glampunk
Crab On The Rampage
gloompunk; glitter goth: disciple of Rikki Nadir: demonik in disguise, etc.
Posts: 61
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Post by glampunk on Mar 24, 2008 23:55:50 GMT
Another exhumation from old board, but I ain't gonna apologise because it's .... The Persuaders! No joy on the book front recently, but I had a stroke of luck today when I picked up a two-episode video of The Persuaders from 1971. The Long Goodbye opens with Lord Brett Sinclair (Roger Moore) and fellow International playboy Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) arguing their way through "Scotland" when they chance upon a crashed plane. Still strapped in the cockpit - a skeleton! It belongs to an important scientist and in his hand he clutches his secret formula for an oil substitute! Needless to say, various baddies want to get their hands on it and to make things even trickier, three beautiful young women come forward, each claiming to be the dead man's daughter! Phew! You wouldn't want to be in the boys' shoes in this one! A stellar cast includes Madeline Smith as the real daughter, Valerie Leon as the Space Queen (Brett hijacks her rocket car), Anouska Hempel as an impostor, Peter Sallis as a bumbling henchman and the least convincing skeleton you'll see this side of the Waxworks story in The House That Dripped Blood. So, I finish watching The Long Goodbye thinking to myself "that was a touch!" when we get our first glimpse of the scheming Romeo in Nuisance Value and it's ... Ralph Bates! The haircut remains the same, just longer, and the accent attempted may well be french. This time the plot centres around the kidnapping of an oil baron's daughter - a spoilt little madam played to perfection by Viviane Ventura - except the "victim" is in on the wicked scam - or thinks she is. Brett and Danny to the rescue, Ralph bashed, clothes by Total Look at Debenhams.
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Post by jkdunham on Mar 25, 2008 0:22:55 GMT
Thanks for posting that again. I must've missed it the first time. Sounds brilliant. You've cheered me up no end. What a tonic.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 25, 2008 0:47:47 GMT
Glad to be of service, some f**k*r!
Here's the initial response:
Franklin Marsh
You jammy devil! What a cast - Mads and Val in the same episode!? (Swoon). I did read one novelisation (Greensleeves). Didn't quite have the magic of, say, Dempsey & Codpiece, but a fun read. Caught an episode of The Professionals last night. Apart from the main three, the only other familiar face was peacenik Keith Barron, sacked from World Chemicals and getting his revenge by planting ADX (a more virulent form of LSD) in one of their coffee machines. Cue some muted and low-budget chaos.
pulphack
There were three Persuaders tie-ins, each being comprised of two or three episodes turned to prose by the heavy-handed Frederick E Smith (which I assume was a house name, as I've only ever seen it ona Pan novelisation of the Rod Steiger 'Waterloo' movie). Published by Pan, they're ok if you pick 'em up cheap, but frankly whoever Smith was, he was no John Burke (aka Robert Miall), who did tons of tie-ins but was a bloody fine pulpster.
I used to love the series when I was a kid, but it looks a but clunky these days - like they had the format, but had no idea what to do with these two blokes. Even a minor series like The Adventurer had better storylines, and that was only a 30min job!
I picked up two volumes of The Protectors, series one, last week. Obviously seperated from a box set, I didn't get the disc with the first 6 episodes, but that's not lasted too badly. Nyree Dawn Chorus and that bloke who was in Howards Way are alright, but it's really Napolepn Solo's show all the way. Oh yeah, the bloke who plays Nyree DP's butler-cum-chauffeur always used to turn up in episode of UFO as an alien. So it was odd not to see him green...
KillerCrab
Caught an episode of The Professionals last night. Apart from the main three, the only other familiar face was peacenik Keith Barron, sacked from World Chemicals and getting his revenge by planting ADX (a more virulent form of LSD) in one of their coffee machines. Cue some muted and low-budget chaos.
I watched this myself last night - a decent middle range episode. There is an early scene where Barron's lady shoots up - that is usually cut from tv broadcasts *even* now.
ade
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Post by jkdunham on Mar 25, 2008 19:08:50 GMT
Glad to be of service, some f**k*r! Please, call me Else. Frederick E. Smith was the author of 633 Squadron - not a tie-in but the original novel, first published in 1956, on which James Clavell's screenplay for the 1964 film was based. I haven't read the book but we always had to watch the film in our house whenever it was on, because my sister fancied George Chakiris (but don't tell her I said anything). I didn't mind too much because I quite liked the theme music by Ron Goodwin, and it was better than having to sit through West Side Story again. (Don't ask me to whistle the theme to 633 Squadron, because a) I can't whistle, and b) I always get it mixed up with the 'Dambusters March' which is another good one. At a push, I might be able to manage a medley of songs from West Side Story but there'd have to be a drink in it.) Anyway, Frederick E. Smith went on to write a whole series of 633 Squadron books; Operation Rhine Maiden, Operation Crucible, Operation Valkyrie, etc., there are about 10 of them all told. Without going into too much autobiographical detail, he was apparently born in 1922, is still with us as far as I know and lives in Bournemouth. The 'E' stands for Escreet. He has his own Escreet Publications which published his Write a Successful Novel: All Your Questions Answered, written with Moe Sherrard-Smith, who I imagine might be his wife or at least family. If anyone knows how to write a successful novel, I reckon it's Frederick E. Smith because he's written loads of them. I won't list them all here, if that's alright, but there's quite a few war stories and he also did some of those 'gothic romance' type things where the cover always has a woman in a long flowing dress staring up at an old, dark mansion on top of a cliff. Sometimes he wrote as 'David Farrell'. Of particular Vault interest may be the fact that the 1964 film, Devil Doll, about an evil ventriloquist, was based on one of his stories.
