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gervase_fenFare Forward, Voyagers - very impressed by the in-studio massacre of the resistance meeting in Paris, as characters who could be assumed to be significant in the ongoing series are wiped out in under a minute of screen time. Really powerful performance from Yootha Joyce as the wife of a shopkeeper horrified by her husband's commitment to the cause. And, although he's only in it for a scene and a bit, Brian Cant still comes across as a really pleasant Nazi soldier!
Break-Up - I haven't seen a drama made in colour using OB video as early as 1969 before (it looks pretty chilly for the cast on location in this one.) Casting Blakey from On the Buses as a Vichy ex-con policeman with a sideline in raping French peasant girls was presumably a deliberate directorial choice as Stephen Lewis is as broad as ever here.
Only the Dead Survive - Philip Madoc the SS officer v. Richard Hurndall the Prussian Army general - riveting.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? Apart from being amazing in the episodes concerned, Peter Barkworth's guest role in Secret Army is nearly an alt-universe version of Vincent, given what we learn of Vincent's family here.
One More River - if there is a signature shot in the series so far, it's a long shot of the three fugitives running across a field until Nina falls over. The first of the run to be shot all on film - the hand to hand combat scenes are surprisingly poor. Highlight of the episode is the Nazi double act of Jerome Willis and Peter Woodthorpe as respectively posh clueless officer and shrewd investigatory NCO.
Open House - or Manhunt does Huis Clos. Written Jonathan Hales, who would come up with some of the more experimental episodes of The Guardians the following year.
Better Doubt Than Die Almost Secret Army with Bernard Hepton's star turn as the resistance organiser, using the cover of his funeral business to ferry fugitives in coffins. The always excellent Peter Cellier makes a strong impression as a Vichy sympathising aristocrat whose sense of honour obliges him to help Vincent. I would have said this was the best episode yet but for the bizarre third act swerve which leads to the immortal line of dialogue "Nobody dispenses Jimmy Briggs like a dose of jollop!"
A Different Kind of War It's the Christmas Special (sort of) and another studio bound chamber piece by Jonathan Hales, and a commanding guest role for Julian Glover.
General impressions - if they remade this today then Matt Smith would be my first choice as Squadron Leader Jimmy Briggs.
Break-Up - I haven't seen a drama made in colour using OB video as early as 1969 before (it looks pretty chilly for the cast on location in this one.) Casting Blakey from On the Buses as a Vichy ex-con policeman with a sideline in raping French peasant girls was presumably a deliberate directorial choice as Stephen Lewis is as broad as ever here.
Only the Dead Survive - Philip Madoc the SS officer v. Richard Hurndall the Prussian Army general - riveting.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? Apart from being amazing in the episodes concerned, Peter Barkworth's guest role in Secret Army is nearly an alt-universe version of Vincent, given what we learn of Vincent's family here.
One More River - if there is a signature shot in the series so far, it's a long shot of the three fugitives running across a field until Nina falls over. The first of the run to be shot all on film - the hand to hand combat scenes are surprisingly poor. Highlight of the episode is the Nazi double act of Jerome Willis and Peter Woodthorpe as respectively posh clueless officer and shrewd investigatory NCO.
Open House - or Manhunt does Huis Clos. Written Jonathan Hales, who would come up with some of the more experimental episodes of The Guardians the following year.
Better Doubt Than Die Almost Secret Army with Bernard Hepton's star turn as the resistance organiser, using the cover of his funeral business to ferry fugitives in coffins. The always excellent Peter Cellier makes a strong impression as a Vichy sympathising aristocrat whose sense of honour obliges him to help Vincent. I would have said this was the best episode yet but for the bizarre third act swerve which leads to the immortal line of dialogue "Nobody dispenses Jimmy Briggs like a dose of jollop!"
A Different Kind of War It's the Christmas Special (sort of) and another studio bound chamber piece by Jonathan Hales, and a commanding guest role for Julian Glover.
General impressions - if they remade this today then Matt Smith would be my first choice as Squadron Leader Jimmy Briggs.
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Date: 2012-09-05 11:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 04:32 pm (UTC)Something that surprises me now about Richard Hurndall is that he didn't appear in Doctor Who before The Five Doctors - Douglas Camfield directs him in Breaking Point (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273130/) alongside William Russell in 1966 and again in Public Eye in 1973.
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Date: 2012-09-05 04:51 pm (UTC)