and Dearest: An Open-and-Shut Case (1970) Season 4, Episode 5

An Open-and-Shut Case

[6/10 · 8 May 2024]

There is a shortage of workers in the factory, but those pickles need bottling.

Nellie and Eli rope in Lily and Walter to the pickle production line. Only Walter is not up to it, he could hardly life the vinegar.

Then there is the case of Walter's missing dentures. It seems they might have dropped into a jar of pickles.

Nellie and Eli have to race to get back the jars from the shops it was delivered to. Only a few bottles have already been sold so they need to track them down.

Roy Barraclough guest stars as the vicar who catches Nellie with the demon drink in the pub. Just a few of the cast who would later go on to appear in Coronation Street.

The plot is very much that of Granada sitcomland. Not all of it is very plausible, a production line of four people.

This was rather funny though and Edward Malin steals it as silent Walter.

The Protectors: Trial (1974) Season 2, Episode 21

Trial

[4/10 · 8 May 2024]

John Gordon is part of a group of men standing trial for murder. Although John claims to have an alibi but the prosecution are dismissing it as flimsy.

During the summing up. Judge Cronin (Richard Hurndall) falls ill and the trial is suspended.

John's mother Anne wants to see Harry Rule. She is distraught. Her husband Arthur Gordon (Joss Ackland) has gone missing. He previously had a mental breakdown.

Arthur is paranoid that the judge is biased and visits Judge Cronin while he is recuperating.

Harry Rule is certain that Arthur is planning to something more dangerous to stop the judge.

I thought this was a very underwhelming story. It was mainly about paranoia and mental illness.

The viewer had no idea about any perceived biasness' on the part of the judge. Given the episode was called Trial, that was the least part of it.

Kojak: Deliver Us Some Evil (1974) Season 1, Episode 15

Deliver Us Some Evil

[7/10 · 8 May 2024]

This episode of Kojak brings out the big guns and the big goons.

There is a helicopter sequence. There are the new Twin Towers. Stavros is talking to plants.

If that is not enough, John Ritter plays the baddie. He really is in bad company.

Kenny Soames (John Ritter) is the young delivery man from the pharmacy company. He also has an interest in rare coins. Delivering home to home gives Kenny access to snoop around. Only it leads to murder.

Kojak realises that the family had a rare coin collection but only one coin was lifted.

Now word comes in that a big heist is planned. Coins, antiques, paintings. It is another old lady who has her medicine delivered by Kenny.

This time Kojak plans to catch everyone in the act.

It is a nice gritty outing. Rich old ladies, a nurse working around the clock unable to see her dying husband. Then Kenny and his glamorous girlfriend hoping to hop it to South America.

The Lloyd Bridges Show: Just Married (1962) Season 1, Episode 6

Just Married

[6/10 · 8 May 2024]

When happiness turns to tragedy. Adam Shepherd comes across a car the is being recovered. It crashed years earlier with a 'Just Married' sign on the bumper.

Adam imagines what chain of events set the car to go off the mountain road.

Brad is a bank robber on the run with a bagful of cash at the back of his car. He enters a town in the middle of nowhere with few inhabitants.

Welcoming the stranger is Cathy (Carolyn Jones) the last person born in this now abandoned town.

It is love at first sight but Cathy is sickly. Does she stay here and die or does she go on the run with Brad and enjoy the time she has.

A tragic romance, both the leads make it work.

Dangerous Knowledge: Death Risk (1976) Season 1, Episode 4

Death Risk

[4/10 · 7 May 2024]

It is a shame that some of the action and impetus from the first episode is missing. Apart from a gun scene at the end, this episode is really a bunch of talking heads.

Robin has flown his dad over the English Channel where he meets Madame Lafois. She tells Kirby of a KGB who might be high up in the British government.

While Fane who is with Dr Vincent tells his stepdaughter Laura. That Kirby is talking plain rubbish. Laura who wants to be neutral, does not know who to believe.

Maybe an American called Arnold could assist Kirby. He wants to buy life insurance. In essence he claims to be CIA and wants to meet in a secluded area.

Poor Kirby everyone is against him and he thought, all this was a bit of simple business on the side. All so he could buy his son that pilot's course.

