Cunning plan was to run the music, then a Templar at 1234, the politics maybe, then jazz but I have no jazz, plus not much in the way of politics.
So I checked out one more Templar, on Australia Day, featuring the lovely Annette Andre, an Ozette herself … well, there was no choice, right? Couple that with Simon in a House of Horrors Hammer style Sunday afternoon B movie, melodramatic, OTT … well as just mentioned, no choice:
An amalgam of a few reviews:
“A great B-movie feel to this episode, which has Templar heading off to rural Wales to investigate strange disappearances. Soon enough he’s involved with a conspiracy plot and some mad scientists whose latest experiments have created a giant…well, I’ll let you find out.
A real DR WHO feel to this one, which has atmospheric surrounds, a good supporting cast of character actors, and a fine monster. I wasn’t expecting this kind of thing from The Saint! People disappear without explanation and the evidence leads to an ominous house on the rocky hills.
There’s entertainment value, as long as you take everything at face value. I’m surprised Roger Moore could keep a straight face when making “The House on Dragon’s Rock.” Sometimes Leslie Charteris seemed to be dozing over his typewriter. He wrote an awful lot until he farmed the Saint out, and churned out rubbish along with the greater Templar yarns.
This tale was changed a lot and stuffed with familiar faces to make it palatable … including lovely Annette Andre, and Anthony Bate as the not-quite-mad-enough scientist who seems not so much mad as incredibly testy.
The problem with “mad scientist” stories is making what they’re mad about seem realistic. American 60s TV, which had more money, had enough difficulty with making its off-and-on brilliant SF programs believable. This tale ends up downright silly. But it was Charteris’ idea. He gets the blame.”
JH: Sunday afternoon, storm upon us out there, cream tea, coffee or something a tad stronger, chocolate, plus Annette Andre … nice afternoon.