The Avengers (TV Series) The Medicine Men (1963) User Reviews

An investigation into fake products uncovers a deadly plot

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 1 June 2017]

After a woman, who had been looking into the faking of a company's products in the overseas market is killed in a Turkish baths Steed and Mrs Gale start to investigate. We soon learn that the company which makes cosmetic creams as well as medicines has seen its products copied by rivals from the Far East who are selling an inferior product in similar containers. To counter this the company have decided to completely change their packaging; the problem is somebody working there has leaked the new design and they aren't just intending to make an easy profit; they intend to put poison in the product in order to turn an oil-rich Anglophile country against the British so a rival nation can gain access to the oil wealth. Before the truth is exposed Steed and Cathy spend time in the company trying to find who is behind the fake products and Cathy goes to the Turkish baths.

I really liked this episode; the investigation of fake products seems fresh even when the episode is over fifty years old. It was interesting that the greater plot wasn't exposed till relatively late in the story but when it was revealed it served to raise the tension and explain why the villains went to such lengths to hide their schemes. The identity of the villains isn't in that much doubt for the most part but one of them is quite a surprise. The cast do a solid job in a story that seems more grounded in reality than many of the stories in the series.

Sleeping powders guaranteed never to wake you up

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 30 January 2011]

"The Medicine Men" presents an interesting array of villains in a plot line that never works up much excitement. The Willis-Sopwith pharmaceutical company is being ripped off by foreign distributors in an effort to create anti-British sentiment in a tiny oil rich nation. Steed's disguise as an art dealer from Iceland also doesn't come off, but there is a totally gratuitous sequence in which Honor Blackman's Cathy Gale receives a massage in a Turkish bath, gleefully throwing off her towel as she steps into the shower (if she'd only done this in "Goldfinger!"), evoking fond memories of luscious Janet Leigh in "Psycho." Peter Barkworth did three other episodes, "Kill the King," "The Correct Way to Kill," and "The Morning After," while slimy Harold Innocent (hardly!) only made one return appearance in "The Rotters." As a murder victim, Peter Hughes also appeared in "What the Butler Saw," with John Crocker, previously seen as a good guy in "Propellant 23," playing the shady printer (he later did "The Winged Avenger").

Very interesting topic, ahead of its time.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 8 May 2019]

Yes, what a true interesting story, telling us the fraffic of medicine products and monitored by a former British protectorate which wants to discredit England by providing fake stuff with poison inside. Very modern topic for its time,but not only. This tale gives a kind of geo political approach with, as settings, the former British colonial empire. Amusing scene whith Steed reading stock market newspaper whilst Cathy Gale gets out the shower booth.

More about the British Business, not about the Science

[create · 5/10 · 12 September 2015]

John Steed asks Mrs. Cathy Gale's help with a business espionage case. It seems that some Asian firm is manufacturing a knock-off of a British product, and selling them to a former British Arabic colony. And in the process has killed a girl.

Cathy uses an unseen friend to translate the Arabic dialect - The first time Cathy hasn't been able to translate - and does some initial investigation of the British medical firm posing as an efficiency expert. (This was Cathy's first try as an efficiency expert - an undercover role that Mrs. Emma Peel would use a few times.) It is while at the firm that Mrs. Gale discovers that a more heinous plot is under foot.

This is another Malcolm Hulke written episode. Although he also wrote pieces involving Mrs. Peel and Tara King, he wrote mainly for Mrs. Gale, including one the best televised science fiction episodes, The White Dwarf.

Update, 2023: The previous two time I had seen this, it was chopped to bits. It was also very poor visuals. The A&E and whoever would broadcast confusing versions of this. But the present broadcast over Amazon Prime shows you as much as survived the original British broadcast. And the visuals and sound are better.

What do I think of the complete program? It's still confusing.

From the complete show, there is less about the science of the imitations, and more about the art of imitation. They try to focus very little on the product. Modeling is the prime topic. Interesting? Ok, let's try this. But you don't see as much of the models as you do thier paintings.

The chopped up version I originally saw, made the painter more the villain. In the full version he is a hired thug. Who is the real villain? Good question. In this 51 minute cut, there is a confrontation with a higher up, a higher-up who doesn't have a good motive to expose himself.(?)

What does she/he want to accomplish? Do they make any money off of this? Why would she/he want to mass murder? That's the plot according to the painter - who has a very disinterested demeanor. I can see why syndicated editors thought he was the villain. He's in charge of the plot; and he's treated more importantly than the one that started the plot. (?)

Also, there is a girl that dies in the beginning. In this complete showing, there is still no reason why she died, who she was, or why she was important.

Seeing all 51 minutes of this show, makes it seem that there was little regard for the script Hulce wrote. I respect Hulce's writing, and these holes in the plot and the focus on models make it seem that this episode suffered from a production problem...probably Brian Clemens.

Monica Stevenson provides the best acting of the supporting characters as Fay, the double-spy-model? There weren't that many stand out performances. And unlike Gale's, Steed's undercover turn was forgettable.