Saber of London Vol 1

Following on from 'The Vise' and 'The Vise: Mark Saber' we now have SABER OF LONDON (also produced by the Danziger Brothers) – a 4-disc Blu-ray set containing 36 restored episodes for this Volume 1 release. Once again the formidable Donald Gray portrays the one-armed private investigator with an office in Parliament Square and with more cases than he and his constantly changing assistants can keep up with!

Actually, now his Parliament Square office apparently comes with an entrance in Great George Street - we can only assume Mr. Saber’s reputation as a bona fide detective and his work schedule have risen considerably since the old days… As mentioned in the intro, Saber is forever changing his assistants - the main two here are Neil McCallum and Robert Arden (who'd appeared in an earlier episode as twin brothers). Obviously it is impossible to discuss 36 episodes so we can only pick a few due space limitations. Just as with ‘The Vise’ and ‘The Vise: Mark Saber’ you will not only see the same actors time and time again but the same sets, furniture and even paintings creep up over and over! Although the plots (each episode has a running time of approx. 25 min) strive to attain different scenarios it isn't exactly that easy for any writer (quite a few were penned by ‘The Avengers’ Brian Clemens) to keep coming up with new angles and fresh ideas.

Therefore, and in no specific order, we will look at 'Where There's a Will' – an episode which is both disturbing and quirky (occasionally even quite funny). It was written by Albert Miller (not a prolific writer on this series) and directed by Godfrey Grayson who, along with Max Varnel, directed most of these episodes. Here we have yet another a good old ‘whodunnit’ when the body of a woman is discovered by Mrs. Kraft (Totti Truman Taylor), an uppity woman chasing after her cat on a neighbour’s estate. It appears the dead woman, later identified as the housekeeper of the magnificent house on the estate, was pushed from the upstairs window. The old lady who had lived in the house had recently died and her three repellent dependents feared this situation might compromise their prospective inheritance as the deceased lady may have left everything to her (now murdered) housekeeper… The dependents in question are Peter Reynolds, Ellen Pollock and the brilliant Ian Whittaker who is continually insulted by his uncle (Reynolds) as “a creature of minute intelligence, frail in body and weak in intellect”… even Saber's assistant Bob (Robert Arden) describes him as a “Moron without muscles”. With Whittaker playing a mentally challenged youth whose actions are constantly defended by his overprotective Mum we can be assured of a good few laughs. Pollack delivers her usual forceful performance as the disturbed boy's doting mother and it’s not too hard to work out the real culprit.

'A Diplomatic Affair' actually concerns a scientific professor (the dependable John Le Mesurier) kidnapped by Ukrainian Embassy officials and being held captive while undergoing torture by the sadistic Major Virnoff (played by Philip Saville) in order to extract vital information. Now it's down to Saber to infiltrate the Embassy. Obviously in the late 50's we were nowhere near as close to Ukraine as now, what with the Ukrainians almost being our brothers and sisters. However, this rather offensive episode shows Ukrainian officials in a bad light at a time when the Cold War was in full swing and – like so many films from that period – depicts all Communists as baddies and the liberal West as good. Feel free to skip the episode if you belong to those easily offended.
James Eastwood penned 'Full Moon' about a charming and handsome serial killer (Saber regular Robert Raikes, who actually had the audacity to mug our Mark in an earlier episode) who poses under different nom de plumes and strangles young women when there's a full moon. Eastwood was the main writer on Edgar Lustgarten's 'Scales of Justice' and must have had real life murderer Neville Heath in mind when he wrote this. A good idea but as is the case with so many Saber episodes there is never enough time to expand the story and we have a rushed and unsatisfactory denouement.

'Strong Man Out' features a whopping blunder which must have annoyed both actors at the time: Warren Mitchell (doing his foreign cafe proprietor bit) is billed as Martin Benson, an actor who had appeared in other episodes (usually as a crafty conman) and was higher profile than Mitchell at the time. Marian Mathie (best known as Hilda – wife of ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’ and not looking much different here) turns up in Stanley Miller's 'Murder for Revenge' as a sofa-bound housewife who also happens to be madly jealous, perhaps due to her disability. She suspects her rather plain and middle-aged businessman husband of having an affair… and he actually is having one, would you believe it? Of course, things aren’t quite as black and white as they seem… and soon the young woman (Liz Fraser) who hopes to snatch her ageing lover (old enough to be her father) away from his troublesome wife ends up dead… Quite what the young lass saw in this old duffer is beyond comprehension anyway!

Other highlights include John Loder doing an impression of Nigel Bruce (Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Homes) in 'Fast Cars and Girls'. A real treat for Flamenco fans is 'Dead before Arrival' starting with a Flamenco routine performed by Hermenia and Pepe Mantas (we’re talking a full five minute routine here, one way to pad out an episode). “What do Flamenco dancers have to do with murder?” I hear you ask but it goes without saying there is a connection after the body of a Flamenco musician turns up dead in a crate down by the docks. If there are still any fans of American actor Robert Ayres about (John Ireland's co-star in ‘The Cheaters’ - also produced by The Danzigers) you will be pleased to know he is heavily featured in this release. Although production values are higher and unlike in ‘The Vise’ we have plenty of location work, ‘Saber of London’ doesn't always have the breadth of the earlier series. In a sense it is hampered by it's own format. That said there is still a great deal of pleasure to be had from watching this 1950's effort and nostalgia buffs and connoisseurs of London's yesteryear will be particularly delighted. As for the restoration: absolutely spiffing!