Despite the lack of action, there is tension. The plot is still too hazy.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Godzilla Minus One

[7/10 · 7 May 2024]

Produced by Toho Studios. The Japanese Gojira is back. At a budget of just $15 million, which will not even cover the cost of the riders for a big budget Hollywood movie.

Godzilla Minus One won the Best Visual Effects Oscar. Quality special effects are not something that is associated with the Japanese Godzilla films, when in the past if was a man inside a rubber suit.

Wearing its influences ranging from Jaws to King Kong and Jurassic Park. So rather Spielberg heavy.

Set in post war Japan this is a redemption story about a Kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima who refused to go on a suicide mission, citing technical issues.

A mutated Godzilla monster returns affected by US nuclear testing, destroying Japanese cities and the government unable to do much about it.

Shikishima plans to use an old Japanese warplane to kill Godzilla in a suicide attack, by flying into its mouth and setting off explosive charges.

By making it a personal story. The movie has gone for emotion at the expense of monster mayhem.

The special effects are good regarding the budget but I'm not sure it was Oscar worthy. I get the feeling the Oscar voters regarded this as compensation in lieu of other categories.

The Beverly Hillbillies: Pygmalion and Elly (1962) Season 1, Episode 10

Pygmalion and Elly

[6/10 · 7 May 2024]

Jed Clampett thinks that if Elly May ain't married by the time she is 18 years old. She would be regarded as an old crow.

Has he not realised just how Sonny Drysdale is? He is wooing Elly May with his lyre. He regards Elly May as the bucolic beauty who needs a cultural metamorphosis.

Sonny will be Professor Higgins while Elly May will be his Pygmalion. He plans to take Elly May from Tobacco Road to Park Avenue.

While Granny thinks that her own love charms will ignite their relationship. Miss Hathaway such love charms are poppycock.

Well Louis Nye is a breath of fresh air as Sonny. Just contrast that with the scene where Jethro wonders where the noise is coming from when someone rings the housebell. Those jokes have become lame by this point.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum: Mind My Maharajah (1976) Season 3, Episode 2

Mind My Maharajah

[7/10 · 7 May 2024]

Colonel Charles Reynolds gets an important phone call. The concert party has been sent on an important top secret mission to the Maharaja of Bharatpah.

One of his sons plans to kill him and the troops are there to protect him. Lofty has been asked to throw himself in front of the assassin.

When they arrive at his palace. It seems delipidated and empty. Later when they meet the Maharaja. He challenges Sergeant-Major 'Shut Up' Williams to a game of snooker. Only for Williams to find out there is a lot of cheating going on by the Maharaja's servant.

A funny episode. Williams holding up the Colonel's towel as he takes a phone call. Lofty hitting the gong and destroying it. Rangi Ram blocking Williams snooker shot as the servant held a knife on his back.

The Gold Robbers: The Cover Plan (1969) Season 1, Episode 10

The Cover Plan

[6/10 · 7 May 2024]

The opening title sequence shows the role of Major Timothy Fry (Patrick Allen) a soldier turned mercenary. The opening titles also usefully gives an update on what has happened to the previous suspects.

A few are under observation, some have been jailed for a long time.

A new name has come up through their investigation of Oscroft. Terry Lardner has been identified as a possible suspect on the bullion robbery. He is certainly wanted for a job on the Gloucester car auction case a year earlier, where one man was left severely injured.

Only Sergeant Lardner has contacted Fry his commanding officer who is hiding out in Spain. Lardner wants his wife and kid to join him abroad.

Fry is loyal to his men. Only Victor Anderson is not happy with both men. He circulates their names to some grasses, so Cradock picks up the chatter.

Only to Cradock's surprise, Fry is known to his mistress Val. It seems he has also been close to Jo Anderson. No wonder Victor would like to see the back of him.

A nice turn by Allen. It was good to see one character who has some loyalties to his men. Fry is also prepared to fight dirty as he warns Victor Anderson.

As Cradock finds out, Fry is also cunning and caused a rift in his relationship with Val.

Red King, White Knight (1989 TV Movie)

Red King, White Knight

[4/10 · 6 May 2024]

Red King, White Knight is a glossy UK/USA television movie made in 1989. Its premise quickly became dated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990.

