The Avengers (TV Series) Legacy of Death (1968) User Reviews

An enjoyable 'Maltese Falcon' spoof

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 3 April 2015]

This episode sees Steed inheriting an unusual Oriental dagger from an anonymous benefactor; this was no act of kindness though as everybody who comes near the artefact seems to die. It isn't long before a succession of visitors come to see Steed with the aim of getting the dagger by hook or by crook. The curse certainly seems to effect these treasure seekers as they start dropping like flies and the bodies are literally stacking up in Steed's apartment! Tara takes the dagger to identified but the man she takes it to tells her it is of little value despite the fact that he knows it is the legendary 'Falcon Dagger'… it may have little intrinsic value but it does point the way to a hidden treasure.

This story, from the pen of Terry Nation, owes a lot to the classic 'The Maltese Falcon'; a fact that is not hidden with characters clearly resembling those in the film most notably Stratford Johhs and Ronald Lacey who are very much like the characters played by Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre respectively. If you've seen 'The Maltese Falcon' the references are a lot of fun but even if you are totally unaware of that film I suspect this will be a fun episode to watch. The rate at which those seeking the dagger died was darkly amusing as was some of the ways they died… the one who jumped from a roof to attack Tara and Steed but missed was so pathetic it was hilarious! When we finally see the treasure found there is a good surprise followed by an amusing event that leaves all the treasure hunters rather disappointed. Overall an enjoyable episode that made a change from leaks at government offices and various megalomaniacs.

It doesn't get any crazier than this.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 7 September 2022]

John Steed receives a bequest following the death of Henry Farrer, The Falcon dagger, a prized oriental trinket, one which all manner of scoundrels want to get their hands on.

If you're into science fiction and fantasy as I am, the name Terry Nation always conjured up butterflies in the stomach, he truly penned some incredible stuff.

It's funny, I watched The Maltese Falcon very recently, and it's clearly a spoof of that, a device Nation used previously, even the dagger itself, be made no secret of what he was doing.

It's great fun, in fact it's a riot, it's a fast paced, tongue in cheek rollercoaster, one where Steed and Tara are almost onlookers, with most of the action occuring among the various array of crooks.

A right old rogues gallery were assembled for this one, Sidney and Humbert were my favourites, outrageously zany, but great fun, Stratford John's and Ronald Lacey performing in their own inimitable styles. I thought Richard Hurndall was terrific as Farrer.

Wonderfully imaginative, 8/10.

Steed Does Some Spade Work!

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 1 April 2009]

Millionaire art collector Farrer ( Richard Hurndall ) informs his servant Zoltan ( John Hollis ) that men will soon will be coming to kill him. Handing over a priceless Oriental dagger, he tells him to take it to John Steed. Then he shuts himself in a glass coffin, his 'Last Will & Testament' laid on his chest.

Steed accepts the dagger not realising his life is in now great danger. It is none other than the legendary Falcon. Anyone who comes into possession of it dies.

Fortune-hunters begin killing one another, each determined to have the Falcon. It is sought after because it contains the key to the whereabouts of the world's biggest black pearl. Steed and Tara must stay alive long enough to find out where it is...

A homage to Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon' which neatly manages to borrow its plot. The character played by the late Stratford Johhs is obviously based on Sidney Greenstreet's 'Kasper Gutman' from John Huston's classic 1941 movie, while the late Ronald Lacey does a neat impersonation of Peter Lorre's 'Joel Cairo' from the same film. Other familiar faces on view include swarthy Tutte Lemkow ( remember him as the cossack who drank poison intended for 'Inspector Clouseau' in 'A Shot In The Dark'? ), sinister Peter Swanwick ( 'The Supervisor' from 'The Prisoner' series ), Ferdy Mayne ( the vampire Count in Roman Polanski's 'Dance Of The Vampires' ( 1967 ), and Richard Hurndall ( the gay antique dealer in the 'Steptoe & Son' episode 'Any Old Iron? ).

It is as you would expect tremendous fun, with the cast seeming to have a whale of a time spoofing film noir clichés. Writer Terry Nation must have been a classic movie buff, another of his 'Avengers' episodes was 'Noon Doomsday' and it meted out similar treatment to 'High Noon'.

The Maltese Dagger

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 29 April 2011]

"Legacy of Death" is the second straight Terry Nation takeoff of a movie classic, in this case, 1941's "The Maltese Falcon," quite inferior to "Noon Doomsday," based on 1952's "High Noon." Henley Farrer (Richard Hurndall) gets the plot underway, sending the 'Dagger of 1000 Deaths' to the unsuspecting John Steed, who proceeds to encounter a bevy of fortune hunters desperate to acquire it. Stratford Johns ("The Frighteners") plays Sidney Street (getting all the best lines), Ronald Lacey ("The Joker") plays Humbert Green, and Ferdy Mayne plays Baron von Orlak, with smaller roles going to John Hollis ("Warlock," "The Cybernauts," "The Superlative Seven"), Kynaston Reeves ("What the Butler Saw"), and Vic Wise ("Square Root of Evil").

"New shoes for me and new thumbscrews for you!!"

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 29 April 2022]

A bejewelled dagger known as the Falcon is passed on to Steed by a dying man and strange things then happen as well as characters appearing (and dropping like flies) that come out of a gangster film;it's a Maltese Falcon. Matter of fact, there's one guy known as Sydney Street aping Sydney Greenstreet and the other is aping Peter Lorre, though he comes across like Igor (Dracula's assistant). One guy hilariously tosses chewing gum in his mouth in gangster fashion but it misses his mouth and drops to the floor. An adequately diverting episode, however it's not too exceptional and it can dither in pace. But it's hard not to succumb to the quirky Avengers charm.

Bit silly

[kmoh-1 · 12 July 2019]

Not the Avengers at their best, not even season 6 at its best. A somewhat unmotivated spoof with nods to the Maltese Falcon, with several ripe character actors hamming away with great relish, and a large death rate even for Steed and Tara. Steed has relatively little to do except play with his nephew's toy aeroplane and fight off overacting assassins.

It's not clear why Henley Farrer bequeaths Steed the dagger (rather than, say, simply murdering him himself). When the true purpose of the dagger is revealed, the already wafer-thin plot falls apart. As the dagger is basically a key to gain access to the real treasure, and as the treasure's hiding place is designed and known only to Farrer, it becomes impossible to understand how the comically large number of fortune hunters have heard of its function. After all, if you hid a treasure somewhere, so well that no-one was able to find it, why would you use a well-known object as the key, and let everyone know that it was the key? Indeed, what was the point of Farrar's plot anyway? What did he hope to gain by any of it that he couldn't have achieved by infinitely more feasible means?

One suspects they made this up as they went along, the pleased-with-itself spoof driving the plot rather than vice versa. The feeble ending lends credence to that thought.