The Avengers (TV Series) The Charmers (1964) User Reviews

A good story and a fine guest appearance from Fenella Fielding

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 13 June 2017]

This episode, later remade as 'The Correct Way to Kill' opens with two men fencing; one runs the other through with an unguarded foil. The dead man is enemy agent George Vinkel. It is assumed that he is a victim of a purge but shortly afterwards another enemy agent, Martin, turns up to kill Steed; they think Steed or one of his colleagues killed Vinkel. It is clear that a third party must responsible so Steed agrees a truce with Keller, the man in charge of the other side locally. He has a condition though; Steed will work with one of their agents while Mrs Gale will work with Martin… of course Keller isn't to be trusted; the 'agent' he sends to work with Steed is actually an actress who believes that Steed is a writer working on a spy story. Soon after they start investigating Martin disappears and is later found, dead, in a crate of bowler hats and umbrellas destined for a 'school for gentlemen'.

This episode is a lot of fun; the 'school for gentlemen' is classic Avengers as are Steed's conversations in the gentleman's outfitters. The story is intriguing with some decent twists. The cast do a fine job; I particularly liked Fenella Fielding's performance as actress Kim Lawrence; the conversations between her and Patrick Macnee's Steed where they are at cross purposes were a lot of fun. Warren Mitchell is also entertaining as Keller. As stated earlier this was remade as 'The Correct Way to Kill'; the episodes are very similar but there are also significantly differences mostly concerning the 'agent' who works with Steed; these make it worth watching both versions although one might want to leave some time between them. Overall this was an enjoyable episode.

The rapier wit of Brian Clemens, remade as "The Correct Way to Kill"

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 4 February 2011]

"The Charmers" was probably the best of the three Cathy Gale episodes that were remade in color with Diana Rigg, this one retitled "The Correct Way to Kill." George Vinkel (Peter Porteous), a friendly "enemy" of Steed's, is killed, and the opposition sends Martin (John Barcroft) over to kill Steed in exchange. Both agents realize that a third party is playing them off against each other, so Keller (Warren Mitchell, better than in his previous appearance in "The Golden Fleece"), agrees to partner one of his agents with Steed, who allows Cathy Gale to tag along with Martin. Unfortunately, Keller decides to double cross The Avengers by hiring a freelance actress, Kim Lawrence (Fenella Fielding), to partner with Steed (convinced he's simply an author of adventurous spy thrillers), knowing his weakness for beautiful women. All three stories had significant changes from the originals, particularly here, as the remake replaces the actress with a genuine female spy played by Anna Quayle, but both conclude at the same charm school. Sexy Fenella Fielding has many of the wittiest lines, perhaps the best dialogue of the Cathy Gale era (Patrick Macnee corrects his own blooper when he calls Mrs. Gale "Mrs. Jowl!"). Veteran actor Brian Oulton later appeared in "Love All," while Warren Mitchell, best remembered as Alf Garnett in the long running "Till Death Us Do Part," returned as a Russian ambassador (Vladimir Jiroslav Brodny) in both "Two's a Crowd" and "The See-Through Man."

Chaotic Spy Lunacy, Brian Clemens style

[profh-1 · 7/10 · 27 June 2023]

Agents on both sides are being bumped off, and each side blames the other, until Steed convinces Russian agent Martin he was out of the country when the last murder occured. "I haven't killed anybody THIS WEEK!" And so they contact their superiors, and agree to collaborate, to seek out the THIRD party who is apparently out to get both of them.

Steed & Martin go to confront Keller, a Russian who repeatedly complains about being under-funded by his bosses, while Steed has a huge "expense account", and they agree to work together-- but Keller insists each of them team with someone from the other side, in the name of trust. Cathy Gale is infuriated when she learned Steed "gave" her to the Russians (loaned is more like it). Still, she smiles when his back is turned, so she can't have minded that much. Meanwhile, Keller supplies Steed with a woman named Kim Lawrence, who doesn't seem to take anything Steed says seriously. But as they investigate a shop that sells ties, bowler hats and umbrellas to gentlemen, a dentist's office, and a charm school that turns ordinary Englishmen into "gentlemen", it becomes apparent that Keller is not playing on the up and up. For one thing, Kim Lawrence is actually an actress he's hired, and told that Steed is an eccentric "method writer" who's working on a spy novel. And then Martin turns up dead in a wooden crate.

From the moment Brian Clemens returned to the series, his scripts tended to be of a much-higher caliber than most, and he also seemed bent on taking the series in new, more unexpected and entertaining directions. Put another way, this episode is crazier than most from season 3, and would not look out of place at all during the later seasons. Which especially proved to be the case when Clemens REMADE it as part of season 5 ("The Correct Way To Kill").

Warren Mitchell is "Keller", arguably the most eccentric Russian spy seen so far on the series. He had a tremendous flair for comedy, with his specialty often playing foreigners with accents (Russians on THE AVENGERS, an Italian cab driver on THE SAINT), when he wasn't starring on the long-running sictom TILL DEATH DO US PART (the basis for ALL IN THE FAMILY in America).

John Barcroft in "Martin", a Russian spy initially assigned to kill Steed, who's so handsome and well-spoken, he seems too English to actually be a Russian agent! I've also seen him as "Inspector Hopkins" in the 1965 version of "The Red-Headed League" (with Douglas Wilmer), a DANGER MAN, a SAINT, and, perhaps my favorite, the 1982 version of Agatha Christie's SPIDER'S WEB with Penelope Keith.

Fenella Fielding is "Kim Lawrence", the unknowing actress thrown into the deep end by Keller. I've already noted in other episodes that elements of THE AVENGERS apparently influenced THE MAN FROM UNCLE, which had not yet debuted in America, and here we have another one-- that of "the innocent" recruited into the spy game. The show had already touched on this in season 2 with lounge singer "Venus Smith" (Julie Stevens, who appeared in 6 episodes). What sets Venus & Kim apart from the normal people on UNCLE is that on that show, they tended to be openly recruited by the good guys. Here, they're drawn in with NO advance idea of what's really going on. Which is kinda dirty! And in this particular case, it's the bad guys who've done the recruiting. Fielding is such an outragious eccentric, she all but steals this episode. I've also seen her in CARRY ON REGARDLESS, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, and of course, CARRY ON SCREAMING! She also voiced the loudspeaker announcements in 7 episodes of THE PRISONER.

Oddly enough, when this was aired, it was one of at least 3 episodes in a row that focused squarely on the spy game (the others being "The Outside-In Man" and "Concerto", the latter inexplicably being held back for most of the season), while in season 4, they all but abandoned that in favor of eccentric criminals.

I'm not sure which version of this I like better-- this one or the remake with Diana Rigg and Michael Gough.

The 2010 Region 2 Studio Canal DVD has clear picture, and mostly-clear sound. Slightly harsh, but I had no major problem making out all the dialogue on this one.