Search - The Avengers '64, Set 1 on DVD


The Avengers '64, Set 1
The Avengers '64 Set 1
Actors: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Linda Thorson, Ian Hendry
Genres: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Television, Mystery & Suspense
NR     2000     5hr 12min

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 p...  more »

     
7

Larger Image

Movie Details

Actors: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Linda Thorson, Ian Hendry
Creators: Gerald Gibbs, Walter J. Harvey, Frank P. Keller, John Glen, Sydney Newman
Genres: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Television, Mystery & Suspense
Sub-Genres: Crime, Superheroes, Comedy, Comedy, Science Fiction, Classic TV, Mystery & Suspense
Studio: A&E Home Video
Format: DVD - Black and White
DVD Release Date: 03/28/2000
Original Release Date: 03/28/1966
Theatrical Release Date: 03/28/1966
Release Year: 2000
Run Time: 5hr 12min
Screens: Black and White
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 2
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 6
Edition: Box set
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English

Similar Movies

The Avengers '64 Set 2
6
   NR   2000   5hr 12min
The Avengers - '63 Set 4
3
   NR   2001   6hr 4min
The Avengers - '63 Set 3
6
   NR   2001   5hr 12min
The Avengers '62 - Complete Set
5
   NR   2006   12hr 8min

Similarly Requested DVDs

The Twilight Zone - Collection 1
   UR   2002   14hr 35min
   
Otogi Zoshi - Legend of Magatama
Vol. 1
   UR   2005   2hr 5min
   
Firefly - The Complete Series
Directors: Joss Whedon, Tim Minear, Vern Gillum
   NR   2003   11hr 15min
   
The X-Files The Complete Fourth Season
Director: Robert Mandel
   UR   2006   0hr 46min
   
The Mask of Zorro
   PG-13   1998   2hr 16min
   
Shakespeare in Love
Ws
   R   1999   2hr 3min
   
Sleepy Hollow
Director: Tim Burton
   R   2000   1hr 45min
   
Terminator 2 - Judgment Day
The Ultimate Edition DVD
Director: James Cameron
   R   2000   2hr 17min
   
 

Movie Reviews

Most Fans Haven't Seen These Before
J. Ewaniuk | los angeles, ca United States | 04/10/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Most Avengers fans in this country know of the Avengers as John Steed and Emma Peel. But before that there was Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, who paved the way for Emma Peel. Cathy is a no nonsense character, very smart, very cool, very efficient. These episodes have been shown on American TV only once - in early 1991 on the A&E netwoork (A&E has sunce lost the broadcast rights), and at that time they were almost 30 years old. These were done like live TV, and are in black and white. The theme song is altogether different from the Laurie Johnson theme, but it does grow on you. Because they are like live TV there are some timing mistakes and there is sometimes a little difficulty hearing the dialogue. Contrary to published reports, there are no subtitles on the DVDs, and the only reason I don't give the collection a full five stars is that there was some sloppiness in the transfer - in two episodes on Set 1, a fly obviously got in the machine, and can be seen crawling around. Here we are trying to pay attention to the plot, and are distracted by what looks to be a fly crawling on the actors' faces in close-up. The fly is absent from these same episodes when I taped them from A&E nine years ago.Why they started with the last episodes on the Blackman series is beyond me. There are many great episodes from both her first and second seasons with the show, as well as quite a few episodes where Steed (a bit of a cad in these shows) "uses" other civilians to help him with his missions. I look forward to their release as well."
Historic and most entertaining
F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 04/21/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is so very good to be able to see the "old" with Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale, not only for its own sake but as an historic document (so to speak) and as a foreshadowing of the greater things to come the very next season when Diana Rigg continued to make television history as Blackman's replacement. First the negatives. These are "live," studio-bound productions in which lines are flubbed, jailers have all sorts of trouble opening the doors to cells, gun shots do not convince, and fights are obviously tame to prevent injury in these days before films, stunt-doubles, and retakes. Now and then the sound gets fainter as characters move away from the mikes, now and then the film jumps just a bit, and in at least two sequences a pesky fly seems to have been caught by whatever process was being used to reproduce the original image onto tape/DVD. Neither positive nor negative but merely interesting is that Steed has not picked up his ultra-refined characteristics by way of wardrobe, umbrella (until the last episodes), and steel-coated bowler hat. His relationship with Cathy varies from amused tolerance on her part to such manifestations of her annoyance as throwing things at him. She takes things a lot more seriously than Emma will. In fact, there is little of that Avengers banter we so enjoy in the later episodes and consequently not so much of that chemistry between the two. There are three episodes on each DVD and twelve in all in this '64 series. Set 1 starts with "The Little White Elephant," and it is about smuggling using animal cages and it moves slowly. "The Little Wonders" has considerable humor with its hoods dressed as clergymen and a shoot-'em-up finale (possibly meant to be taken seriously but funny all the same) that makes the last scene of "Titus Andronicus" look tame. "The Wringer" is very much like "The Ipcress File" film with its brainwashing episodes. "Mandrake" has the first great sexy-woman vs. he-man as Cathy tosses a sexton (played by a popular wrestler) around a graveyard. [That is the same wrestler that tosses Mr. Humphries around in a late episode of "Are You Being Served?") "The Secrets Broker" is purely about blackmail and "The Trojan Horse" about Dick Francis kinds of doings on the racetrack. Please watch these without the foresight of what is to come and try to keep a 1964 frame of mind when this was the hottest stuff on the telly and a female character never had it so good before Cathy Gale blew into town."
Quirky and interesting.
C. H. Dye | Boston, MA, USA | 06/26/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Wow...
D. Craven | Chicago, IL USA | 08/31/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a great fan of the Peel/King Avengers, I approached the Gale Avengers with some trepedation. This was badly misplaced. While the technical quality of the transfer to this DVD (including the annoying fly....) is not as high (in part because this does not appear to have been filmed, but rather some earlier, less accurate process), the content is superb.Two of the episodes ran up with the very best televsion (not just Avengers) I have ever seen. Small Wonders, which also includes a not-so-small performance by Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny), is an absolute delight with clever plot twists and superb writing. It also plays upon certain "fears" of the period about secret societies. It is followed by "The Wringer" which could have come straight out of the pen of Le Carre. It reveals the underside of Steed's mysterious agency, and makes clear that these Avengers are playing for keeps. Are these worth buying? Even with the fly, in a heartbeat. (and if they fix the fly, I will be the first in line to buy another copy...)"