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Post by carolinec on Mar 25, 2008 21:05:39 GMT
Glad to be of service, some f**k*r! Please, call me Else. Is that short for Elsie?! I'm getting very confused now. I never know if I'm talking to somebody I've already spoken to before, or somebody completely new. I think I'm going to forget who I am soon!
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Post by pulphack on Mar 25, 2008 22:09:35 GMT
thank you for that info on FE Smith, mr fucker (must be polite). i had a quick look at fantastic fiction after first reading this, and he does seem to have loved that 633 franchise. i wonder if they're any better than the persuaders books, which are pretty dire next to john burke/robert miall? i loved the movie when i was a kid though, as i grew up with WWII films thanks to an uncle who spent the war avoiding enemy action in africa and liked to see what he'd missed. that's what i love about this board - finding out that the man who hacked some terrible tie-ins was actually a respected war novelist. marvellous what you can hack for the cash if you're strapped (oh yes, it really is...)
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Post by jkdunham on Mar 25, 2008 23:27:32 GMT
Is that short for Elsie?! I'm getting very confused now. I never know if I'm talking to somebody I've already spoken to before, or somebody completely new. I think I'm going to forget who I am soon! Sorry, Caroline. Yes, we have spoken on here before many a time. I am known by many names, some call me... well, that doesn't matter now. To save anyone any further confusion, I've reverted to the name I had when I first came into the world of Vault... and I'll stick with that. For a bit.
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Post by carolinec on Mar 26, 2008 17:32:02 GMT
Yes, but don't forget I wasn't here when you first came to the Vault! It's OK - a little bit of detective work from reading your postings, some female intuition thrown in, and I reckon I know who you are, Elsie!
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Post by dem bones on Dec 1, 2009 10:23:23 GMT
Frederick E. Smith - The Persuaders: Book Two (Pan, 1972) Blurb: Good-looking Brett Sinclair, aristocratic ex-playboy of a hundred jet-set resorts, and nuggety Danny Wilde, self-made millionaire from the Bronx, get together for a war on crime – and come out fighting ...
FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT Smuggling an American gangster over the Italian border calls for a classical statue and a modern miss who combines exposure with composure ...
SOMEONE LIKE ME Finding out if Brett has a double runs Danny into triple trouble. Based on Terry Nation's screenplays and coming in at around 75 pages each, so these shouldn't be too much of a struggle. I'm probably deluding myself, but doesn't that taster for Someone Like Me have a hint of the mighty The Man Who Haunted Himself about it? Until i can read it, the dapper duo on the back cover, modelling Total Look at Debenhams in a spooky crypt.
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Post by andydecker on Dec 1, 2009 18:04:09 GMT
Now that was shitty tv! Terrible, just terrible.
But at the time it was a great hit in german tv. But that was due mainly that they basically rewrote the dialogue and substituted a "funny" version full of puns. Imagine a Carry On without the wit. (No really). Today absolutly cringeworthy and unfunny, but back then universally loved. It is still shown today now and then.
Small wonder that the series didn´t kill Moore´s career. For Curtis it was on the way down.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 30, 2010 13:17:47 GMT
damn! just heard on the radio that Tony Curtis is dead. i loved him in The Persuaders and The Great Race. and probably some other stuff too. R.I.P.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Sept 30, 2010 14:36:57 GMT
Poor old Tone! Mention must be made of Monte Carlo Or Bust, The Boston Strangler, The Manitou and, in a desperate attempt to apprear pseudo-intellectual, Insignificance.
I recently watched the fillum of Rosemary's Baby. Tone's voice appeared in that.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Sept 30, 2010 16:42:14 GMT
THE PERSUADERS was awful, but it had the best theme music ever heard on television.
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Post by dem bones on Aug 4, 2011 19:36:09 GMT
taking a break from The Avengers for a moment, to return to another pet obsession. The Persuaders. Not the entire series (camp, escapist fun as much of it is) but one individual episode, The Long Goodbye. i already confessed as much at top of page, but these grabs give you a far better indication of just how glorious it is. isn't he magnificent? surely the most chillingly realistic skellington ever to be shown on british TV. if i go through another phase of plastering the walls with pin-ups, he's gonna be the first. Valerie Leon, The Rocket Soap Queen to the rescue! and just when you think it can't get any better, who should show up but Madeline Smith and Anouska Hempel! what with Peter Sallis along for the ride, it's a veritable Hammer Horror reunion.
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