Review: The Adventurer
- Article 3 of 7
- Action TV, April 2006
Where did it all start to go wrong for ITC? The long-standing producer of ITV action series during the 60s, ITC’s honour roll of classic programmes is long and varied, taking in shows such as The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Saint and Danger Man. But by the early 70s, ITC started to run out of steam and if there’s one show that demonstrates the creative shortfall the company was facing, it is The Adventurer.
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Extras
There’s a surprisingly large number of extras spread across the four disks in the set. Alongside promotional stills and photos from various episodes, there’s a complete set of variant title sequences on one disk, ranging from a transfer from a 35mm version of the titles to a rough cut of the planned Italian titles which used a very ill-judged alternative theme, complete with song.
There are also three featurettes specially shot for DVD. The first of these is supposedly an introduction by Catherine Schell to the series from the ITC50 DVD set, but amounts to little more than an anecdote about how no one had ever asked her if she could drive before they sat her behind the wheel of a car.
The second features interviews with both Stuart Damon and Catherine Schell about Damon’s non-appearance in the show. As with the third, which is a discussion with Morse about his role in the series, the actors are united in their dislike of Barry and discuss at length his alleged problems dealing with anyone taller than himself. Schell makes frequent comments about Barry’s reliance on idiot boards while Damon is clearly still amazed that both Barry and Scoton/Monty Berman ended up treating him so badly for being of above-average height.
Morse is equally candid about his feelings on Barry’s limitations. Having directed Barry in the show as well as acting with him, Morse is able to explain the techniques he used to get Barry to play nicely, most of which seem to involve explaining in mind-numbing detail exactly what he wanted Barry to do in each shot.
Both featurettes, incidentally, carry a disclaimer that Barry declined an invitation to participate in their filming.
While the featurettes don’t exactly flesh out any of the production history or the creative process behind The Adventurer, and obviously miss a trick by leaving out both Barry and Hagon, they are at least moderately amusing, right down to their recreation of the show’s end titles.
Sound and picture
Picture quality is pretty poor, mainly due to the series having been shot on 16mm – the 35mm title sequence footage is visibly better quality than any of the episodes’. Sound quality is good, however.
Overall
The Adventurer is pretty forgettable, both in terms of the episodes and in terms of TV history. At most, it marks the beginning of the end for the ”ITC era“ and demonstrates how the demands of a star can end up fatally wounding a production. For completists only.
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