Reviews

Arguably one of the best CFF (Children's Film Foundation) films of them all. Beautifully shot in glorious color on location in sunny Malta with some stunning locations and equally great underwater sequences. An interesting and entertaining story and very competent acting by all (including a very young Susan George in her second CFF film. The first was Cup Fever made the previous year) combine to make this a visually stunning offering from the CFF. Unfortunately it has never been officially released for home use which is such a crime considering some of the rubbish that they have released. You used to be able to purchase any CFF film directly from them (for a modest fee) which is how I obtained my copy many years ago but since they have handed over their archive to the BFI (British Film Institute) apparently you can no longer do this. Such a shame. One can only hope it will appear in one of their "Bumper Packs" at some time in the future. If you're lucky enough to get a chance to see it, don't miss out!

Michael Ryan is an ex-cop turned private investigator. He is tough when he has to be, kind when he can be and impeccably honest. Often butting heads with his former police colleagues, he always gets to the bottom of things. This series was the first Australian TV series filmed in color. The acting is excellent, the photography is beautiful and the stories are great. Filmed entirely in Melbourne and surrounds it is great to see the Melbourne I remember as a kid in the early Seventies. You're in for a treat if you like the cars of the era too. Lots of XW, XY and XA Falcons, a GTS Monaro, a few Fairlanes and Statesmans, a 69 Galaxie, a Chrysler by Chrysler and of course Ryan's own VH Charger. Overall a cracking little series well worth watching.

What a brilliant series. I have to admit I was a little uncertain about going into it, but I'm so glad I did. The stories are consistently excellent, the acting superior, and the camera work great, with location shots wherever practical. The 25 minute format ensures that there is never a dull moment and the stories move along at a brisk pace. Add to that the appearance of various guest stars, often in very early roles, and you have a recipe for brilliance that is rarely matched. It's such a shame that it's almost forgotten now. I highly recommend this series to anyone. You won't be disappointed.

Appearing in 1964 at the beginning of the "swinging London of the 1960's", this series had potential greatness written all over it but unfortunately fell flat in just about every way. Not taking advantage of the times, this series could have been made in 1954 rather than 1964 and you wouldn't notice any difference. Only the final episode has any location shooting and showed any culture of the times (music and dancing in the club).

Although clearly suffering from little (if any) budget, unfortunately its problems run far deeper. Of the three principal characters, only Andrew Faulds (Souter) has any sort of charisma (and even that's in short supply). The other two (Michael Atkinson and Ann Morrish) simply don't have anything that would hold the viewers interest. More wooden than Gerry Anderson's puppets of the same era, they just don't have...well...anything! Compared with contemporary series, Roger Moore's "Simon Templar", Patrick McGoohan's "Drake" and Patrick Macnee's "Steed" are eminently more likeable and charismatic.

The humor (what there is of it) is forced and just not funny and the acting of the principles is well below par. The cardboard sets don't help much either. The fight scenes (of which there is at least one and sometimes several in almost every episode) are simply laughably bad.

It's embarrassing!

Having said all of this, I must also mention some of the better points. The stories (for the most part) are not too bad, some even quite good. But the real redeeming feature is the acting of the guest stars. For the most part this is far superior to the principles and makes many of the episodes worth watching. In fact you could cut out the main characters and still have a workable story.

I wanted to enjoy this series, but it just could have (and should have) been so much better.

Perhaps I am somewhat crazy but I think this is really a pretty good movie. I think it moves along at a decent pace and certainly wasn't boring at all. The only criticism I would have is that during the car chase, some of the scenes were sped up and it just made it look silly. Other than that I think it's a cracking little film. Beautifully shot, a decent story, a couple of beautiful women and a 1970 Lamborghini Espada. Who could really ask for more? The print I saw runs to 1h25m but it is listed in IMDb at 1h40m. I wonder what is in the missing 15 minutes? Anyway I think it's a great film and definitely worthy of 85+ minutes of your time. You could do a lot worse.