Greensleeves

A superior episode of the always watchable mix-and-match duo of Tony Curtis and Roger Moore's ITC series "The Persuaders". This one leans more into Rog's Lord Brett Sinclair character as he return after years to one of his country homes to find it occupied by a bunch of strangers. Suspecting something devious and underhand, with Curtis's Danny in attendance, they uncover a plot to employ a Brett-a-like, in the form of an actor who resembles his Lordship and who will lure an old college friend of his, now the president of the imaginary country of Zanda, into a trap and effectively blackmail him into signing away valuable mineral rights in his home country.

Requiring Moore to play a double role, we first see him as his own would-be impersonator with unkempt hair, a bushy fake moustache and distinctly down-at-heel garb, displaying a less than cultured manner to all and sundry especially the inevitable pretty girl in the gang of interlopers, in this case Rosemary Nichols late of another of my ITC favourites, "Department S". Here, she has to endure more than her fair share of the era's sometimes demeaning outlook towards women with a good deal of leery looks and comments in her direction and even a little groping from the pretend Brett.

Still, things pick up when Curtis enters the scene at Brett's summons as his replacement butler, from Budapest of all places. As the episode hurtles to a finish, there's still time for some typically broad Curtis clowning supplemented by the more wry demeanour of Moore. Set almost exclusively in Greensleeves, Brett's old country mansion, there are dungeons, grand staircases and secret passageways a-plenty as Curtis and Nichols race to the Lord's aid before an unusually extended fist fight breaks out between the Persuaders and the baddies, leaving the good Lord to smooch with Nichols as the curtain comes down and Danny disappears down a secret passage

This episode was a lot of fun, both Curtis and Moore getting to clown it up in their by now familiar way. It really was a big deal, at least to a youngster like me back in 1971, to see such a big-star duo on a TV show, but now as then, it's their star-power which gets them through, episode after episode.

That's the second time in the series, where it is also a question of a double, but in a lighter way. And, again, it concerns Brett Sinclair - Roger Moore - who, I also played a double in THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF. It is quite good effective, in the perfect mood of the series. And the double scheme can be used in many ways. This one is different from the previous episode : SOMEONE LIKE ME. David Greene the director has not made any episode before for this series. He directed in 1967 a horror mystery movie adapted from HP Lovecraft: SHUTTERED ROOM. And precisely because of this early horror film from David Greene, I thought this episode would be a haunted mansion scheme. Only a bit mystery eerie elements are used actually. Good entertaining episode.

Top-notch entry in the single season big budget early 70s buddy detective comic/action series, one that optimally displays its light touch to mystery and adventure.

The story includes a big myserious mansion with secret passageways and tunnels, a feisty pretty girl (played by DEPARTMENT S's lovely/leggy Rosemary Nicols), and a strange mystery when Roger Moore's wealthy Brit Brett discovers somebody's living in one of his bloodline's old castles and he doesn't know who. Moore has to impersonate himself, with a bushy mustache, it's amusing. Meanwhile Tony Curtis hams it up as usual; some people dig his flamboyant performance, some don't in THE PERSUADERS! Count me among the meh.

But the episode is clever and fun, contains a couple good twists, and, to my personal taste, co-stars most appealing of all the pretty birds who show up on the series in Ms. Nicols. If you can track this 1971-72 series down, be sure to watch "Greensleeves."

Even in 1971, doing up a house of the size & type of Greensleeves from 'virtually a ruin' would cost many thousands, even millions. All for a scam? Even for a lucrative scam it is simply preposterous.

It does make for a highly entertaining romp however, as Sinclair masquerades as his own lookalike, in order to find out what the heck is going on. The scene where he arrives and the people who want a Sinclair lookalike are critiquing his likeness to the 'real' Brett ('The profile is a bit off' says the woman) is of course very amusing to the audience as we know what's what.

Curtis' turn as a butler is typically hilarious though he's surprisingly good at carrying a tray of tea cups! It takes only moments though for young Ms Congoto to spot the deception.

Another reviewer wonders why Sinclair hadn't been to the family seat recently, but I think the obvious answer is that this is not the family seat but just one of many properties and Sinclair just hasn't given it any thought lately. It does seem a bit hard on poor Moorehead though, if he's been having to live in a 'virtual ruin' all these years!

It doesn't really make a lot of sense when you drill down but it's one of the better entries in the series.

In this episode, we have: secret passages galore in an old English country mansion; Rosemary Nicols, one of the stars of "Department S" as guest star, and the general high spirits between the two leads which was such a positive hallmark of this series.

The emphasis is on comedy in this outing, and watching takes one back to the mild, all-turns-out-well entertainments at which 1960's and early 1970's TV excelled. Roger and Tony having fun is the whole point of the episode, as it was of the series. The viewer gets to have some pretty good fun along with them, too.