The Baron – 40th Anniversary Special
Edition (1966 – 1967/Umbrella
Entertainment/Region Zero/PAL)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: B- Episodes: B-
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0 PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review.
The Saint was such a huge hit for Sir
(later Lord) Lew Grade that you cannot blame him for trying to recapture it
while the original show was still an international hit. When RKO dropped The Saint after so many hit
films, they launched The Falcon, but this new series was a carbon copy of the
first series of films and creator Leslie Charteris successfully sued the studio
over it. Grade got the rights to John
Creasey’s John Mannering aka The Baron
(played by American actor Steve Forrest) and would go all out with the show by
securing top talent, shooting the show in color for the first time on any ITC show
(even before The Saint) and ITC’s
highest production values.
The
result was not as generic as The Falcon, but was not a big hit either, only
lasting for 30 hour-long shows. There
are other similarities too. Edwin Astley
did the theme song, The Baron logo
is a crown that could almost be The Saint’s halo and The Baron also acts as an
independent agent, though in an amusing twist, is involved in the world of
valuable antiques. The result is that
many stories are centered on them. The
show has dated in some odd ways, but the writing, acting and pace hold their
own in unexpected ways. Forrest was not
bad in the role and part of Grade’s long time fascination with making a hit
with an American star, but this was not to be in this case. Forrest never had such a show again, but
continued for decades after as a solid character actor.
The shows
hold their own against The Saint,
but they do not stay with me as well as the better Saint shows, yet the talent
behind the show was strong. Originally,
Paul Ferris was cast as David Marlowe, The Baron’s confidante, but the
Americans wanted a character played by Sue Lloyd to stay and to lose
Ferris. To keep Lloyd alone was a
mistake as she became “the girl” despite being introduced as a spy, but not the
most able-bodied one. I personally
always liked her and her appeal is undeniable.
The chemistry between her and Forrest is not bad, but not great, like Saint female guest stars that sort of
worked.
Terry
Nation was hot off of early Dr. Who
success when he became the Story Consultant on this show, writing the majority
of the episodes. Not as unique as his
later work, it is still very decent writing.
Dennis Spooner wrote most of the rest, Brian Clemens of The Avengers wrote a few teleplays
himself and Harry W. Junkin of The Saint
wrote for the show too. Monty Berman
produced and the great directors include Roy Ward Baker, John Llewellyn Moxey,
Jeremy Summers, Don Chaffey, Cyril Frankel, Gordon Flemyng, Robert Tronson,
Leslie Norman and Robert Asher; some of the best gentlemen British journeyman
directors ever. Hot guest stars included
Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee, Peter Bowles, Philip Locke, Annette André, Sam
Wanamaker, Jeremy Brett, Peter Wyngarde, Sylvia Syms and Edward Woodward of Callan and The Equalizer.
The 1.33
X 1 image is pretty consistent and decent throughout, with good color, which
helps when you get some noise or bad visual effects or other flaws here and
there. This is a good-looking 35mm-shot
series with top cameramen as Director of Photography like Gilbert Taylor
(B.S.C.) and James Allen. 16 X 9 TV
owners can zoom in on the image and will be surprised how good this looks
widescreen, as it was shot theatrical film safe. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is clean, but not
as loud and clear as I would have liked, so though it is good, you have to be
careful of the levels you play it at as there is some distortion and
compression throughout. Astley’s title
theme song is amusing, but almost too upbeat for an action series.
Extras
include episode introductions by Wyngarde, Clemens (see The Maze, which he did under a pseudonym) on their shows you can
access by simply going to the episode selection menu for their respective shows
and André (on camera), trailers for the features cut together from episodes of
the show, a video trailer for the show, French title sequence, text and stills
from the ITC archives, an episode guide on the back of the DVD sleeve, a black
& white hour-long Saint episode
with Lloyd entitled “Luella” and
audio commentary tracks on select shows with Lloyd, Production Supervisor
Johnny Goodman, Director Baker and Director Frankel all worth your time. This show has not been seen in the U.S. since
the early 1970s if that and is long overdue for rediscovery. Good thing this DVD set is in print.
As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
