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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
One of ITC's Finest - Maybe not.......,
By Andrew (N.Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Adventurer - The Complete Series [DVD] [1972] (DVD)
Lou Grade always aimed his series towards the American market. After the delayed success of 'The Saint' with Sir Roger and the initial more successful 'Danger Man' and 'Danger Man MkII AKA Secret Agent' with Patrick McGoohan, Lou Grade thought that marketing of his series for American audiences would be easier by engaging American leads - Richard Bradford for 'Man in a Suitcase', 'Stuart Damon' for 'The Champions', Joel Fabiani for 'Department S'.In the early seventies Lou Grade was asked to contibute two series at 30 mins length to fill a gap in the American schedules. These were eventually filled by 'The Protectors' produced by Gerry Anderson and starred Robert Vaughn and 'The Adventurer' by Producer Monty Berman who had produced 'The Champions' 'Randall & Hopkirk(Deceased)' & 'Department S' and starred Gene Barry of 'Burke's Law'. The Protectors faired better though not without it's production problems. Robert Vaughn been told to leave the production during it's first series after the star complained about the European film crew (to put it mildly) and had threatened to quit. However, 'The Protectors' being produced by Gerry Anderson was much more professional package with better & more coherent scripts and a better production value. 'The Adventurer' suffered with poor scripts, a troublesome star and poor production values. Just watch the extras on this (once again) superior compilation by Network to see what happened to Stuart Damon and what Barry Morse and Catherine Schell thought of Gene Barry (don't mention his height!). After watching all the episodes I wouldn't say they were the worst I have ever seen from the ITC stable (Jason King has that honour), in fact being a half hour show they are of course fast paced and quite entertaining as long as you don't try to find a plot. They are better than most shows produced these days (which doesn't say a lot) and it does have a theme tune that you could play over and over for hours. It was the end of the glory days of the ITC era. A lot of people just said it was a lazy production. Maybe they are right, maybe it was just the star who demanded too much, maybe it was the time for a change from the old ITC format, but....give it a go, it does have a charm of it's own and after a few episodes it does grow on you, it's not good but it's far better than what you get now. Criminal what they did to Stuart Damon though!
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the classic that I remembered...:(,
By
This review is from: The Adventurer - The Complete Series [DVD] [1972] (DVD)
Let me first say that I find all ITC action series at the very least "watchable" - There's always a sense of frivolous fun and non-threatening danger that harkens back to the old cliffhangers of the 1940's. My personal favourite is THE SAINT, but THE BARON, THE PERSUADERS and THE CHAMPIONS all give me fond memories of school holidays in the 1980's (Oh for the days of no onscreen graphics and only two commercial breaks per hour again!)
THE ADVENTURER used to do the same and I snapped up this set, but in the cold light of day I found the series rather souless,bland and ultimately disappointing. Even before watching the interviews in this set I thought the problem stemmed from Gene Barry - He often doesn't seem interested in what he's doing and the notion that this aging ham with a face like an old boot can attract some of the most gorgeous female stars of the era (Stephanie Beecham, Judy Geeson and Catherine Schell among others) and have placard-waving teenage groupies following him around beggers belief. The poor quality 16mm filmstock used doesn't help either, making the series look cheap, tatty and rather grimy. Gerry Anderson's THE PROTECTORS was also shot on 16mm but the DVD boxset of that (far more enjoyable) series has been cleaned up superbly and looks great. On the plus side we have BARRY MORSE as good as ever as "MISTER PARMINTER", and it's to the actors credit that, even though he himself wasn't too enamoured with the series, he made the character likeable and rounded. In fact, the best episodes (in my opinion) tend to be the few where GENE BARRY takes a back seat to leave BARRY MORSE, CATHERINE SCHELL and GARRICK HOGAN to carry the story along. Then we have the behaviour of the "star" - Never a huge name, Gene Barry obviously saw THE ADVENTURER as a change to promote himself and get the treatment he thought he deserved, not seeming to care who he upset along the way. The treatment meted out to likeable & talented STUART DAMON was a disgrace (It's upsetting when Stuart recounts the negative effects this had on him and his career), and when even beautiful CATHERINE SCHELL was ousted the series suffered. Contrast this with ROGER MOORE in THE SAINT, an actor who by all accounts went out of his way to welcome guest stars, get to know the technicians and make the atmosphere of the shoot an enjoyable experience for all. Apparantly on THE ADVENTURER, Barry Morse had to direct some episodes as several of the scheduled directors wouldn't work with the lead! Knowing this, it's difficult to watch Gene Barry pretending to get on with people and still enjoy the series as I once did, but there is some fun to be had here and the theme tune is as cool as ever (another John Barry masterpiece!). Ironic that many years later STUART DAMON is now going from strength to strength in the US series GENERAL HOSPITAL while Gene Barry has disappeared from sight... Karma?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not my favourite ITC show,
By
This review is from: The Adventurer - The Complete Series [DVD] [1972] (DVD)
Broadcast from 1972-73, this is a 26-episode complete series of 25 minute stories, starring Gene Barry, here he gives a rather uninspired, lacklustre performance.
Also, an impression I had was of an aloof personality, who appeared to look down on the rest of the cast, this tainted my enjoyment of the show, what were the ITC bosses thinking of when they hired this guy?, If they had to have an American lead why didn't they go for someone like Stuart Damon or Ed Bishop? - two likeable performers. Anyway back to the show - here he plays multi-millionaire businessman Gene Bradley, who's Jet-set lifestyle leads him into various adventures and intrigue while charming the ladies. Our antique Romeo is assisted by a bumbling Whitehall type, Mr Parminter (played by the ever-reliable Barry Morse, in my opinion the star of the show) and Diane, (the elegant Catherine Schell) with a brief appearance from Stuart Damon as Vince, with the more suitably sized Garrick Hagon as Gavin replacing him. This series was created by ITC stalwarts Monty Berman and Dennis Spooner. Among the extras are interviews with Catherine Schell, Stuart Damon, and Barry Morse, in which details are given to explain Mr Damon's sudden departure from the show, and the difficulties faced by the cast and crew when working with Gene Barry, apparently he couldn't accept the fact that Stuart Damon was considerably taller than himself, and so had him removed from the show, even Catherine Schell had to wear flat shoes to avoid offending him! Although this is far from being my favourite ITC show, (Randall and Hopkirk(Deceased) is probably my favourite,) I still found it to be an OK way to pass the occasional 25 minutes, with its pleasant and charming appeal, but the knowledge of how badly Stuart Damon had been treated did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The various guest appearances include: Andre Morell, Stephanie Beacham, Ed Bishop, Freddie Jones, George Sewell, Burt Kwouk, Patrick Mower, and Sylvia Syms. The colour picture quality is not great, and is rather grainy, but acceptable. No subtitles. The special features include the aforementioned interviews, plus extensive image galleries, and various 35mm film material. Also a 22-page booklet with episode synopsis and cast lists is included.
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