The Avengers Dossier, Page Fifteen

Some of the British Commonwealth's most talented actors and actresses made appearances in episodes of "The Avengers". Here's a look at one of them.

PHILIP LATHAM

In "Room Without a View", Philip Latham is a hotel manager keeping a dark secret.

Born in 1929, Philip Latham was a familiar face to British television viewers during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to is lead role on the long-running BBC drama "The Troubleshooters" (1965-1972), he popped up in supporting roles and bit-parts in dozens of other series and made-for-television movies, ranging from "Emergency Ward 10" and "The Treasure Seekers" through "Danger Man" and "UFO" and even "Doctor Who". He appeared on two different episodes during the original run of "The Avengers", playing a different character each time.

Latham spent to bulk of his career on television. The most noteworthy of his Big Screen appearances were in Hammer Films productions, such as his co-starring turn in "Dracula, Prince of Darkness" (1966) and in pirate movies "The Devil-Ship Pirates" and "The Secret of Blood Island" (both in 1964). Latham also appeared in an episode of the Hammer-produced anthology series "Hammer House of Horror".

Latham retired from acting and withdrew completely from the public eye in 1990, after a busy 35 years in showbusiness. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 91.

The Avengers: Room Without a View

Room Without a View (1965)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Philip Latham, and Paul Whitson-Jones
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

One scientist who vanished returns home, out of his mind. Seven others remain missing. Top government investigators John Steed (Mcnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) discover the common link is that they all stayed at the Chessman Hotel. Can Steed and Peel identify the sinister forces that have taken up residence at the Chessman before they themselves fall victim to them?

"Room With a View" has lots of great things about it. The mystery of how top scientists are vanishing from a London hotel is one that grows more compelling as the show unfolds--and the apparent solution seems outright nightmarish when it first begins to come to light. The twists that are introduced here are also nicely done. Steed  gets to be the center of some really funny bits as he goes undercover as a food critic to curry favor with the equal parts flamboyant, publicity-hungry, and shady owner of the Chessman (Wutson-Jones). Even Wokesters will find things to enjoy about this episode, such the fate of a sexist government bureaucrat, and the Chinese wife of an abducted scientist being scarcastic about cultural and racial stereotypes.

The scenes involving an imprisoned Mrs. Peel as the episode heads toward its climax are also extremely well done... and ones I can't comment upon without ruining the plot. Suffice to say, you're going to find them compelling.

What is less compelling is the episode's villain, the corpulent owner of the Chessman Hotel who has dreams of building a hospitality empire. He's as evil and petty as any Avengers villain we've come across so far in the series, but there's a disconnected stiffness about the actor portraying him--particularly in the scenes he shares with Patrick Macnee--that saps some of the life from what is an otherwise fast-moving, well-mounted episode helmed by the great Roy Ward Baker.