Set at the time of Mikhail Gorbachev as the reforming premier of the Soviet Union. Stoner (Tom Skerritt) is an alcoholic ex-CIA agent who cannot get over the suicide of his wife.

Now he is forced out of retirement as the Americans have come across some information that Gorbachev might be assassinated by Russian hardliners led by Tulayev (Tom Bell.)

Stoner has to get in touch with the man who has more details of the plot and smuggle him out of the Iron curtain. Only Tulayev gets to the defector first.

He also gets in touch with his former lover Anna (Helen Mirren) who he abandoned to her fate of a possible long prison sentence. Also on the horizon is old foe Szaz (Max von Sydow) sent to stop Stoner.

In Washington the politicians are not sure how much to help Gorbachev. They also fear the consequences of the liberalisation of the Soviet Union. The impact of the environment with more countries enjoying rampant consumerism.

This is a stodgy story, pretty standard television fare. Good acting, thinly sketched characters and a dull script.

It perks up with the action sequences later on. Part inspired by The Day of the Jackal.

It was a nice touch when the American advisors looked at the long term consequences of the ending of communism. That was prescient.

Mirren and Bell would later reunite in Prime Suspect.

Hereditary (2018)

Hereditary

[6/10 · 6 May 2024]

Hereditary is a slow barn dark tale with nods to Rosemary's Baby.

Life is not going great for Annie Graham (Toni Collette) an artist who makes miniature models.

Her mother has died, Annie was never close to her. Annie's daughter Charlie is behaving odd and later has an allergic reaction when out to a party with her older brother Peter.

It leads to a tragic accident where Annie resents her son for Charlie's death. She acts increasingly withdrawn. Her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) tries to keep the family together.

After meeting Joan (Ann Dowd) who herself has been bereaved, Annie finds someone she can relate to. Afterwards with the behest of Joan. Anne holds a seance in order to get through to Charlie.

Only a lot of weirdness starts to happen. Peter acts strangely like he is possessed by some demonic force.

Hereditary has an interesting horror story. It takes a while to get going as it initially comes across as moody more than scary.

It ramps up at the end as some the pieces fall together. It also gets too hysterical and confusing. At least for the horror genre, this is a thoughtful film.

The Buccaneers: Printer's Devil (1957) Season 1, Episode 39

Printer's Devil

[6/10 · 6 May 2024]

The last show of the series and it is another one with an anti colonial viewpoint. Very much anticipating a revolution.

Josiah Parkerhouse is a writer, poet a scientist and spreading news about the corruption of governor, Sir Joplin James.

James who regards himself as the finest swordsman around is none too pleased. If the stories about corruption and especially his links with Blackbeard gain credence. Then it is the end for him with the King.

So James orders for Parkerhouse to be arrested and his printing press to be destroyed. Only Captain Dan Tempest is around when the troops come calling.

Tempest rescues Parkerhouse and hides him in the Sultana. Later James and his troops arrive to search the ship.

While Tempest helps spread the truth about Joplin James.

It's a bit of a romp with the rest of the crew acting drunk and singing ditties. A good way to finish the series.

Yancy Derringer: Two Tickets to Promontory (1959) Season 1, Episode 34

Two Tickets to Promontory

[6/10 · 6 May 2024]

The final episode of Yancy Derringer. It is all about taking the inaugural ride on the train that would link the east to the western part of the United States.

Yancy had been hoping to get tickets for the ride. Instead he wins two tickets to Promontory in Utah in a poker game. Both Yancy and Pahoo will get to attend the celebrations where the transcontinental railroad would be linked.

Only it is a trap. Yancy has tickets for the baggage cart to accompany a coffin. Inside are explosives that will blow up the train. A nefarious plan by stagecoach and freight line companies. Afraid that a ruly nationwide rail network will destroy them.

Yancy will get the blame, the explosives were brought in his name. Only he knows the explosives are there and just needs help to bring the conspirators out in the open.

The story ends in a celebratory note. Train travel for everyone to any point in the USA.

