I could be wrong, but I get the distinct impression that the Adventurer DVD has the episodes arranged in order of production. If so that means we’re midway through the shooting of the series here, and boy, it really shows. Energy levels look to be running a little low, with Gene in particular showing signs of fatigue. As part of his contract he did take a holiday halfway through the making of the series, and it looks as if that holiday can’t come soon enough. His unnatural line delivery and pregnant pauses during the opening scene of this episode not only give the impression of a man reading off cue cards, but of someone who doesn’t have any idea what the words on the cue cards mean. “Well as master of…the college…I want you to do what is….best”.
Perhaps due to Gene’s tired state this Adventurer episode takes time out from the usual energetic globe-trotting antics, and instead sends him back to college to solve a mystery involving the evolution of man and some missing skulls. The main setting of this episode appears to be Cambridge University –at least going off the exterior footage- although characters seem to be doing their best to avoid mentioning the place by name. Heaven knows why Cambridge University wouldn’t want its name associated with such a high quality series like this.
Big hearted Gene is playing philanthropist to the college/university that mustn’t be named, writing out a large cheque in order for them to build a new, hi-tech college. In the context of the episode, this is meant to be a good thing, although the model of the proposed building does look as soulless and ugly as the “City 2000” Utopia that the father is working on in Beat Girl.
If you think the lingering close-up on that model indicates that its construction will form a key part of this episode, think again, as after that close-up the building is barely ever mentioned again (presumably the production just wanted to get their money’s worth out of that model). In fact the future of the building is placed in jeopardy when college professor John Ballard (Basil Dignam) embezzles £50,000 of the college’s money. Soon after, Ballard’s car is found flipped over with his apparent charred remains inside. Gene, who was the first on the scene of Ballard’s accident, is convinced there is more to the case than meets the eye though, especially since he spotted a second car speeding away from the fiery scene.
What begins as a seemingly traditional whodunit, soon spins out into the type of lunacy that you could only get from an episode of The Adventurer. It transpires that Professor Ballard was obsessed with the theory that ancient people from America migrated to Russia and from there populated the rest of Europe, meaning that modern day Russians and Europeans are all descended from American cavemen. The rejection and ridicule that Ballard faced as a result of this theory not only drove him to a nervous breakdown but made him fair game for Carl Gardner (Lance Percival) a slippery antiques dealer. Having convinced the unstable Ballard that he owns the skull of an ancient American that could prove Ballard’s theory, Gardner insists on Ballard raiding the college’s piggybank for the tune of £50,000. However Ballard was so ashamed of his actions that he decided to fake his own death by hiring Bill Marks (Roy Kinnear) a stuntman turned scrap merchant dealer to crash his car and place an old skeleton from the college in the driver’s seat.
It is asking a bit to accept that the police would be easily tricked into thinking that an ancient skinless skeleton was the corpse of a recently deceased car crash victim. This though is just one of a series of mighty big asks that this Adventurer episode requires its audience to buy into. Another, far funnier one, being that a character played by Roy Kinnear could ever have worked as a stunt double for Gene. Roy Kinnear and Gene being noted for their strikingly similar appearance, go on admit it how many times have you watched Roy Kinnear in a film and thought you were watching Gene…they could almost have been twins.
While Roy Kinnear is strictly here as comic relief (his role feeling like a rehearsal for his Man About the House/George and Mildred character) this episode does offer a rare opportunity to see fellow comedy actor Lance Percival in a serious role. While it is not Lance Percival’s only foray outside of comedy, he later impressed as a deadbeat journalist in an episode of ‘Target’, it is certainly an unexpected piece of against type casting. One that isn’t without its rewards, Percival is fine as a slimy, cowardly con-man out to exploit the poor, unbalanced professor. The main problem with the casting of Roy Kinnear and Lance Percival is that they are such lovable figures, which the audience has an automatic affection for. So, rather than cheering Gene on as he punches Lance Percival in the face or ‘roughs up’ Roy Kinnear in his junkyard, it tends to turn you against Gene as he brutalises this pair of much loved comedy actors. Imagine how you’d feel about Regan and Carter had they spent the episode of The Sweeney that Morecambe and Wise guest starred in, by repeatedly punching Eric Morecambe in the face and throwing Ernie Wise around a junkyard.
Stuart Damon in the background, still waiting for his cue
Revisiting Skeleton in the Cupboard makes me even more curious to see how this episode plays out within the context of the Adventurer movie “La Doppia Faccia Della Legge”. Out of all the 650 minutes and 26 episodes of The Adventurer, this does feel like an odd choice for inclusion into a compilation movie. It goes without saying that this episode doesn’t exactly showcase its star at his best and with its talky, complicated plot this is hardly the most exciting Adventurer episode going. Worse still, the Cambridge University settings seem to have forced Gene into dressing more conservatively than usual, with his dress sense only displaying its flare for the outrageous in scenes that take place outside of Cambridge University. New additions to Gene apparel here include a pair of black gloves (‘cause they made Tony Curtis look cool when he wore them in The Persuaders, so why not Gene) and tartan trousers that not even the excessive amount of day for night shooting in this episode can disguise. The tartan trousers become something of a fixture in later Adventurer episodes, to the degree that I did wonder if Gene might have had Scottish roots, and that the trousers were some kind of homage to his Scottish ancestry. A bit of online research into Gene however indicates that his grandparents were Russian immigrants, so he doesn’t even have the Scottish ancestry excuse for wearing them.
Notice how over time I’ve come to confuse the fictional Gene Bradley with the real life Gene Barry? In fairness they do have the same first name. Both are movie stars and –well- one of the side-effects of watching Adventurer episodes week in, week out is the gradual inability to distinguish fantasy from reality any more. Like ‘Nearly the End of the Picture’ before it, this is another Adventurer episode targeted at the American tourist mentality, displaying an infatuation with the British establishment, coupled with a wish-fulfilment plot which insists that the right amount of charm and money can buy you acceptance into it. In Gene’s case a mixture of his philanthropy and ridding the college of Gardner’s skulduggery sees him rewarded by the master of the college, who informs Gene that the college bigwigs have elected to make Gene into an honorary chair of the college. Which seems a bit harsh, okay Gene’s acting has been a bit wooden in his episode, and his tanned skin is a shade mahogany, but that’s no reason for wanting to turn him into a piece of furniture...is it?
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