The Avengers: The Undertakers

The Avengers: The Undertakers
ITV*
5 March 1963
Action
DVD
C+

This is a show I'd heard of for years but never actually watched.  As I understand it, Macnee would be paired with various colleagues over the years, but this is one with a pre-Pussy-Galore Honor Blackman as Mrs. Gale.  Their dynamic is odd, in that he seems to be very interested in her and she's as uninterested in him as one of the nude marble statues we see in the big shoot-out.  (At least he doesn't pat her bottom like he does with one of the statues.)  I'd have gone with a B-, but it takes awhile for things to get going and some of the photography is awkward, like a dramatic close-up that hiccups.  Still, there are some droll moments in this plot about the criminal organisation of the title trying to make a profit from the high estate taxes, and I sort of liked the soap-operatic elements in the lives of the villains' families.  And, yes, we finally have a show from the '60s!

*This aired on ITV but was produced by ABC, that is, the Associated British Corporation.