14 episodes in and by now I should realise the futility in questioning the lack of logic in The Adventurer, but does it really make sense to concoct a storyline that draws attention to how flawed the series’ main premise is? As ‘Target!’ accurately points out, a world famous actor could never really lead a double life as a spy because well…he’d be instantly identifiable to people from his films and the avalanche of publicity that goes with being a star, and could never successfully pose as anyone but himself.
It is an issue that this episode of The Adventurer both acknowledges and tries to get around…as Gene ‘deliberately’ makes a hash of posing as wannabe arms dealer ‘Mr. Cotton’, knowing full well that his target will instantly recognise him as Gene Bradley and spell a rat. Sure enough when Mr Cotton casually walks into the Amsterdam offices of Willet Mosselman (Guy Deghy) and asks to be let in on the arms dealing that Mosselman’s legit business is a front for, he gets short thrift from a horrified Mosselman. Gene’s argument that he merely resembles that tall, handsome, multi-talented actor Gene Bradley fails to convince, and of course Mosselman denies having anything to do with illegal arms dealing or having a criminal silent partner called Harry Venner (George Sewell).
The intended purpose of Gene’s seemingly reckless behaviour is to unnerve Mosselman, and by posing as a threat to their arms dealing trade, lure the elusive Venner out into the open. Of course in doing so, Gene also sets himself up as the target for an assassination attempt, and risks exposing his double life as a spy to both Mosselman and Venner.
Illogical plots and unchecked, out of control egotism are of course part of the fun ride of The Adventurer though, and Target! isn’t short of either. In fact this episode gives an idea of what Gene’s mind-set must have been like during the making of the series. Confusion and egomania are strong in this episode. There is the sense of being lost in a foreign land, running around, doing things that make little sense…but at least wherever he goes people seem to be in awe of Gene, even implausibly characters who are out to kill him.
On paper an episode of The Adventurer that pits Gene against George Sewell should be explosive stuff. However Sewell’s usual East End tough guy persona is somewhat muted here by the fact that Venner is such a sycophant where Gene is concerned, and appears tortured with guilt over his plan to rid the world of one of its finest acting talents. Venner’s dialogue is rich in the type of praise that these days would be quoted on movie posters and DVD covers. “He has charisma this man, I like his films” admits Venner, who later goes on to refer to Gene as “such a vivid artiste”. In Gene’s head I’m sure he imagined everyone in the world thought as highly of him as Harry Venner does. Actually, you almost end up feeling sorry for Harry Venner, since a man he clearly admires so greatly is hell-bent on destroying him in return. Never meet your idols.
Of course Harry Venner isn’t alone in his admiration for Gene. There is the usual praise from Mr Parminter who discretely meets up with Gene on a fairground ride and in a horse drawn carriage. Romantic locations which get Gene concerned that “people are gonna start talking” about the pair of them. Just to ensure that people don’t talk too much about them, Gene acquires yet another love interest in the form of Mosselman’s secretary Astrid (Astrid Frank). Initially recruited by Mosselman to use her female charms in order to lure Gene into a trap, Astrid reluctantly agrees to go along with Mosselman’s plan as long as Gene will come to no harm. However after she discovers that Mosselman really does plan to do away with one of the greatest vivid artistes of our time, Astrid turns against him and is naturally soon sucking face with the Gene Genie. After all what girl could resist a chat-up line like “You’re more lovely than that wooden horse those Trojans used”.
Astrid Frank née Eike Pulver, was a veteran of West German sex comedies and yet another Adventurer guest totty who made her way to the series via a starring role in Val Guest’s Au Pair Girls. She is also the subject of this episode’s greatest eccentricity, which is the amount of times people say her character’s name. Back when we looked at the episode “Nearly the End of the Picture” I suggested a drinking game could be played around the amount of time characters said ‘frightfully’. While a similar drinking game could easily be based around the use of the word ‘Astrid’ in this episode, I have a feeling that actually attempting it would be ill-advised. By my count the word ‘Astrid’ is used an astonishing nine times within the space of this 25 minute episode, five of which take place within the space of just one scene.
“Astrid will bring you a coffee”
“Thanks, Astrid”
“Ah, Thanks Astrid”
“Astrid, would you mind showing Mr Cotton out”
“I can find my own way out, Astrid”
The fact that the name is used so excessively must have been a deliberate move, especially as it just so happens to be the actress’ own name (well her stage name at least). It is hard to believe that this episode didn’t have the hidden agenda of trying to promote her, what with all these reminders that the lovely actress you see onscreen is called Astrid. So obvious is this intention that you don’t know why they didn’t throw subtly out of the window altogether and just call the character ‘Astrid Frank’ as well!! Alas, funny and outrageously uninhibited as Ms. Frank was in Au Pair Girls, it is disappointing to report she is far less memorable here within the confines of a comparatively subdued role. Astrid might well be lovelier than a Trojan horse, but sadly she is also as wooden as one.
Target! was the second Adventurer outing to take the production to Amsterdam, and was surely filmed much later in the year than the series’ other Amsterdam excursion ‘Double Exposure’. The location is far less inviting second time around, with Amsterdam looking very windswept and off-season here. It is clear that the Amsterdam footage in Target! was filmed extremely quickly, likely within a day, with the crew grabbing lots of footage of Gene walking around Amsterdam, getting in and out of taxis etc. etc. all of which was then intercut with interior narrative scenes filmed at Elstree. In that sense Target! is constructed in a similar fashion to all those ‘British’ set Paul Naschy vehicles like ‘7 Murders for Scotland Yard’ and ‘Dr Jekyll and the Wolf Man’. Films which were mostly shot in Spain and whose British location footage was obviously born out of a brief trip to London, during which Naschy looks to have been run ragged as the production frogmarched him to and fro every London landmark the crew could find.
Whilst Amsterdam is in the grip of this strange disease that makes people say the word ‘Astrid’ over and over, Gene also has to deal with dodging an assassin’s bullet. Fortunately, snipers always tend to be a bit rubbish in this series. The one in the ‘Deadlock’ episode fired off three shots at Gene before giving up and running away. The rooftop sniper in this episode makes an even more pathetic attempt, dislodging some slate from the roof, which alerts Gene to his presence before he can even get a shot off and results in Gene making a quick getaway in a speed boat. There are signs that Gene’s height ‘thing’ may have forced a few script re-writes here. Venner’s henchman played by Tristan Rogers (6’1’’ star of Pete Walker’s The 4 Dimensions of Greta and The Flesh and Blood Show) prefers to try and run Gene over with his car, which just so happens to avoid Tristan and Gene having to appear in the same shot together. After all the built up, the confrontation between Gene and Venner is disappointingly abrupt too. No surprise to find that this is also shot in a way to avoid seeing Gene and George Sewell together, with Gene swinging about on a rope and knocking Venner and his men down like skittles. Achieved entirely with stunt doubles, it is all over in a matter of second. Poor Venner didn’t even have time to ask his favourite vivid artiste for an autograph.
Target! isn’t without its fair share of action, and in an era when foreign travel was still a big draw for a UK TV audience, ticks that box with the amount of Amsterdam location footage that got worked into this episode. Essentially Target! is an Amsterdam travelogue with lots of stunt work thrown in for good measure. While Target! is passible as a half an hour’s worth of moving wallpaper, it is indifferently thrown together and with little to make it stand out from the glut of mediocre, Gene-ccentric episodes that mar the Adventurer’s mid-way point. Its sole distinguishing feature being characters’ strange compulsion to name check …Astrid….Astrid… Astrid…Astrid…
Today’s episode of The Adventurer has been brought to you by the letters- A.S.T.R.I.D
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