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starring: Honor Blackman, Patrick Macnee
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780767024914
Format: Box set, Black & White, NTSC
ISBN: 0767024915
Label: A&E Home Video
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Release Date: March 28, 2000
Running Time: 312 minutes
Sales Rank: 43560
Studio: A&E Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1964
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Description:
Contains the following black and white episodes: Vol. 1: The White Elephant/The Little Wonders Vol. 2: The Wringer/Mandrake Vol. 3: The Secrets Broker/The Trojan Horse The original sexy AVENGERS duo is now available to American audiences. Stalk scoundrels, assassins, and spies with John Steed (Patrick Macnee) -- part debonair man about town, part ruthless, unscrupulous professional undercover agent -- and his first female partner, Mrs. Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) -- professional anthropologist, undercover agent, firearms expert and judo master. Together, they protect society from traitors, tyrants and terrorists as THE AVENGERS! Produced by John Bryce, Music by Johnny Dankworth
Amazon.com:
From Britain with leather comes this three-volume collection of rare Avengers episodes starring Patrick Macnee as urbane, umbrella-toting spy John Steed and Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, who preceded Emma Peel as Steed's partner. Virtually unseen in the United States, these six episodes from the third season of The Avengers will be a revelation for fans of this offbeat series.
Blackman portrayed Cathy Gale, stylish, leather-clad anthropologist and judo expert, from 1962 to '64, leaving the series to star as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. Another veteran of the James Bond series makes a surprising appearance in 'Little Wonders,' an episode on volume 1: Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), a machine-gun-toting nurse. This episode, in which Steed goes undercover in a 300-year-old crime organization, features a kiss between Steed and Gale. He was never so intimate with Emma Peel... at least not onscreen. Volume 2 contains two episodes ranked among the best of the Cathy Gale era. In 'The Wringer,' Gale comes to Steed's rescue after he becomes a guinea pig in a diabolical plot to brainwash agents. In 'Mandrake,' a deserted village becomes the burial ground of choice for a rash of 'rich and reasonably eminent' victims of a murder-for-hire business. 'The Secrets Broker' on volume 3, in which a murder leads Steed to a wine shop, is not quite vintage Avengers, but 'Trojan Horse,' set at a racetrack and involving an illicit betting syndicate, is a winner.
Produced before the series switched over to film, these black-and-white episodes are technically cruder than their more popularly known counterparts. But the plots are often just as confounding. Cathy Gale may leave Emma Peel enthusiasts underwhelmed; her banter with Steed lacks the erotic promise that made the Peel episodes so provocative. But you'll get a kick out the martial-arts prowess that reportedly knocked out her male adversary in the graveyard fight sequence in 'Mandrake.' --Donald Liebenson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Quirky and interesting.
While the Cathy Gale episodes of the Avengers suffer somewhat from having to be reconstructed from ancient videotapes, they still are well worth viewing. Steed is younger, and much more ruthless, and he is well-matched by the tough, independent Cathy.
Rating:  - It doesn't have English subtitle
I'm disappointed with Amazon.com that listed the incorrect info. under DVD features. It doesn't have English subtitle! Returned item to marketplace seller for full refund.
Rating: - Peel's first year
Honor Blackman's last season as Patrick MacNee's crime fighting companion. Mrs.Gale and John Steed foil ecentric criminals through six episiodes. The charaacters remain unflappable throughout in the way we have come to expect form Her Majesty's servants (at least that's what they appear to be- their offical capacity is never really stated). Lots of fun and well written.
Rating: - Early outing for Steed
For all the fans of The Avengers familiar with the Emma Peel/Tara King era of the show, these early episodes featuring Cathy Gale and Venus Smith may come as something of a disappointment. In fact, fans of the later shows may find it hard to believe that they are even part of the same TV series!
After the initial run of 26 episodes featuring Police Surgeon David Keel and his cohort John Steed had aired in the UK in 1961/62, the producers of the program opted to bring Steed to the forefront ... Read More
Rating:  - John Steed and Kathy Gale
`The Avengers" was a popular 1960's British fantasy-adventure series that focused on the exploits of a male-female duo in the service of the British government. The series underwent several changes of its female lead but its one constant male lead was John Steed always portrayed by the debonair Patrick Macnee (Originally the John Steed had two male partners but that format eventually changed). Kathy Gale portrayed by Honor Blackman became Steed's first female partner. However, when Honor Blackman (of ... Read More
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