Steed investigates when the autopsy of a automobile accident victim reveals 50,000 pounds worth of diamonds in his stomach.Steed investigates when the autopsy of a automobile accident victim reveals 50,000 pounds worth of diamonds in his stomach.Steed investigates when the autopsy of a automobile accident victim reveals 50,000 pounds worth of diamonds in his stomach.
Benn Simons
- Waiter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLater remade as The £50,000 Breakfast (1967) (6.3, 14 October 1967).
- Quotes
[Steed misintreprets Cathy's actions when she pulls back the sheets on the bed in the room where they are imprisoned]
John Steed: This is neither the time, nor the place.
- ConnectionsRemade as The Avengers: The £50,000 Breakfast (1967)
Featured review
Smuggling & High Finance
An accident victim is discovered with 50,000 pounds of diamonds in his stomach. Meanwhile, a philanthropic financier appears to be liquidating all of his assets in a hurry at quite a loss. Can there be any connection? Given what series this is, OF COURSE.
The guest cast includes Frederick Jaeger as a very intense financial genius frustrated by the anonymity of his longterm job. Apart from 4 AVENGERS episodes (1 with Cathy, 2 with Emma and 1 with Purdie) and a multitude of other things, I'll probably alway most remember him for a pair of DOCTOR WHO stories, "Planet Of Evil" (which combined "Forbidden Planet" with "Jekyll & Hyde"), and "The Invisible Enemy" (where he played the creator of "K-9").
Stealing the show is Leslie French as the delightfully-polite and friendly butler (and dog-walker). It surprises me that I've also seen him in bit parts in both "THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" and DOCTOR WHO: "Silver Nemesis", more than 2 decades after this.
Stealing the story even more is John Laurie as the rich man's physician, who's also a keen wine-taster. Laurie's career goes back to the 30s, and has been in such things as "THE 39 STEPS" (1935), "TREASURE ISLAND" (1950), "DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS" (1954) and "THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES" (1971). These 2 characters prove to be in on the racket, but totally-unaware of how far their boss was willing to go to protect it.
This particular episode gets my vote as the least of the several that were later remade as color Emma Peel stories 3 years later. It's just too technical and talky for my tastes. Back in the 80s, it was apparently also the only Cathy episode that was available on commercial VHS (which Patrick Macnee later said was an "illegal bootleg"). When A&E ran seasons 2 & 3 in the mid-1990s, I was able to compare that tape with what was broadcast, and found the station was BUTCHERING every single episode they ran, by as much as 6-1/2 minutes.
I just compared the DVD with my uncut VHS. The VHS copy was badly damaged, scratches everywhere, and the picture jumped in at least one place. But oddly enough, by comparison, the picture quality (what you could see of it) was SHARPER than that on the otherwise-CLEAN DVD, which looked FUZZY. But moreso, the SOUND was MUCH CLEARER. Once I got past the initial "funeral" scene, I could hear every single word on the tape, while the ENTIRE soundtrack on the DVD was muffled. I guess A&E video were just unable to find a decent copy of this one. A shame.
The interplay between Steed, Cathy, the butler & the doctor make this one worth watching. I haven't decided which version I like better between this and "The L50,000 Breakfast", but I suspect this one might have the edge... that is, except for the poor quality of the (2 different) prints!
The guest cast includes Frederick Jaeger as a very intense financial genius frustrated by the anonymity of his longterm job. Apart from 4 AVENGERS episodes (1 with Cathy, 2 with Emma and 1 with Purdie) and a multitude of other things, I'll probably alway most remember him for a pair of DOCTOR WHO stories, "Planet Of Evil" (which combined "Forbidden Planet" with "Jekyll & Hyde"), and "The Invisible Enemy" (where he played the creator of "K-9").
Stealing the show is Leslie French as the delightfully-polite and friendly butler (and dog-walker). It surprises me that I've also seen him in bit parts in both "THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" and DOCTOR WHO: "Silver Nemesis", more than 2 decades after this.
Stealing the story even more is John Laurie as the rich man's physician, who's also a keen wine-taster. Laurie's career goes back to the 30s, and has been in such things as "THE 39 STEPS" (1935), "TREASURE ISLAND" (1950), "DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS" (1954) and "THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES" (1971). These 2 characters prove to be in on the racket, but totally-unaware of how far their boss was willing to go to protect it.
This particular episode gets my vote as the least of the several that were later remade as color Emma Peel stories 3 years later. It's just too technical and talky for my tastes. Back in the 80s, it was apparently also the only Cathy episode that was available on commercial VHS (which Patrick Macnee later said was an "illegal bootleg"). When A&E ran seasons 2 & 3 in the mid-1990s, I was able to compare that tape with what was broadcast, and found the station was BUTCHERING every single episode they ran, by as much as 6-1/2 minutes.
I just compared the DVD with my uncut VHS. The VHS copy was badly damaged, scratches everywhere, and the picture jumped in at least one place. But oddly enough, by comparison, the picture quality (what you could see of it) was SHARPER than that on the otherwise-CLEAN DVD, which looked FUZZY. But moreso, the SOUND was MUCH CLEARER. Once I got past the initial "funeral" scene, I could hear every single word on the tape, while the ENTIRE soundtrack on the DVD was muffled. I guess A&E video were just unable to find a decent copy of this one. A shame.
The interplay between Steed, Cathy, the butler & the doctor make this one worth watching. I haven't decided which version I like better between this and "The L50,000 Breakfast", but I suspect this one might have the edge... that is, except for the poor quality of the (2 different) prints!
helpful•12
- profh-1
- Aug 17, 2022
Details
- Runtime54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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