The Avengers: The Gravediggers

The Gravediggers (1965)
Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Ronald Fraser, Paul Masse, Caroline Blakiston, and Victor Platt
Director: Quentin Lawrence
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

In order to find the source of signals jamming Great Britain's early warning radar systems, secret agents John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) trace mysterious malfunctions at Britain's early warning radar system must first unravel the secret that links a funeral home, a charitable hospital for railway workers, and an eccentric, train-loving nobleman (Fraser).

"The Gravediggers" features an intricate plot that may seem a little odd to anyone who doesn't remember the Cold War. The threat against the early warning system was perceived as an extremely dire one in the world of 1965, so the trouble the enemy agents go through to distribute their network of jammers. The clever way by which they fund and literally power their operation is also well-conceived, so long as one is able to buy into the comic book reality that The Avengers exist in.

As is the case with all the greatest episodes during the Patrick Macnee/Diana Rigg, the serious and the silly co-exist easily in the episode. The eccentric train obsessed nobleman with his sitting room done up to mimic a railcar in motion and the miniature train and tracks he has running throughout his property is amusing, but when it gets used as a send-up of silent movie melodrama (where maidens get tied to the train tracks) and old-time westerns (where the hero battles bad guys atop moving train cars), it becomes absolutely hilarious. Even better--despite the very intentionally ridiculous nature of the episode's climactic action, there is also a real sense that Peel and Steed are in danger of losing the fight and possibly even their lives. It is an expertly written and paced episode.

Adding to the value of this episode is some nice banter between Steed and Peel, as well as another example of Peel's versatility as an undercover operative. Here, she successfully passes for a nurse in order to infiltrate the hospital. 

"The Gravediggers" was the second episode to air in "The Avengers" Season Four, and it kept the momentum going from the debut. 

Picture Perfect Wednesday with Frankie Adams

Born in Samoa and raised in New Zealand, Frankie Adams began her professional acting career at 16 as Uli Levin on the long-running NZ soap opera "Shortland Street". Starting in 2010 and going through 2014, she appeared in nearly 300 episodes (the series airs five nights a week). 

In 2016, she joined the cast of the sci-fi series "The Expanse", where she plays Bobbie Draper, a Martian marine turned-under-cover-operative for a renegade United Nations official. Adams is expected to stay with the show through 2021 when it will come to its conclusion.

Here are a few photos of Adams. And when you're done here, you should head over and watch "The Expanse" on Amazon Prime if you aren't already. It is one of the best sci-fi series ever produced.

Deduction from these photos: Frankie Adams is not allowed to wear pants or skirts at the same time she's wearing shirts or blouses.

'Stone Age Stunts' leaves something to be desired

Stone Age Stunts (1930)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but this is basically a silent movie)
Director: John Foster and Mannie Davis
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Pre-historic mice (who are basically Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse clones) go dancing at a club, get into a fight with a bully, and end up literally bringing the house down.

An entry in the long-running Aesop's Fables anthology series, "Stone Age Stunts" is seven minutes of crudely animated nonsense. Along the way, there are some scenes that will make you squirm if you have any sensitivity to the issues surrounding domestic violence. (There are riffs on the old cartoon caveman hitting his mate over the head with his club and dragging her off, but they are taken to uncomfortable extremes here.)

The saving grace (and only thing that makes watching this worthwhile) is the music. The animation and the music go perfectly together, and the only humorous that aren't uncomfortable to watch, grotesque, or inexplicably weird (or some combination of all three) are those involving music. The cavemouse suddenly being able to use his club as a flute is amusing, and the sequence that starts at roughly the halfway mark with a band of cartoon animals using other cartoon animals as instruments and a hilarious nightclub act make sitting through the more unpleasant bits worthwhile.

As I always try to do with the Van Beuren productions I review, you can watch it for yourself, right here in this post, and see if you think I'm right or wrong in my estimation of this one. Just click on the video below.

(Trivia: Although the amorous mice who are the stars of "Stone Age Stunts" had been appearing in Aesop's Fables episodes since the early 1920s, their appearances changed to be similar to that of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse once those characters became hits for Disney. Eventually, the Walt Disney Company filed suit against the Van Beuren Corporation. Disney didn't see damages--they just wanted Van Beuren to stop putting Mickey and Minnie look-alikes in crude situations in crudely animated cartoons.)

Musical Monday with the Interrupters

On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Joseph R. Biden is going to be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States of America. As a warm-up for that event, we bring you the Interrupters, a California-based ska/punk band that's been performing and touring together since 2011.




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A modern attempt at silent comedy style

"Charlie's Chase" is a student film I came across when it showed up when I did a search for "Charley Chase". I've posted a number of student films to this blog over the years that tried to capture the feel and spirit of silent movies, but few been as successful as this one.

Check it out. It's short--just one minute long--and it's quite amusing. (One gag doesn't come off quite right, but I think the rest are excellent when one considers what this is.)

Charlie's Chase (2018)

Starring: Anonymous Actors

Director: Tuatea Schmidt

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Click here to check out what the maker of this film has been up to recently.

The Growing-up of Emma Peel: Part Eleven

Click on the images for larger, more easily read versions.

The Avengers Dossier, Page One

As mentioned here, 2021 is The Year of the Avengers here at Shades of Gray. This is the first in a series of posts (that will appear every other Friday) which will bring you pictures of and factoids about actresses and actors who played supporting parts on a recently reviewed episode.