The Responder: Episode #2.1 (2024) Season 2, Episode 1

Episode 2

[5/10 · 6 May 2024]

Bernard Hill died on the day the second series of The Responder was due to be transmitted. His landmark role was Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff. One of the most powerful and iconic performances ever put to film. It elevated him from a journeyman actor.

I was not a big fan of the first series of The Responder, very much an average but glum show of a cop in over himself with the pressure of work. The series was partly based on writer Tony Schumacher's life in the police force.

The first episode of series two is more of the same. Chris Carson (Martin Freeman) has split from his wife. He has money worries, he loathes the night shift and has joined a self help group.

It is not long before Carson is dragged down by a colleague Deb Barnes. All he was meant to do was pull over a black Range Rover as Deb saw the driver do a drug deal. It turns out something more murky.

I thought the whole episode was murky and dingy. Too many side characters with their own plots which I'm sure will eventually criss cross. It felt like the beginning of a Tarantino movie but maybe Carson should had been the main focus.

Steptoe and Son: A Musical Evening (1963) Season 2, Episode 5

A Musical Evening

[5/10 · 6 May 2024]

Harold has got some old 78s from a doctor's wife which at the time were becoming rarer. He has purchased a job lot of old records and looks forward to listening some classical music in the evening.

Albert dislikes classical music and is more into populist stuff like ragtime. So he seems pleased that not all the records are classical but some stuff from the 1930s.

When Harold listens to the music, Albert goes out of his way to make as much noise as possible. It leads them to have a row and Albert throws the keys in the yard.

The keys contained everything including the safe. Now both have to find it but the yard is full of junk.

The story had a great opening as Harold contemplates whether to suffocate his old man. Thinking no one will find out.

The rest of the story was more childish, although I acknowledge that was the point of the plot. It was a weaker story and it shows when Albert threatens to throw the keys down the drain. He would have had to throw down all the keys.

Goldeneye (1989 TV Movie)

Goldeneye

[4/10 · 5 May 2024]

Goldeneye was a glossy ITV television movie about the secret life of writer Ian Fleming who had worked in British intelligence during World War 2. He is best known as the writer of the James Bond books.

It was shown at a similar time as the Bond movie Licence to Kill was released in the cinemas in 1989. Ironically the next Bond movie which was Pierce Brosnan's debut was called GoldenEye.

This movie also has a small part for an Austrian/German actor who came to live in Britain in the late 1980s to improve his English. Christoph Waltz would go on to become a double Oscar winner and go on to play the role of Blofeld in a Bond movie.

Although this film is based on the biography of Fleming by writer John Pearson. It is has been ineptly dramatised. A thinly sketched look at Fleming as the movie is more interested in (probably) fictionalised aspects of his life that inspired James Bond.

Charles Dance has a debonair air about him as Ian Fleming. Probably too handsome to be Fleming. Although Fleming was a rampant upper class womaniser despite his bad teeth which the film acknowledged (the womanising, bad teeth and his poor health as he died relatively young.) He was also keen on S&M.

Fleming was also very right wing and a raging snob that the film is quiet about. He was not really that nice a person if you were from the lower classes. No wonder he got on famously with pompous snob Noel Coward. Fleming's wife got revenge of his womanising by sleeping with Hugh Gaitskell, then leader of the Labour Party. Which I find to be very amusing and would had been great if the film dealt with it.

Goldeneye starts with Fleming talking to a journalist about his life in the secret service. A framing device I thought and then that portion disappeared. It was just interested in moments that inspired James Bond, like a woman in a bikini emerging from the sea in Jamaica.

Crime Story: All Good Friends - The Case of the Handless Corpse (1992) Season 1, Episode 1

All Good Friends - The Case of the Handless Corpse

[3/10 · 5 May 2024]

Martin Johnstone (Peter O'Brien) was a New Zealand drug dealer based in Singapore. He was known as Mr Asia because an investigative journalist in New Zealand, who had tracked his criminality. Was not allowed to use Johnstone's real name in the newspapers.

In 1979, Johnstone was lured to Britain by his underling Terry Clark, another New Zealander. He was in effect Johnstone's deputy in the criminal empire.

Clark feared that Johnstone would be arrested in New Zealand and might give Clark up as part of the deal. So Clark planned to silence his boss and take over his operations.

