The Avengers
2.18: Box of
Tricks
There are
some decent ideas in Box of Tricks, with
Steed looking into the leakage of NATO secrets from the vicinity of wheelchair-bound
General Sutherland (Maurice Hedley). Not least the dual-play title (the
magician’s and the conman’s). Unfortunately, the two ideas don’t really connect
and the results aren’t terribly involving.
It’s also,
even for The Avengers, slightly
difficult to swallow the connections drawn by Peter Ling (his final of three
scripts for the series; Ling also wrote The
Mind Robber for Doctor Who) and
Edward Rhodes. I can’t see any good reason – other than it seemed like an idea
at the time – for Gallam to be in league with stage magician Gerry Weston (Ian
Curry). And the the deaths in the story – both of Weston’s assistants wind up
dead, Venus concludes in the coda, because they found out what he was up to –
seem like an afterthought built on having a dramatic pre-credits teaser. It
beggars belief that, after two dead assistants, Weston wasn’t Number One Suspect.
Steed: There.
Do you think this tape recorder has healing properties?
Then
there’s the rather casual manner in which a shoebox-sized object, shoved down
the back of General Sutherland’s wheelchair, isn’t discovered and must have a very long battery life
to pick up the necessary meetings he’s attending. Dr Gallam’s (Edgar Wreford)
ruse is possibly partly based on the orgone craze as a curative/energising
method (Honor Blackman’s Goldfinger
co-star Sean Connery reputedly had his own such chamber), and his hoodwinking
of the well-meaning Kathleen is all-too believable.
Kathleen
repeats devotedly that Gallam has “cured
hundreds of cases” with his magic box, and all one needs is faith; the
episode appears generally jaundiced regarding notions of non-traditional
medicine, albeit Steed charitably offers that there may be something in it,
referencing psychosomatic disorders.
Weston: A touch
of oriental magic, and a dash of western charm.
Gallam and
Weston are clearly reliant on their subjects being dopes, and make no effort to
hide their activities from Kathleen when they think they have the crucial tape
recording (how do they know it gives them the goods?) As such, it takes Steed
an unaccountable age to wrap things up, but he’s evidently not on form.
Venus: Nobody’s
got any reasons to want to murder me, have they?
He appears
very relaxed about Venus, who seems like the dumbest sidekick ever since she is
ever-blithely unaware of what Steed is letting her in for (shouldn’t she have
wised up by now?), taking on assistant duties, given the nasty things that
befall anyone entering that particular box of tricks.
Julie
Stevens sports a very nice new haircut, and gets her de rigueur musical
numbers, but whenever I see it’s one of hers, I’m disappointed it isn’t a Mrs
Gale episode instead. The supporting cast, particularly Jane Barrett as
Kathleen (her self-remonstration, even thinking Gallam might be interested in
her when he asks her to dinner, is quite sad) and Maurice Hedley as the General
are very good.
Denise: If
that’s all you’re interested in, why don’t you go and have a look at the
cabinet yourself, it’s back stage.
Steed: Is it
really? Thank you, I will.
Steed poses
as a masseur, and seems pretty accomplished at the task, although his tact
isn’t first rate. He incurs the wrath of new assistant Denise (April Olrich)
when he’s more interested in talking about the box than chatting her up, and
also has Henriette (Jacqueline Jones) interested (she ends up having to avoid
other, even older men). He isn’t especially subtle probing the General for
information either. Alarmingly, Steed also likes hanging around in basements
behind drapes, waiting to give Venus a terrible fright (“What’s the matter, my dear?”)
Later he
masquerades as very rich, very sorry hypochondriac Thackery, again not that
smart when he’s dropping in on the Sutherlands as masseur Steed; it’s no wonder
Gallam finds out so easily. He also, inexcusably, sits through an entire magic
act before going to look at the (now removed) box Venus has stashed away. Still,
he lets the punches fly with appropriate deftness, there being no Cathy about
to do it for him.
Not a
particularly stunning episode then. One with potential, but it’s squandered
through nonsensical plotting and unconvincing motivation.
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