"The Avengers" Murdersville (1967)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Robert Asher

Writer:

Brian Clemens (teleplay)

TV Series:

"The Avengers" (1961)

Original Air Date:

11 November 1967 (Season 6, Episode 7)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Gagged And Bound | Interrogation | Torture | Chastity Belt | Telephone Operator

Cast

Patrick Macnee	...	John Steed
Diana Rigg	...	Emma Peel
Colin Blakely	...	Mickle
John Ronane	...	Hubert
Ronald Hines	...	Dr. Haymes
John Sharp	...	Prewitt
Sheila Fearn	...	Jenny
Eric Flynn	...	Croft
Norman Chappell	...	Forbes
Robert Cawdron	...	Banks
Marijke Mann	...	Miss Avril (as Marika Mann)
Irene Bradshaw	...	Maggie
Joseph Greig	...	Higgins
Geoffrey Colville	...	Jeremy Purser
Langton Jones	...	Chapman

"Emma marries Steed: Steed becomes a father."

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A childhood friend of Mrs Peel's, Major Paul Croft (Eric Flynn) has gone missing. The trail leads her to the picturesque English village of Little Storping In The Swuff ("I've never heard of it") where Croft had bought a house. Mrs Peel soon discovers that all is not well behind the surface of sleepy village life, its well trimmed hedges and charming country cottages. For a fat fee anybody can be bumped off in Little Storping as the entire population specialise in arranging the perfect murders, the victim is lured into town, the crime is committed and the villagers cover up all traces and swear that the killer and victim were never in the vicinity at the time. Mrs Peel learns that Major Croft and his manservant, Private Forbes (Norman Chappell), were murdered by the villagers to prevent them from revealing Little Storping's deadly secret. Emma herself is overpowered and tortured on the dunking stool and imprisoned in a Chastity belt before Steed can arrive and turn the tables on the village of killers.

Overall, Murdersville is a highly enjoyable episode with its tongue planted firmly in its cheek. We have all heard of small isolated communities that don't welcome strangers but practically none that go to the lengths of bumping them off! There is a delightfully absurd climax in the village library where Steed and Mrs Peel subdue the villagers who are armed with twelve-bore shotguns with - guess what? - custard pies! The publicity tag line for this episode was "Emma Marries Steed Steed Becomes A Father", this is because Emma is forced to telephone Steed whom she tells the villagers is her husband and who could trace her to Little Storping. They get her to tell him that she is in Sailsbury thus clearing them from suspicion when they get rid of her. Before she hangs up she says "Kiss little Albert for me and Gordon, Julian and baby Brian" in order to heighten the illusion that he is her husband. Naturally Steed thinks that Mrs Peel has been "soaking up too much grape juice" before he eventually realises that it is a call for help. Another amusing moment is when Steed breaks into the museum to free Mrs Peel from the Chastity belt following his encounter in the pub, "The landlord is very inhospitable, he came at me with a twelve-bore and I did not even criticise the beer."

The basic plot itself works as a thriller in its own right with the rural setting heightening the tension in that all the small town's sinister double meanings pop through now and again and I could see it working in extended form as a perfect installment of Midsomer Murders.

But while there is much to enjoy here the film still has its flaws. For instance, with the exception of Colin Blakely, there are no actors among the supporting cast who stand out, everybody gives perfectly adequate performances but most of them are rather indifferent and seem to just go through the motions. In addition, the sub-plot of Major Paul Croft being an old childhood friend of Mrs Peel's is an interesting one but as he is killed off very early on into the episode, it is not sufficiently developed and we get to see very little of the emotional side of her character.

All in all, Murdersville will offer Avengers fans much to enjoy with some amusing chemistry between Steed and Mrs Peel and the plot is a good one. But the supporting cast could have been better and the sub-plot involving Mrs Peel and Major Croft needed a lot more development.