Martin Johnstone went missing and later his mutilated body was found in Eccleston Delph in Lancashire.

This dramatisation made for Granada's Crime Story series takes a heavily fictionalised approach. It is not even a very good one.

It was made as some kind of bizarre love story. Julie Hue an air hostess fell for the charismatic Martin Johnstone who traded in goods and traffics in drugs on the side from the far east.

Only he fell foul of his boss Terry Clark, as a drug deal in the far east went wrong. Now Clark wants him dead and orders Johnstone to be killed.

Of course these things always have dramatic licence. This was fairly dull and pedestrian.

Dangerous Assignment: The Submarine Story (1952) Season 1, Episode 2

The Submarine Story

[3/10 · 5 May 2024]

Steve Mitchell's assignment is to take on gun runner in the South China Seas. The Commissioner had a glint in his eye when he handed the assignment over. He mentioned something about the notorious Captain Jaeger.

When Steve Mitchell arrives in the navy boat. He is told that Captain Jaeger is the main run runner in the area with a fearsome reputation.

He also does not exist. A figment of the imagination of the US Navy. If things go wrong, instead of blaming it on gremlins. They blamed the made up Captain Jaeger.

Only now, Steve will assume the identity of Captain Jaeger. To smoke out the real gun runners.

It also brings trouble, one woman holds Captain Jaeger responsible for the death of her husband and vowed revenge.

There is a nice story idea. It is noticeable just what a big contrast there is to storytelling in the early 1950s and later on in the decade. It just did not flow well and the script comes across as a very stripped down low budget noirish movie.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: The Path of Fear (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

The Path of Fear

[6/10 · 5 May 2024]

Released on May the Fourth. Star Wars: Tales of the Empire fills some gaps in the Star Wars saga but with a darker hint.

The first short animated episode is set in the time of the Galactic Empire. The early years of Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto.) How her attitudes were shapes when the Nightsisters on Dathomir were attacked by General Grievous.

This spurs Morgan Elsbeth to help the Empire when she gets older. She is driven by hatred and revenge.

The episode cranks up early in with the attack scenes by General Grievous. The animation makes good use of the way he wields the lightsabers.

After that, the darkness of the story comes through in the way it is lit. By then it is also obvious this will be a minor contribution to the saga.

Murder, She Wrote: A Lady in the Lake (1985) Season 2, Episode 7

A Lady in the Lake

[6/10 · 5 May 2024]

Jessica Fletcher witnesses a murder then spends her time trying to exonerate the man she saw kill the victim.

Much to the astonishment of Sheriff Amos Tupper who thought this was an open and shut case.

Jessica has been invited to the refurbished Stone Lake Inn. Edgar Allen Poe had stayed here once. Real estate agent Harry Pierce (John Astin) thinks this is a good place to do some research and write.

As Jessica goes down by the lake. She sees brattish millionaire Howard Crane (Laurence Luckinbill) what looks to be pushing his wife Carolyn into the water.

Crane might be an irritant. He claims his innocence and also states that his wife was a champion swimmer. Maybe Carolyn faked her own death to get away from her overbearing husband.

That leaves other suspects at the inn. Apart from one womanising employee of the inn. All the others seem to have good alibis or have no motive to kill Carolyn.

A decent mystery with plenty of people looking shifty. So the eventual reveal might come as a surprise. There was a nice subtle clue that Jessica Fletcher picked up.

Batman: Batman Stands Pat (1966) Season 1, Episode 14

Batman Stands Pat

[5/10 · 5 May 2024]

Batman is encased in plaster of Paris. Has he met his doom or have a hat trick of narrow escapes? The caped crusader better hold his breath.

Finally Batman and Robin figure out why the Mad Hatter was looking for 12 people and 12 hats. It needed the help of the batcomputer. That is the number of jurors.

Those people who found the Mad Hatter guilty are going to come face to face with the headcase they sent down.

The Mad Hatter still has his contraptions. He will lift Batman's cowl and then send him to be hatfitted. Maybe an acid bath, no joke.

The writers struggled with the hat jokes. The puns and jokes were weak. So it was up to Batman and Robin th throw themselves into the fight scenes.