JEANETTE STERKE
Jeanette Sterke played Janet Crane in "Too Many Christmas Trees". She's a psychic who may or may not be part of an effort to draw secrets from the minds of British government agents.

Sterke was born in 1933 and immigrated from Czechoslovakia to England as child, together with her parents who fled the Nazi invasion. From 1954 through her retirement from acting in 1986, she worked steadily in television. Her stint as the troupe who filled the cast on the anthology series "The BCC Sunday Night Theatre" from 1954 - 1957 and her recurring role on "The Doctors" (1970) serving as her biggest career footprint. Over the decades, Sterke also worked extensively on stage and made a few film appearances (with parts in "The Safecracker" (1957) and "The Story of David" (1976), just to name a couple).

It's the End of the Road for Grampy

Zula Hula (1937)
Starring: Jack Mercer (as the voice of Grampy) and Mae Questel (as the voice of Betty Boop)

Directors: Dave Fleischer

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A plane crash leaves Grampy and Betty stranded on a tropical island. Grampy puts his genius for jury-rigging to work, recreating all the comforts of civilization and even turning a hostile native tribe friendly.

"Zula Hula" first appeared in movie theaters on December 24, 1937. It was the final cartoon released by the Fleischer Studios that year. It was also the final appearance of Grampy, an occassional guest star in the Betty Boop series of cartoons, but who almost always got top billing and took the lead in most episodes in which he appeared.

Watching "Zula Hula", it doesn't feel like Grampy is done at this point. Not only is Betty once again reduced to a supporting role in her own series, but it was an improvement quality-wise over "Service With a Smile" (released in November of 1937), which was already lots of fun. In fact, it almost seemed like Grampy was getting a second wind, as the two final cartoons out of his ten appearances were as amusing and cute as the very first one. This one also benefits greatly from the fact that Gramy's inventions are fun and creative. (I found the anti-crash device on his private plane, his automated fishing device, and his turning an airplane engine into a musical device particularly amusing. His failed attempt to create a water clock, and Betty's comment about it, is also a funny moment.)

A big negative in "Zula Hula", however, is Grampy behaving completely out of character from how he's been portrayed in two of the best previous entries in the series. In "A Song a Day" and "Be Human", Grampy was concerned with the health, well-being, and ethical treatment of animals to the point where I jokingly said he'd make a great mascot for PETA. I feel that the Grampy we have in this film would be targeted for an ass-kicking by the Grampy in the two above-mentioned cartoons due to the way he abuses animals here, especially the way he turns a monkey into the motor powering a gyrocopter.

I suppose the cartoon natives on the island can also be considered a negative since their design will undoubtedly cause palpitations among those with a tendency to see racism everywhere. From a 21st century perspective, the design of the natives characters does appear to be racist, although if they artists were going for full-on racism would they, yet again, have portrayed the native culture as a weird mix of African and Polynesian flavors? Personally, that annoyed me more than the physical design of the characters--but since this is the second time I've encountered this in a "Betty Boop" cartoon, I suppose this is just how jungle-dwelling natives are in her world. 

I am further willing to overlook any perceived racism in the design of the native characters, because the song and dance number that closes out "Zula Hula" is one of the best to be featured in the Grampy cartoons, with a perfect mix of weird visual gags, silly cartoon dancing, and catchy music.

Take a few minutes to enjoy Grampy's final adventure right now. And feel free to leave a comment if you agree or disagree with any of my takes on it.

The Jane Birken Quarterly

 Actress and model Jane Birkin turns 75 in December this year, and we're celebrating the milestone for all of 2021 with pictures and the Jane Birken Quarterly!

'The Mystic Hour' is an uneven mess

The Mystic Hour (aka "At Twelve Midnight") (1933)
Starring: Charles Hutchison, Lucille Powers, Charles Middleton, Montagu Love, and Edith Thornton

Director:  Melville Delay

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

When the heroic Robert Randall (Hutchison) is chasing down a thief, he meets the beautiful Mary Marshall (Powers), and it's love at first sight. Their future together is threatened not only by Mary's corrupt ward (Middleton) who wants to cover up the fact he's stolen her inheritance, but also by the vengeful criminal mastermind, The Fox (Love).

"The Mystic Hour" opens with a really nicely done, moody and soundless sequence of a burglary... but it's all downhill from there. There's a nice idea at the heart of this film--with family intrigues crossing with the criminal underworld--but it's boring and muddled in the way it's executed and performed by a cast that seems to be suffering under poor direction or maybe just bad at ad-libbing. On more than one occasion, the actors and actresses seem confused as to what they are even doing in a particular scene.

One interesting aspect of the film is the choice of actor to play it's hero--Charles Hutchison may be the least attractive romantic lead in a film we're supposed to take seriously that I've ever come across. I can't decide if this a head-scratching move or a piece of brilliant casting. Perhaps he was cast for his ability as a stuntman (assuming he did his own stunts), because the action scenes of this film are by far its best moments, even if they are almost ruined and made ridiculous by the undercranking.

Aside from the too-brief action sequences, there's not a whole lot to recommend "The Mystic Hour" and it barely managed to earn the lowest possible Five of Ten rating. I think even the director knew he had a film that was in trouble--exciting action bits but boooooooring everything else--and an effort was made to liven things up with scenes of a pretty lady wearing  varying degrees of very little. (It's a time-honored tradition that one, which has been the fallback position of B-movies since the invention of the camera up to the present day.)