Devotees of Diana Rigg's Mrs. Peel will be especially thrilled by this two-volume collection of seven black-and-white episodes that closed out the fourth season ofThe Avengers in high and often provocative style. OneAvengers Web site ranks "A Touch of Brimstone" among the 10 episodes of the Mrs. era"What the Butler Saw" and "Honey for the Prince" rank among the top To these add "The House That Jack Built." This mind-bending tour de force finds Mrs. at the mercy of a vengeful techno-obsessed mastermind who has rigged a mansion to drive her insane. Also included in this collection are "The Danger Makers," in which umbrella-toting gentleman spy John Steed (Patrick Macnee) and Mrs. uncover a secret society of thrill-crazed soldiers"A Sense of History," about a deadly clique of university students and "How to Succeed... At Murder," in which secretarial assassins take their orders from, yes, a puppet. The mysteries are intriguing, the villains suitably mad, and the banter between Steed and Mrs. charged with erotic possibilities. With the ravishing, knee-weakening sight of Emma decked out as Robin Hood in "A Sense of History," as a harem girl in "Honey for the Prince," and--be still my beating heart--as the Queen of Sin in "A Touch of Brimstone," thisAvengers collection boasts very potent Emma "a-Peel." --Donald Liebenson
|